Additive

[Freaky Freezer]

Hi everyone, I'm re-doing my loop after 6 months of trouble free operation (it was my first setup). The re-doing is more for looks than function. I'm having a problem with the additive though. I have two bottles of Hydrx left but there was a crusty, filmy residue on some of the barbs. The stuff smells like poison and it horrifically stained all my clear tygon tubing. I also had put no more than 10 drops of green dye into the mixture.

My question is whether or not HydrX is good for the system. And also is there anything better?

-Apogee GTX with all copper top (It was running without the copper top for the past 6 months)
-2x single DD BIP
-Swiftech micro reservoir
-MCP655
-MCW60

note: most of the filmy residue was found near the Apogee; Is it because of the black on the stock top that "leaks" off or was it just the HydrX. (I read that in a thread on here)

[Serpentarius]

use hot water with vinegar to flush the gooey out ...
some suggest using tomato ketchup which also works ... since ketchup is slightly acidic
but careful bout overusing acidic liquids .. they'll melt your copper in due time .. use it only to clean tough stains ..

i've read in the past (bout a year or two ago) regarding to the HydrX which most xtreme members do not use them due to their leftover gooey substance .. i suggest you do so too .. it also lowers your performance as well

bout recommendations ... how bout Feser UV?? some members r quite enthusiastic bout using it

if you ask the xtreme member recomendations .. they'll reply this similiar phrase ............ use UV tubing, pure distilled water and some PT Nuke

[Freaky Freezer]

Snake man. I actually used a toothbrush and alcohol to get the black stuff off the Apogee. Also I went with Feser UV tubing and bought new compression barbs for the system. So I guess I'll just run it with distilled water and order PT Nuke. Think I'll be ok running it without the PT Nuke until I order it and it comes in the mail and then just add it after the fact?

Anyone have a picture of how the new primochill pro UV geen tubing looks? I have a feeling I should've gone with it instead. This feser tubing is stiff as @#$%. But i'll feel better if I know it looks better.

[Serpentarius]

Snake man.

1st time anyone actually called me that
sound like some voodoo guy

[Freaky Freezer]

It's 20 to 5am over here. Somehow, typing snake man just seemed easier to me than typing Serpentarius. All that tube fitting, cutting and cable management I did earlier tonight must've run its toll on me.

[twwen2]

Think I'll be ok running it without the PT Nuke until I order it and it comes in the mail and then just add it after the fact?

Should be fine. Not everyone uses PT Nuke, but most would recommend you use a drop or two per liter of pure distilled h20. Don't add too much because it's acidic.

[Freaky Freezer]

Other than algae killer, as far as not needing any additives if all water blocks are copper and there is no mixing of metals, don't the barbs, which are obviously not copper, technically cause mixing of metals?

[Big_Daddy]

they are coated with nickel, which doesn't cause a reaction. So your good. and yes, you'll be fine running without pt-nuke until it shows up.

[IanY]

Flush your system out well.

Don't use vinegar. Use only hot water.

Then use only distilled water. Stay away from all additives. You'll enjoy your experience a lot more.

If you use PT Nuke, use one drop per liter. No more. Its acidic and its strong stuff. Same goes for all other algaecides.

I got rid of Hydrx a long time ago.

[Freaky Freezer]

Big daddy and IanY. Putting this thing together the first time was unbelievably fun and enjoyable, this time around it feels a bit like a chore, although I'm excited about the new tubing and not using any additives. I always felt like I had tubes circulating poison with the HydrX. You could smell that stuff as soon as I opened my case up. Also I'm more experienced with cable management now, which I'm doing very carefully before everything else. This all acrylic case is so nice to me but it's an absolute pain to work with.

[IanY]

Routine maintenance always feels likea chore, but its a necessary evil. It saves a lot of trouble, Hydrx is nice for about a day, then it turns slimey, and after a couple of months, it turns downright gross.

And you are welcome

[rickshaw]

Hey. I am currently using Hydrx on my system and I am about to move computer case. Should I continue using Hydrx? You mentioned it get slimy after a while but looking at my setup, it looks fine. I have mine running for about 6 months now with the same liquid.

Thanks,

Routine maintenance always feels likea chore, but its a necessary evil. It saves a lot of trouble, Hydrx is nice for about a day, then it turns slimey, and after a couple of months, it turns downright gross.

And you are welcome

[Freaky Freezer]

I just emptied my loop after 6 months of it running on HydrX. I can't testify to the slimyness that others speak off, but it definitely stained my tubing and also caused a buildup of some kind of residue around the threading of some of the barbs, can't say for sure if it was slime. All I can say is that everything was far from clean and all the liquid that emptied from the loop had a slightly slimy thickness to it, maybe thats the slime everyone refers to. To be fair, I also used a green UV dye, but no more than 10 drops literally.

[oohms]

I only use demineralised water + car coolant additive. It stains tubing but the metal is in as new condition

[IanY]

Hey. I am currently using Hydrx on my system and I am about to move computer case. Should I continue using Hydrx? You mentioned it get slimy after a while but looking at my setup, it looks fine. I have mine running for about 6 months now with the same liquid.

Thanks,

Obviously, you are going by an "eyeball." Open up your water block and pump, then you'll see the film.

I would stick to water.

[Freaky Freezer]

all my blocks are copper and I'm going to follow the advice here and only use distilled water and maybe some algae killer down the road, will my blocks not be in as good as shape if I don't put some automotive coolant or are you mixing metals on your blocks?

[Bobly]

I don't mean to hijack this thread but how do people deal with the fact that coloured tubing instead of dye in the water is the best way to go but the ever so popular EK tube res is transparent... Wouldn't it look weird having a whole loop filled with colour just to find the res to be fully transparent? :/

[Freaky Freezer]

you get a fill-cap for the reservoir that holds an LED, put the color of LED into the cap, lighting up the reservoir to that color better than any dye could. Plus a lot of companies are now making UV transparent reservoirs. I've seen green and blue already.

[Woyta]

You have propably same trouble as me.
I also had some aluminium parts in my loop.
I completly changed my loop. Only rad Alphacool Extreme II stay in loop.

I tried to clean rad inside with any easy accesable acid. (Coca Cola (lemon and phosphor acid) , vinegar, lemon acid, ... )
And still something is inside of my rad and it block jets of my EK Supreme.
Next time when i will clen my loop i would like to buy something more agresive.
Something like H2SO4 or HCl.

I am using destiled water with AC Fluid.

[oohms]

all my blocks are copper and I'm going to follow the advice here and only use distilled water and maybe some algae killer down the road, will my blocks not be in as good as shape if I don't put some automotive coolant or are you mixing metals on your blocks?

Im not mixing metals, but i find that the car coolants contain pretty much everything you need. If you use a lot of coolant (2/3 coolant, 1/3 water) i don't think any algae will survive

When you get water, ask for demineralized, not distilled. Its more pure

[Bobly]

Im not mixing metals, but i find that the car coolants contain pretty much everything you need. If you use a lot of coolant (2/3 coolant, 1/3 water) i don't think any algae will survive

When you get water, ask for demineralized, not distilled. Its more pure

Actually it's the other way around :/ demineralized simply removes the minerals while distilled is pure H2O