Could this honestly be algae? (Now with pics..)

[millertime359]

So guys, should I wait until I do my routine replacement of the water (this is every 6months or so right?) or should I clean this gunk off now?

Unless it really bothers you and you have them time now, I would just wait.

It shouldn't spread and it shouldn't have any affect on the loop seeing it only there.

[eponymous]

Cool. So is there anything I can use to clean the gunk off other than alcohol as this will most likely crack the acrylic?

[Brad8988]

Wouldn't warm soapy water do fine?

[millertime359]

Wouldn't warm soapy water do fine?

+1

Don't see why it wouldn't.

[eponymous]

Cheers guys

[Waterlogged]

I would clean it now. If there's algae in the res where there is no water flow, who's to say there aren't other spots in the loop that are harder to get to.

For cleaning, I would get some anti algae from a pet store and mix up some distilled water baths and let the parts soak in it then scrub with an old toothbrush. For the rad, mix it extra strong and fill it, let soak for a few days. Rinse everything with distilled and re-assemble. Stick you coil in a bottle of water to start the ionization process while cleaning.

[Liquid Cool]

I'd cut off any light source - period - for 48 hours and see if the color changes to brown. If it does, take your case out of any natural sunlight for awhile.

Don't really see any need for adding chemicals you probably don't need.

Algae usually starts off as a film - before it get's hairy as you mentioned, and this does look like a small algae bloom from your photos.

It wouldn't hurt to take a real close look at your loop for small dark spots...it could be signs of a larger problem.

Best,

Liquid Cool

[eponymous]

The loop is totally clean everywhere else. It's just the threaded part of the res. I'm still not 100% sure that it is algae to be honest :S It didn't form until like a couple weeks after it had been running and by then I would've thought there would be enough silver in the water :S

[eponymous]

There's one thing I'd like to do. Is there any way I can test if this is actually algae before I take everything apart?

Those reservoirs are a b**ch to take apart and I don't want to strip the threads.

[wez]

There's one thing I'd like to do. Is there any way I can test if this is actually algae before I take everything apart?

Those reservoirs are a b**ch to take apart and I don't want to strip the threads.

Well you could send in the tank to a lab and have it analyzed. Cant think of another way tbh..

It's just some goo man, it wont destroy your rig. There is minimal contact to water at that area, if any. So really I wouldn't worry at all

Just clean it off when you do some other maintenance on the loop. Unless the esthetically factor bothers you too much, then just take it apart today and wipe it off.

[cx-ray]

If there's algae anywhere else in the loop it's going to be inside the cpu block and places with sharp edges and high resistance. It's unlikely you'll see it circulating through your loop. Depending on how often you replace your hardware, I'd leave it as long as you don't see a dramatic performance drop.

The EK res' are very easy to take apart. Stripping of threads isn't a concern.

[dude_500]

I recently had something similar in my loop, except much worse... my cpu temperature was unusually high so I looked at my tubing and there was dense solid brown/green growths along all the tube walls that looked very similar to that and lots of particles in the water... when I took apart my cpu block there were large blobs of organic goo and strings of muck were coming out of my radiator when flushing.

Really don't know what it was, I have a high concentration of anti-freeze in my water so one would think nothing could grow in it, but apparently life really can exist anywhere.

So make sure you monitor the situation closely incase it gets worse.

[eponymous]

Yey, all clean now. I took the reservoirs apart and gave them a good clean with soapy water and a tootbrush. I used PTFE tape to seal the threads as well:









Everything seems better now and I'm holding off using the windowed case side to give the water a chance to ionize with silver.

Thanks again for the advice guys!

[Zigosity]

Could just be colour from the tubing leaching, I know that happened to my first res that I had in this rig. All the little nooks and crannies turned pink :X.

[aka_GK]

it looks even better with tape

[coltsneck]

I would also agree that it is algae. The reason it can grow, as previously stated, is that it is isolated from the main water circulation. Since the water cannot move algacide cannot get to it and the stuff thrives....well to an extent. I think the good news is that as long as you have sufficient algacide in the circulating water the algae will be contained in these small areas.

[eponymous]

it looks even better with tape

Lol, that's what I was thinking :p Turned out much better than I thought.