Algae or stuff from the rad?

[coolfris]

Could somebody identify for me what this? My english is not good enough to give a detailed description of the stuff. Hope the pics will do



Fuzion-V2 - Tygon R3603 - DCC3.2 - PA120.3 - distilled water with 2 drops P-nuke and some feser dye.

Few weeks ago I installed this wc set-up for someone.
( Flushed the rad with hot tapwater a few times and checked the water in a glas till it was clean. After that I used a liter distilled water (+PT Nuke) to clean the rad from the tapwater. I'v done this like this with all my own builds and it never gave me problems of any kind.)

After about 3 days the water became cloudy. In the res is also some white stuff.

At first I thought it was some residu left somehow from the rad. So I went back to him to clean everything (2.5 h train ride )

Cleaned the rad again same as above, but now with 3 times 45 min vinegar time after the hot tapwaterflush (250ml vinegar and 750ml distilled water) each time after the vinegar I cleaned the rad with distilled water. (The vinegar cleaned a lot of bleu dye)

So no color in the water the second time.


But after about 3 days the same happened and the stuff came back.


I am not very familiar with "waterproblems" and rarely have read topics about the subject. I even do not know how algea looks like.

So before I will go on a 2.5 h traintrip to the south of the Netherlands I would like to know what I'm up against and how to fight it

btw the xspc res top was very hard to clean. I could not completely remove the white stuff in it. But at the time I was thinking it was residu from the rad. If it is algea...

ok, thanks in advance!

[Sparda]

Algea doesnt built up in a short time. I suspect it come from the dye. Maybe the second time there still some residue left.
Is dye that you use is Feser View dye ?

[kinghong1970]

plasticizer?

[jonny_ftm]

Maybe a reaction between the dye and the PT Nuke.

[orclev]

Might not have been blue "dye", but could have been copper that was stripped out by the vinegar. Was it actually blue, or was it sort of green-ish blue?

[orclev]

With the dye in the water it's kind of hard to tell exactly what's going on with the tubing. Definitly seems to be stained, but whether that's from the dye reacting with something, a particularly heavy application of the dye, or whatever that stuff on the inside of the reservoir is it's hard to tell. Does look nasty though.

Just guessing, I'd say both left over flux and plasticizer are equally likely. The way that white stuff is deposited on the reservoir certainly looks organic though, but nothing should be growing in there if you used PT Nuke (and white is an odd color for something like that), especially with the short time frames you're talking about. I'd flush it out completely, use water and PT Nuke, but leave out the dye and see what happens.

[Janno]

Looks to me like you didn't FLUSH the PA radiator good enough..... Looks like flux mixed with your coolant....

x2

happened to me once

[Petra]

Maybe a reaction between the dye and the PT Nuke.

I suppose that it's possible, but the Feser dyes have been the most resilient that I've tested thus far.

Looks like flux mixed with your coolant....

From my experience with Thermochill radiators, I'm going to have to agree--looks like dye + coolant + dirty Thermochill.

[coolfris]

Thanks for all the replies Good to know it is not algae.

So it looks like I have to clean that rad for a third time.
I'v asked him if he could make some pics of how it looks this time (without the dye) he told me it is looking grey now. I haven't seen it myself yet.
It is strange because after the second time I visited him the rad was really dye free. (after flushing with te water everything looked clean, but with the first round vinegar the water that came out was dark blue, so without the vinegar that would have stayed in. ) So after that there could be no reaction between the PT-nuke and the dye.
So it maybe is that little bit of white junk I left in the res that triggered a reaction for the second time. (?)

I really was convinced I cleaned the rad 100% that second time I visited him. The water that came out was as clear as in came in (after heavy shaking the rad ect ect and checking the water in a glass). So thats why I starded thinking it could be algae.(maybe because of the tapwater) Glad to hear that is not possible because of the short time intervals.

This is on big pita wc install Had two times a leak the first time I was there. And after all the efford the watertroubles came... For him it was his second expirience with watercooling. First one was a thermal take. At this moment for him the thermal take is a more positive memory than this high-end wc setup. It can also be some kind of curse. Maybe I will bring a priest with me the next time, just to be sure.

[Conumdrum]

coolfris, how are you cleaning your rad? Do you pour the water from the rad into a glass bowl when you think your done and let it settle for 10 min? You can then see if there is still stuff.

I filled my PA with almost boiling water, let sit to cool down, drained 1/2 out and shook like a crazy man, and did it 5+ times. then drained into the bowl, was clean. But even then a few days later I had bits in the loop, drained and refilled. Was good for 5 months.

I bet the discoloration on the tube is Fesser dye, can't help that.

And I do have a priest friend, he did bless my loop. But with my life, it's pretty unholy already.

