Best 16/10mm clear soft tubing?

SonicSW20 · 6 Feb 2021 at 12:54

Hi all,

Taking my first foray into custom watercooling soon (waiting for main components to arrive from overseas) - doing soft tubing for ease of installation and ideally would like to go clear tubing.

I've read that some clear tubing clouds up very quickly, however some manufacturers claim theirs does not do this. Any recommendations for clear tubing in 16/10mm size?

Hakanese · 6 Feb 2021 at 15:44

I've used a few brands, and they all eventually cloud up. It's an issue with the plasticiser in the tubing that leeches into the fluid over time.
If you want the best clear tubing for the glass look, the EK Duraclear is nice for soft tubing though, but it's over twice the price of the Mayhems and Xspc tubing

momo56 · 6 Feb 2021 at 17:09

The EK stuff is nice but even that clouds up eventually. I just gave up and went with the ZMT tubing, matte black does look nice IMO.

I'm guessing most people either switched to hardline or glass tubing.

Hakanese · 6 Feb 2021 at 17:33

I'm running the ZMT for a throwback black look, and it's just durable as hell, as I hate redoing loops to deal with the cloudiness you get with clear tubes.
Side effect of getting old I guess

Drumroll · 7 Feb 2021 at 10:48

Mayhems ia good, but all clear.tubing will eventually cloud. Used ZMT for my last setup, great looking with chrome fittings. Also slightly less flexible which has its pros and cons.

clone · 7 Feb 2021 at 10:57

I had clear was a pain as it when cloudy tryed 2 different hoses so I've got the ek zmt now I'm about to fit it soon as I've got the ek vrm block for my board.

SonicSW20 · 7 Feb 2021 at 16:23

Was quite liking the idea of red liquid as it'll match things on the case, for every account of "my clear tubing has lasted 2 years with no clouding" there's 5 saying the same stuff clouded within a week!

Can you get coloured soft tubing that's as reliable as the ZMT stuff? Just not too into the matt black tubing.

Hakanese · 7 Feb 2021 at 16:45

Just have to think, your fluid will heat up and cool down, many times over the course of use, it's not that much hassle, unless you have a complicated loop, or don't have a drain port fitted to keep changing the tubing.
Clear loops do look great, it's just I'm lazy to change tubing when required. Just have some spare tubing ready, and have a go at replacing and maintaining your whenever the tubing clouds up.

Drumroll · 7 Feb 2021 at 16:59

Primochill used to offer some coloured tubing, but the issue with them was worse, plasticizer, which would clog blocks.
To be fair, clouding wasn't too bad with the mayhems, the issue was that the fluid would taint the tubing, requiring replacement if changing colours.
Some colours are worse than others.
Used Mayhems coolant blue without issues.
The bloody red, supposed to be non-staining, still staining the tubing, even the bit I used to only fill the loop.
But if your final go is red, the only problem o can see is the need to replace the tubing if you decide to change colours. Eventually some clouding may happens. But, again, depending on the colour, won't be that noticeable.

SirConfused · 7 Feb 2021 at 17:36

SonicSW20 said:
Was quite liking the idea of red liquid as it'll match things on the case, for every account of "my clear tubing has lasted 2 years with no clouding" there's 5 saying the same stuff clouded within a week!

Can you get coloured soft tubing that's as reliable as the ZMT stuff? Just not too into the matt black tubing.

I'm a week in to a build with mayhems x1 blood red. I'll let you know if it clouds by next weekend

SonicSW20 · 7 Feb 2021 at 17:58

Highly unlikely to change the colour unless I don't like it for some reason, but black and red as a theme works so I doubt I'll dislike it!

SirConfused said:
I'm a week in to a build with mayhems x1 blood red. I'll let you know if it clouds by next weekend

20-50 days for the parts to arrive so plenty of time

I'll bump when the stuff gets here and I'm ordering the tubing etc.

MikeTimbers · 7 Feb 2021 at 18:56

Clear Mayhems with blood red and any staining doesn't matter. EK Duraclear was not good and I won't ever use that again.

Hakanese · 7 Feb 2021 at 19:06

SonicSW20 said:
Highly unlikely to change the colour unless I don't like it for some reason, but black and red as a theme works so I doubt I'll dislike it!

20-50 days for the parts to arrive so plenty of time I'll bump when the stuff gets here and I'm ordering the tubing etc.

Looking forward to it, I'm trying to figure out how to mount my radiators outside my case

Frubeling · 8 Feb 2021 at 10:26

As mentioned previously, all soft tubes will cloud in time
Personally I'd recommend Mayhems

Disco_P · 8 Feb 2021 at 13:24

I changed all my primochill advanced LRT from my loop after 4 years of running pastel yellow. They are stained the hell and back but they aren't super cloudy. I replaced them with mayhems that I have had in the loft for about 3 years and that has clouded - however it might be cause there was still some pastel residue in my rads or age. I have drained and refilled my loop again and replaced a section of cloudy old mayhems with fresh mayhems and it seems to be fairing better. I will be doing another coolant swap soon to fully ascertain the cloudiness.

Primochill after 4 years:

Primo after removal, section in top right.

Old mayhems immediately after installation:

Old mayhems a month later

New mayhems between cpu and gpu, within a week of refill

DazQ87 · 8 Feb 2021 at 14:51

I've just swapped from clear soft tubing to ZMT, tried corsairs branded soft tubing and EKs stuff, both of which went cloudy pretty quickly, less than 6 months each time. This was with EK clear cryofuel coolant. The corsair tubing was so bad I could see bits of plasticizer floating in the top of the reservoir and a whole bunch of it came out when I flushed the loop. I won't bother with clear tubing any time again soon, it just doesn't look good for long enough.

Disco_P · 8 Feb 2021 at 14:58

DazQ87 said:
The corsair tubing was so bad I could see bits of plasticizer floating in the top of the reservoir and a whole bunch of it came out when I flushed the loop.

Classic Corsair.

SonicSW20 · 24 Feb 2021 at 10:00

First bits arriving...

Best make a choice on tubing soon!

tyler_jrb · 24 Feb 2021 at 12:58

As above they all cloud eventually. Have had mayhems, Ek, primochill, all went cloudy within a few weeks.

I too made a move to ZMT tube, very very good. And to be honest prefer it over clear tubing looks wise. Prefer my system to be as reliable as possible nowadays, haven’t had a single issue with zmt tubing and clear coolant. Been running that for around 2 years.

Used to use pastel and clear tube but fed up of it clogging up and giving me problems. Super reliable now.

Parsley · 24 Feb 2021 at 13:14

tyler_jrb said:
As above they all cloud eventually. Have had mayhems, Ek, primochill, all went cloudy within a few weeks.

I too made a move to ZMT tube, very very good. And to be honest prefer it over clear tubing looks wise. Prefer my system to be as reliable as possible nowadays, haven’t had a single issue with zmt tubing and clear coolant. Been running that for around 2 years.

Used to use pastel and clear tube but fed up of it clogging up and giving me problems. Super reliable now.

This is the way I went, I started with clear tubing and white pastel coolant as well. To be fair to it, it didn't really cause me many problems, any particulate that fell out didn't block my loop (though the waterblock fins weren't entirely unclogged).

I think it was a phase for me, something new and fun to mess about with, but then I switched to reliability and ease of maintenance over everything else. ZMT tubing and clear coolant just looks smart without requiring much thought.

Cleaning out all the pastel coolant remains from an old loop is a bit of a chore though!