One year on and my tubing and/or fluid is going green.

Goose said:
I dont have a flow sensor but the pump RPM increases along with fan RPM. All 6 fans are pulling air in.
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Temps are ok mate as I say. I wouldn't be worried. Just clean it when you can spare some rig downtime. It's less than a days job.
 
WantoN said:
Temps are ok mate as I say. I wouldn't be worried. Just clean it when you can spare some rig downtime. It's less than a days job.
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I will do. I bought the thermometer @pastymuncher linked to and i've been quite surprised to find that the ambient temp is around 22c, it always feels much cooler than that.

Do you happen to know if the Blitz Kit kills algae?
 
Goose said:
I will do. I bought the thermometer @pastymuncher linked to and i've been quite surprised to find that the ambient temp is around 22c, it always feels much cooler than that.

Do you happen to know if the Blitz Kit kills algae?
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Kills everything mate. It's specifically for prepping the loop, or for a drain and fresh start.

Ditch the tubing. I like EKWB ZMT. If your blocks are clear and they look clean, no need to disassemble, but have a good look at the o-rings. Any gunk and I'd dismantle them.

If you've got a D5 take it apart, pop out the impeller and give the ceramic bearing inside a good clean with IPA, as well as the impeller itself. Take apart the Res, clean it all including o-rings and threads.

Soak your fittings in warm soapy water, give them a scrub with a soft toothbrush, then rinse with distilled. I like to take apart my rotaries and valves, but that's up to you.

Part 1 sitsin the rads, part 2 is pumped through the assembled loop. Word of caution, it can take quite a while to fully rinse out. Connected to the tap and drain down the sink is by far the best way to clear it out properly, so you may want to assemble it outside the case.

Immediately follow that with distilled water a couple of times. I like to run distilled through the same loop, about 30 minutes three times, then take it apart, rinse individually. I half fill the rads and give them a good tilt and shake, and use new tubing rinsed with distilled.

For your new fluid, try XT1 nuke clear concentrate, added to distilled water. Opt for higher than the minimum concentration. It's worked for me so far :)

I find the while process quite satisfying. It's therapeutic, and a normal part of owning a loop. Once it's done properly, you'll be good for ages. I do a drain, flush and fill every 6 months or so, and a full clean every 1 to 2 years. Excluding Blitz.

Blitz for me is for a new loop, the only time I'd use it otherwise would be if I had gunk or new radiators (part 2 only). General maintenance is a quick job.

I've never had algae in a loop I've built, which may be my fluid choice, my prep, frequent draining, or luck.

You'll be fine mate; done in less than a day, and not necessary again for ages, if ever. You may even find you quite enjoy it!
 
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@WantoN @pastymuncher

So ive started to break down my loop and after disassembling my cpu block i found this.

https://imgur.com/a/7qzRiOF

Does this look like algae or something else? I gave it a quick brush with a tooth brush which had no affect at all.

The other thing I discovered was a strong smell of vinegar. When I first bought the radiators i tried cleaning them with water and vinegar before giving up and using the mayhem blitz kit.

It seems obvious that the blitz kit didn't properly flush out the vinegar and I'm wondering if that may have contributed to my problem.

Any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks.
 
Is that blue/green a bit of liquid or is that actually on the block? It looks a bit like verdigris (copper staining/corrosion). You didn't run part 1 of mayhems blitz through the whole loop did you? Part 1 is only for radiators. Part 2 is what you run through the loop for up to 24 hours. I don't think it's biological and I am pretty sure it's not caused by the tubing. I apologise if you have told us before but what make and model radiators do you have?
 
pastymuncher said:
Is that blue/green a bit of liquid or is that actually on the block? It looks a bit like verdigris (copper staining/corrosion). You didn't run part 1 of mayhems blitz through the whole loop did you? Part 1 is only for radiators. Part 2 is what you run through the loop for up to 24 hours. I don't think it's biological and I am pretty sure it's not caused by the tubing. I apologise if you have told us before but what make and model radiators do you have?
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No I didn’t run part one through the whole loop but maybe it hadn’t all flushed out when I assembled the loop and ran part two?