[coolfris]

This was my method for the first time:

I filled the rad with hot tapwater. I think that is 60c or something. And then started shaking like that same crazy man with a rad of 60c or so. I repeated this until there was no residu from the rad visible in that glas of water. I did not let the glas settle like you did. Just hole it in the light to see if there was nothing swirling around. After this shaking procedure I let the tap run hot water through the rad for some minutes while turning it a bit now and then.
After that I repeated the crazy man shaking thing with distilled water 2 or 3 times.

Second time I visited him I came to clean the stuff thats in the pics.

I Replaced the tubes with new ones (forgot to mention this in the OP). Cleaned the V2 and the reservoir (with some leftovers I could not reach, very little bits) and cleaned the rad as described above, but now with an extra session with mixed vinegar/distilled water. I let the vinegar soak for 3 times 45 min with a clean distilled water shaking in between. This got rid of the dye that was not removed with the hot tap water.

After that I installed everything without the dye in the water, just distilled with PT-Nuke.
3 or 4 days later the same problems. Only this time the water became grey.
Tomorrow he will send me some pics of the current situation.

But is has to be the rad, maybe some have more dirt in them than others.
Never had this kind of trouble with PA's before this one.

[Janno]

And I do have a priest friend, he did bless my loop. But with my life, it's pretty unholy already.

rofl, filling your rad with holy water helps to reduce load temps

@coolfris, what kind of tubing does your friend use?

[coolfris]

Tygon R3603, replaced it with new ones the second time.

[xVeinx]

It is a chemical reaction. At least one other person has had a similar problem, albeit with a yellow precipitate instead of a white one. Try using the feser without the PT nuke for a few days, see if the problem comes back (it shouldn't). Feser warns on using other chemicals with the dye/fluid XP as they can react, and the sulfate group in the copper II sulfate of PT nuke is prime for that.

So you cleaned everything out, but did you clean the pump itself? otherwise you've still goth stuff in there too...

[SimpleTECH]

I'm 98% certain it's just the Feser View UV dye. The reason I am saying this is because I am only using that and regular distilled water in my loop and I'm getting similar results as yours.

The first time I used this stuff, it stained my tubes completely. Luckily I was using some cheap vinyl tubing and replaced it with some Tygon R-3603.

But after two months, I noticed that my tubes were lighting up as well under my UV cathodes. I removed the water and what did I see... semi-stained tubing. %$#@%!!!!!!

So I think your culprit is just the UV dye. Try running your loop with plain distilled water and see what you get after a few days.

[coolfris]

So you cleaned everything out, but did you clean the pump itself? otherwise you've still goth stuff in there too...

Forgot to mention, but I cleaned the pump to. The reservoir I could not clean completly. There was some sticky stuff in in I could not reach with my fingers and it didn't go away with hot water. But it was so little I gambled it wouln not be a problem.

Try running your loop with plain distilled water and see what you get after a few days.

Think I will do that. Plain distilled water with ptnuke also turned grey, but that must have something to do with the leftovers in the res. Think I will relace the res also with a new one.

[coolfris]

ok here 2 pics off how it looks at the moment. So this is distilled water + PT nuke without the dye. Tubing looks cleaner and not stained as it was the first time with the dye.





Anyhow, I think I will clean everything again, especially the radiator (will get the mid-evil treatment this time), get new tubing and a new res (have one left here). Than run it with pure distilled water for a few days before adding the nuke.

[Soulwind]

ok here 2 pics off how it looks at the moment. So this is distilled water + PT nuke without the dye. Tubing looks cleaner and not stained as it was the first time with the dye.

Anyhow, I think I will clean everything again, especially the radiator (will get the mid-evil treatment this time), get new tubing and a new res (have one left here). Than run it with pure distilled water for a few days before adding the nuke.

I hope you actually mean "run it with pure distilled water for a few days before {Flushing the loop, Refilling it with new distilled water and} adding the nuke."

[coolfris]

You'v decoded my English right! That will be the order.

[SimpleTECH]

coolfris, I was just able to successfully clean my tubing. It looked just as bad as yours (no offense) but it now looks just like new tubing.

I used distilled vinegar mixed with hot tap water (can't remember the mixture ratio but it's like 1:2). I let them soak for 2 hours. Then I got a hold of a rectangle sponge and cut off a small sliver. I shoved that into one end of the tubing and jammed a coat hanger to push it through. I did this 5-6 times, going different directions each time I did it. Then I washed them in some hot water and finally doused them in some distilled water. After a quick wipe up, they look almost brand new.

-Mike

[71 (Bryan)]

quik tip for every one that'll mix coolants and arent sure if they will react with each other, get yourself a disposable cup and pour the fluid (just a bit) in the cup, if the color changes or you get some weird stuff in your cup dont use the two in the same loop

[Stealth42o]

and some feser dye.

YAHTZEE !