Algae in the loop

Krillian

Krillian

Krillian

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18 Apr 2014
Posts
64
Hi everyone,

I've build my PC a few month back with a temporary water cooling loop. Temporary as I am still waiting for my 3080 to arrive one day!

The current loop is radiator - CPU block - reservoir. I did not realise that using just distilled water could cause algae to grow... As this was a temporary loop didn't bother with a premixed liquid.

Anyway, so I have tints of green now appearing in the reservoir and the CPU block. I do not particularly want to take it apart before I get the GPU and have to rebuild it anyway.

Question is, how dangerous is it to leave as is for the next few months (hoping it's just a few more months)? Can I add something to the loop to prevent further spread or maybe kill it off entirely?

Thank you in advance!

~Krill
 
If your not reusing anything then you should be fine but you want to prevent as much growth as you can. Algae needs light to grow so simply blocking out light will help.

Chlorine or bleach 1/4 teaspoon of *bleach to every gallon of water should prevent growth
 
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Would it be safe to keep the loop running with bleach in it?

What if I just added like 200ml of premixed liquid to the loop? Or should I just add some concentrate?
 
Krillian said:
Would it be safe to keep the loop running with bleach in it?

What if I just added like 200ml of premixed liquid to the loop? Or should I just add some concentrate?
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I would say so as your only adding a small amount 1 gallon is 3.75 liters , you may get a little frothing in the resvoir so pre mix mite be better.

Dont rush into doing this before your certain you want to as there may be better alternatives.

As flea rider says depends on materials but your not using a vast amount of bleach.
 
Krillian said:
MAYHAMS 15ML BIOCIDE+ - would just adding some of this work?
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Its a load of rubbish and actually tarnished my tubes, I found even if you want to just run a clear liquid, just buy some pre-mix clear like EK stuff, do not use a silver kill coil in your system, I found out years ago the hard way, it reacts with nickle and will slowly strip the nickle plating off your block, and that will simply be in your water then until you clean everything and flush, also requiring a new block.

This is what happens to nickle plated parts with a silver kill coil in the system : Metals cross reacting? - Imgur
 
Jamin280672 said:
Its a load of rubbish and actually tarnished my tubes, I found even if you want to just run a clear liquid, just buy some pre-mix clear like EK stuff, do not use a silver kill coil in your system, I found out years ago the hard way, it reacts with nickle and will slowly strip the nickle plating off your block, and that will simply be in your water then until you clean everything and flush, also requiring a new block.

This is what happens to nickle plated parts with a silver kill coil in the system : Metals cross reacting? - Imgur
Click to expand...

Thanks for letting me know about Mayhems, I knew about the silver coil :)

Think if I get the EKWB concentrate instead and just add it to my loop it will do the job?
 
Krillian said:
Thanks for letting me know about Mayhems, I knew about the silver coil :)

Think if I get the EKWB concentrate instead and just add it to my loop it will do the job?
Click to expand...

if youve got alge in there then your going to have to drain, clean and flush, once it starts growing, theres no stopping it, its a live bacteria.
 
Jamin280672 said:
if youve got alge in there then your going to have to drain, clean and flush, once it starts growing, theres no stopping it, its a live bacteria.
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That I get, but I don't want to do it until I get my GPU, so was just looking for a way to slow it down for a few month until that happens...
 
Krillian said:
Hard
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Just get a thin bottle brush and clean it all out when your GPU arrives, you'll have to strip the block and use some hot soapy water and something like a toothbrush to clean the parts, and use some white vinegar in the radiators, make sure you flush good and proper, you dont want any acid from the vinegar left in the rad's, you could try some biocide for now to try and slow it, but its all still going to need cleaing afterwards.
 
Jamin280672 said:
Just get a thin bottle brush and clean it all out when your GPU arrives, you'll have to strip the block and use some hot soapy water and something like a toothbrush to clean the parts, and use some white vinegar in the radiators, make sure you flush good and proper, you dont want any acid from the vinegar left in the rad's, you could try some biocide for now to try and slow it, but its all still going to need cleaing afterwards.
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Thank you!
 
