stained tubing..

[IanY]

UV is what grows algae. The whole idea behind black tubing is to block out UV. All that CCFL and LED stuff is what promotes biological growth. Nothing's like a perfectly dark case.

[IanY]

Tygon 2075. Minimum order costs $43.10 for 10 feet. I guess I am headed that direction, but I really don't like that 1/8" thin wall, compared to my usual 1/4" thick wall.

[Subsider]

Tygon 2075. Minimum order costs $43.10 for 10 feet. I guess I am headed that direction, but I really don't like that 1/8" thin wall, compared to my usual 1/4" thick wall.

What tubing where you usein that had 1/4 wall ? tygon 3603 is 1/8 wall

o and UV sterilizer bulbs do kill Algae as well as bacteria ! plant life needs the visable light spectrum mainly the reds - violet or 1700K-10000Kelvin ! im not sure where we would cat. the UV leds/tubes we use being that there just within the visable spectrum or the blue , green or even red leds/tubes as there not full or wide spectrum (sun light at high noon is about 5200 Kelvin and ideal for plant growth , alge growth although a plant need less) but i dont think they would be a big concern compared to say sun light from a nearby window or the light from a RGB monitor thats about 6500K that would .

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

Interesting thread. Thanks for all the work put into it.

[IanY]

What tubing where you usein that had 1/4 wall ? tygon 3603 is 1/8 wall

o and UV sterilizer bulbs do kill Algae as well as bacteria ! plant life needs the visable light spectrum mainly the reds - violet or 1700K-10000Kelvin ! im not sure where we would cat. the UV leds/tubes we use being that there just within the visable spectrum or the blue , green or even red leds/tubes as there not full or wide spectrum (sun light at high noon is about 5200 Kelvin and ideal for plant growth , alge growth although a plant need less) but i dont think they would be a big concern compared to say sun light from a nearby window or the light from a RGB monitor thats about 6500K that would .

Actually I found out that not only am I wrong, its that the wall is not even 1/8. I found out, much to my dismay, that the one I use has 3/32 thickness.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ty1id3odlatu.html

[masaville]

Tygon 1/2" with 5/8" OD is crap. Save your money! That kinks like mad.

Tygon 1/2" with 3/4" OD is good stuff. Very sticky, flexible, but expensive.

Clearflex 1/2" with 3/4" OD is also good stuff. Not as sticky, but just as flexible as Tygon 1/2 / 3/4 and half the price.

Local hardware store tubing will even work. Dirt cheap, but most of it is crap too and kink prone. lol

[halo112358]

Now in what sizes does it come, where can we get it and how much will it set us back?

mcmaster.com is your friend, they seem to stock all varieties of tygon and I _really_ doubt they'll ever be out of stock.

[Cronos]

I would consider Tygon Silver Antimicrobial instead of 2075.
http://www.petrastechshop.com/1id3odtysian.html

There is no need for that heavy chemical resistance 2075 provide, but antimicrobial tubing may let get away with pure distilled water and this is a good thing, as i personally hate to mix any of that additive stuff into my loop,
poisoning and contaminating it.
Tygon Silver is also plasticizer-free and has low water absorption rate , the main two factors which,presumably, affect tube staining over time.

[ramenchef]

I don't want to jump to conclusions yet. Marci still hasn't said which of the two would be the best for us.

[serialk11r]

Ah, finally, it seems I was correct on polyurethane tubing If you don't like the wall thickness or whatever, search on mcmaster.com for polyurethane tubing, they have the 7/16 that some people prefer, as well as the 1/2. And IanY, if you go shopping there you might want to get 1 inch braid reinforced tubes and 1 inch barbs as well, shipping isn't too cheap

[Senater_Cache]

I would consider Tygon Silver Antimicrobial instead of 2075.
http://www.petrastechshop.com/1id3odtysian.html

There is no need for that heavy chemical resistance 2075 provide, but antimicrobial tubing may let get away with pure distilled water and this is a good thing, as i personally hate to mix any of that additive stuff into my loop,
poisoning and contaminating it.
Tygon Silver is also plasticizer-free and has low water absorption rate , the main two factors which,presumably, affect tube staining over time.

Well, ok. But in my case and many people I know, the staining can be cleaned out with a scrubber and the tubing goes back to almost perfection.
It is a film rather than a stain in my case(s).
I had the same sort of film with hydrix, pentosine, zerex, regular GM antifreeze.
All mixtures were less than 7% additive and 93% or more pure distilled. It happened with all the above additives using Masterkleer and clearflex.

I think it may be plasticiser or something in the tubing reacting with water (as I heard reports that even with pure distilled people get the same film.)
unlikely, but could it be acrylics and Delrin? even copper?

[Cronos]

Here is my current soon-to-be-replaced loop:
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6...inside1qs9.jpg

Notice the long tubing piece going from the radiator on top to the reservoir in the bottom.
It was two months ago. Now all the tubing is stained except the long piece.
I have some hypothesis explaining this phenomena, but none convincing enough.

[SerialSniper]

I have tygon R-3603, its about 4 months old and is very cloudy. Trying to clean it atm. Subscribd

[Trice]

Same here, Im so sick of getting new tubing every few months >:-(

[serialk11r]

Hey on mcmaster.com they have "generic" polyurethane tubing too, and its 2.3 per foot I think. Its just like masterkleer is to tygon r3603.

[Kunaak]

if you want to clean your tubing easily, heres how.

use Scrubbing bubbles.
let it sit in the tube for about 10 minutes.
let it soak in water for a hour.
soaking in water lets any soapy residue come out.

clean.

[MaxxxRacer]

if you want to clean your tubing easily, heres how.

use Scrubbing bubbles.
let it sit in the tube for about 10 minutes.
let it soak in water for a hour.
soaking in water lets any soapy residue come out.

clean.

ha.. ha.. funny?

[Kunaak]

ha.. ha.. funny?

sorry dude, no joke here.

it really works.
I've been doing it for about 2 years.

saw it on the OC forums a long time ago, used it about a year after I saw it, when I finally had some tubing that needed a serious cleaning.

works great.

makes it look about 90% new.

if you know a better way, let me see it.
I'll definatly try it.

[serialk11r]

I'll try to get my hands on some polyurethane tubing (tygon 2075 is PUR stuff ) and I'll see what it does.

[Kunaak]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...22&postcount=3

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...20&postcount=2

look at post 2 and 3.

see, not only me using scrubbing bubbles.
this tricks been around for awhile now.

I am amazed I actually came across this pic... thats pretty crazy.

[ign0]

to K:

I like the cleaner idea.

[IanY]

I'm going to start following AussieJester's recommendation.

He uses Harpic, which is a toilet bowl cleaner. Its the same exact product as Lysol toilet bowl cleaner sold in the USA, just that Reckitt Benckiser (the manufacturer) has a differentiated global branding strategy, using the Lysol brand only in the US and the Harpic brand in the rest of the world.

Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner (the one without bleach) is sold in every supermarket for dirt cheap.

AussieJester says that his tubes stay clean for over a year, and he uses plain tap water with no additives in his loops.

[MaxxxRacer]

I am not saying it doesnt work, I'm just curious what affect it has on the tubing itself.

[situman]

scrubbing bubbles work, but it will leave your tubing yellow hue to it.

[MaxxxRacer]

scrubbing bubbles work, but it will leave your tubing yellow hue to it.

thats what i was refering to.. personally, unless your are using tygon its just better to buy more tubing than to clean it.