I just took my res apart and both o-rings are green, the bottom one had a fair amount of greenish black gunk on it. To me both rings look like they have been stained green. I haven’t tried cleaning them properly yet but rubbing them with kitchen towel has no affect.

Both radiators are Hardware Labs 360mm, an SR2 Extreme and a GTS.
 
Try some toothpaste with a toothbrush, I believe Crest whitening is praised.

Looks like corrosion to me, but could be some growth in there too.

Smell of vinegar isn't good. Could well be that the loop wasn't properly flushed after one of the treatments.

I'd be starting from square 1. Scrub everything as best you can. Part 1 sat in the rads, then part 2 full the fully cleaned system.

Then really flush it out, first with water directly to the tap, then with a good amount of distilled, several times.

As before I'd recommend XT1 Nuke fluid concentrated higher than the minimum.
 
I had a go with a toothbrush and the toothpaste I currently have and it didn’t make a bit of difference. I feel like such an idiot.
 
That does look like corrosion that rather than gunk. But yeah as already said this is deffo a take it all apart... clean of everything that you can and anything that is corroded bin it mate, imagine rust on a car... once it starts it never stops... same with loops, if yu;'ve got corrosion on a part it's not masgically going to go away, so... clean everything out as best you can, anything with corrosion bin it then follow the steps above... at the end of the day mate it's all about learning these thing, I have absolute no doubt that I'll regret some decisions in my loop come 12 months down the line, it's however part of the fun... learning... so don't be disheartened with it... just get cracking and make a better loop ;-)

Be good if you posted piccies of all your parts before and after, always good for us all and others who are learning to pick things up from others!"
 
I’m going to have to shelve this for awhile. I suffer from a variety of physical and mental health illness and I really cant cope with this right now.

If my cpu block is only fit for the bin then I’ll probably just sell everything else if i can. I cant throw any more money at this by buying a new block.
 
Goose said:
I’m going to have to shelve this for awhile. I suffer from a variety of physical and mental health illness and I really cant cope with this right now.

If my cpu block is only fit for the bin then I’ll probably just sell everything else if i can. I cant throw any more money at this by buying a new block.
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Don't give up on it as I don't believe it's bad enough to go in the bin. I always clean the coldplates (baseplates) of my blocks with believe it or not, Cillit Bang Lime and Grime and it really gets the block looking clean and shiny. In your case get a tub or something similar, put the coldplate in it and add some Cillit Bang Lime and Grime so that it covers the coldplate and let it soak for 30 minutes or so. You can agitate it with a toothbrush every 10 minutes to assist it. It may or may not remove some of that stuff. If you don't have any Cillit Bang Lime and Grime try some distilled vinegar (the clear stuff). It may take longer to work so keep a eye on it. Another option would be wire wool although between the fins will be a problem. You can get fibreglass/brass/steel pens for cleaning electrical contacts which are inexpensive and should help with getting that off. This set is cheap with fast and free delivery but don't use the steel one.
 
@pastymuncher

Thanks very much for the advice.

If this has happened to my cpu block will it not also have happened to the insides of the radiators?

If it has and/or i cant remove the corrosion from the cpu block will they continue to corrode no matter what I do?
 
Goose said:
@pastymuncher

Thanks very much for the advice.

If this has happened to my cpu block will it not also have happened to the insides of the radiators?

If it has and/or i cant remove the corrosion from the cpu block will they continue to corrode no matter what I do?
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That's why you need Blitz Part 1 for the rads.

Personally I wouldn't bin the block; I'd just clean it as best I can and re-use it, making sure to run blitz 2 through the loop and thoroughly rinse first with directly connected tap water, then distilled.

Listen mate, this happens to everyone, custom loops are generally awesome, but they're higher maintenance, finicky, and sometimes very frustrating. As I've said before, there's a reason most people don't do it. It's a hobby, not a simple cooling solution.

I know you can be happy with your loop, we've all been where you are. If it isn't for you, that's totally fine, but I think it is. You've said several times you're throwing in towel, yet here you are, still asking questions :D

Just give it all a flush as we've discussed before. Scrub that block, clean the o-rings, clean the rest of the components, Blitz 1 in the rads, flush them loads. Blitz 2 the loop, heavy flush with water, proper flush with distilled. Refill with a higher concentration of XT1 Nuke.