I'm getting ready to service my loop currently after neglecting it for far too long (life got in the way)....I don't think I've properly drained it since Nov 2017!
I'll take some pics and put them in a thread soon so you can see how bad it's gotten although this was with Mayhems XT-1 concentrate.

For your situation, I'd definitely throw some concentrate in to try to keep it at bay until you have time to do a better job. Sounds like you will definitely need to strip down and clean the block/res at a later date though.

For cleaning I will be using the following:

- Rads inside: warm filtered water (I have a filtered kettle) and white vinegar, deionised water for final flush
- Rads outside: will give them a rinse through the fins in the sink, last pass with DI again and put them in a warm place to dry out
- Block: disassemble and scrub with toothpaste/soapy water (Jayz2Cents recommends the toothpaste - Crest 3d white specifically!). Possibly some vinegar on the cold plate, will see how bad it is!
- Res: I'm using an old XSPC res with bonded acrylic top/bottom, so can't take it apart, they were a bit dirty when I got them (2nd hand) but I used some steradent denture cleaner running through a simple loop overnight to get rid of most of it.
if your res is a normal tube type with removable end caps you should be ok just scrubbing it with a toothbrush and soapy water.

NEVER use alcohol/vinegar on acrylic, it will make it go brittle and crack (as I'm sure you are already aware!)
 
TrojanWhore said:
I'm getting ready to service my loop currently after neglecting it for far too long (life got in the way)....I don't think I've properly drained it since Nov 2017!
I'll take some pics and put them in a thread soon so you can see how bad it's gotten although this was with Mayhems XT-1 concentrate.

For your situation, I'd definitely throw some concentrate in to try to keep it at bay until you have time to do a better job. Sounds like you will definitely need to strip down and clean the block/res at a later date though.

For cleaning I will be using the following:

- Rads inside: warm filtered water (I have a filtered kettle) and white vinegar, deionised water for final flush
- Rads outside: will give them a rinse through the fins in the sink, last pass with DI again and put them in a warm place to dry out
- Block: disassemble and scrub with toothpaste/soapy water (Jayz2Cents recommends the toothpaste - Crest 3d white specifically!). Possibly some vinegar on the cold plate, will see how bad it is!
- Res: I'm using an old XSPC res with bonded acrylic top/bottom, so can't take it apart, they were a bit dirty when I got them (2nd hand) but I used some steradent denture cleaner running through a simple loop overnight to get rid of most of it.
if your res is a normal tube type with removable end caps you should be ok just scrubbing it with a toothbrush and soapy water.

NEVER use alcohol/vinegar on acrylic, it will make it go brittle and crack (as I'm sure you are already aware!)
Click to expand...
Sound advice.
During cleaning, I would take, carefully, the blocks apart and gently wipe the gaskets. Algae and residue of coloured coolant usually stay present, even after flushing.
Don't bother flushing the system as a whole.
I out do a proper cleaning for the rads,
And a strip down to the blocks, gentle brush to clean the fins and wipe the gaskets. Don't stretche them, don't use nothing abrasive. Simply a clean cloth, many times, little to no pressure and you're ace.
Also inside the blocks, the acrylic bit. Don't do to the metal plate. You don't really want risky anything attached to the fins. A decent pressure when putting the screws back together. Just enough to secure the block. Some people over do it, like if they're changing a tyre.
 
Personally I'd drain and give it a quick clean now rather than a major clean in a few months time.

But if you do choose to wait keep an eye on your temps as the algae has probably already started clogging your blocks
 
Drain the loop, refill the reservoir with cheap vodka. run the loop for a while. drain the loop. do not drink the vodka. refill with quality coolant.

I'm only semi-joking. this will kill the algae and if the loop is flowing ok, this may be enough.
 
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