Liquid has changed colour....look!

engstrom0304 · 23 Dec 2009 at 21:58

Has been in the system only a day. The left hand side bottle has been in the system.

The components.

Watercool HK 3.0 copper cpu block.

Koolance 5870 block (nickel I think)

Black Ice GTX 360 radiator.

Is this a problem???

Thanks
Tim

neo-omega · 23 Dec 2009 at 22:20

Yeah you'll basically be maknig a battery with your watercooling loop and electronically dissolving the nickel and plating it onto the copper (or the other way round). It's always best to keep to 1 metal in your loop. HIGHLY advised.

JonJ678 · 24 Dec 2009 at 00:12

Yeah, that's bad. Dyed liquids traditionally filter out in the cpu block, so that's where I'd be looking for the problem.

Shouldn't be electrochemical issues after a day, ni and cu are very close in electronegativity so won't attack each other very fast at all.

Is there a compelling reason why you're using purple liquid instead of deionised with copper sulphate/silver? If not then cleaning and changing to this would be a solution.

engstrom0304 · 24 Dec 2009 at 00:45

Dont quite understand that. Was going for the red look, kinda failed!
I might get red tubing and use water. Ill clean my blocks. Do I need to flush radiator a lot?? I will once or twice.

JonJ678 · 24 Dec 2009 at 00:53

Coloured tubing with normal water is generally a better idea. I've no experience with your or particular liquid, but feser one was a silly use of money for me. Took ages cleaning it out of the cpu block. There's a fair number of threads about the problems with dyed liquid around so I'm not alone in this.

I don't know about radiators. It's always very much recommended, hot water instead of vinegar these days, but as I bought mine second hand they came pre-flushed. Sorry I can't really help there

tankskun · 24 Dec 2009 at 02:34

This is why Im scared to start a WC setup. Good luck resolving this mess.

Bubo · 24 Dec 2009 at 11:33

You say the left hand bottle has been in the system, so the fluid has actually got darker. This is the reverse of what would happen if the colour leaches out which is what usually happens over time with some dyed fluids. I'd say it is more likely the fluid has reacted with something left in the rad as you seem to say you didn't flush it out beforehand. Ditch the lot, clean everything and use di-ionized and PT-Nuke biocide.

engstrom0304 · 24 Dec 2009 at 11:50

My radiator is made with water based flux so I only used hot water to flush.

I will do that yes.

fornowagain · 24 Dec 2009 at 13:21

You might want to remove the competitors name there mate.

DeadMan · 24 Dec 2009 at 14:32

Looks like its clouded out with flux from the radiator to me.

I would empty the system flush with tap water and leave to dry overnight empty and then refill with new coolant.

I use halfords de-ionised water now and black tubing as I cannot be bothered with cleaning my tubing every 6 months.

Jokester · 24 Dec 2009 at 14:39

There is two things you need to have galvanic corrosion effects in a watercooling loop. One is for the two dissimilar metals to be connected via an electrolyte (the water) for transfer of ions. The second is that the two dissimilar metals are connected electrically for transfer of electrons the other way, either in direct contact or via some other path such as wiring, grounding etc.

Given that your blocks are electrically isolated, galvanic corrosion will not be an issue normally. Of course if you use mixed metals in the same block *cough* Swiftech *cough* then you will have issues.