If you get it right, it should just be a case of simple maintenance going forward; drain, flush, refill and go.

See what happens mate, what have you got to lose? :)
 
@WantoN

Thanks mate. Once i can muster some enthusiasm I’ll probably spend a week or so just flushing out the radiators. I guess I’ll just hook them up to the pump/res and keep replacing the water two or three times a day.

Will deionised water do? Distilled is actually quite expensive and given how much i intend on running through it’ll really add up.

The other thing i was wondering is whether or not I should check the PH level every time I change the water?
 
Goose said:
@WantoN

Thanks mate. Once i can muster some enthusiasm I’ll probably spend a week or so just flushing out the radiators. I guess I’ll just hook them up to the pump/res and keep replacing the water two or three times a day.

Will deionised water do? Distilled is actually quite expensive and given how much i intend on running through it’ll really add up.

The other thing i was wondering is whether or not I should check the PH level every time I change the water?
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Whole thing should only take a day or two mate. Blitz1 just sits in the rads,before being drained and flushed.

Don't connect your pump or other components for flushing Blitz 1!! It's very strong stuff.

For Blitz1, drain the rads, half fill with distilled, give it a good shake then empty it. Then fill with Blitz1 as per instructions.

To flush Blitz1, drain the rads, half fill with tap water, give it a good shake, then drain. The connect individually direct to the tap, and run the water through at a good rate, straight down the sink. Vary the rate intermittently.

Then drain, part fill with distilled, give it a really good shake, and empty. The water that comes out should be clear and without any crud or colour. Repeat the half filled distilled & shake method a few times, then completely fill with distilled, then drain.

If crud or colour is still coming out, you can try:
  • Connecting to the tap again
  • Filling partially with tap water and shaking
  • Run Blitz 1 again
Once nothing but clean water is coming out, then flush with distilled a few times and move on.

I only use distilled. I find tap water fine for cleaning and initial flushing, but I always finish with distilled, and mix my fluids with it. Plenty of people swear by DI, but I would never use it.

You can get 5L of distilled water for less than a tenner, which should be more than enough for the whole job plus mixing fluid. If you can't find it, Trust me and I'll send you a link.

Once the rads are done and the blocks are scrubbed, put together a loop and run Blitz2 as per the instructions. I'd just do a loop with really short tubes, and use fresh tubing (flushed with distilled), to build the new loop. But it's up to you.

Another thing I should mention, when working on your loop, your hands should be very clean so you don't introduce anything, and all surfaces should be clean too.
 
I initially used mayhems clear tubing and red mayhems fluid until I noticed that the tubing begun to stain from the fluid.

Brought a new case and bigger rads so decided to replace the tubing for black Tygon tubing and now I just use distilled water with some kind of biocide. It looks better to me and I’ve had no kind of reaction or algae growth in the 2 or so years since I made changes it’s also cheaper to drain and refill the loop so regrets at all.
 
I have to say that in all the time I have been using Mayhems tubing and Mayhems X1 red I have had no problems at all. I recently drained the loop and stripped it all down after running for around a year and everything was looking the same as it did when I set the loop up with no staining to blocks, reservoir or tubing.

Asda sells 2.5Ltr containers of Carplan de-ionised water for only £1.50 and I have even picked it up on offer for as little as 50p per container. Some of Asda's larger stores also sell 5 Ltr containers for £2.50. It's cheap and perfect for flushing and even running in a loop with a suitable additive to prevent algae and corrosion.

@Goose If you get stuck you can send me your CPU block and I will clean it to the best of my abilities for you and fit all new O-rings. Same with the GPU block if you have one and it's in a similar state. Send the reservoir O-ring as well and I will try to find a replacement for you. I don't want anything for doing it, I am just offering to help a fellow forum member out. I would hate for you to have spent all of that money only to be disheartened and give up on it. Unfortunately I can't do your rads as I don't have a part 1 blitz kit. Let me know if you would like me to do this for you.
 
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