water cooling.. algae and when to flush?

[DJ_007]

So i recently as in a week ago did my first water cooling setup, its a single loop on the CPU, I used distilled water and probably %5 antifreeze, i also put about 5 drops of tetra fist tank treatment in the res as it seemed like a good idea.. Is this a good mixture? how long typically before algae and stuff starts to grow if its going to.?? and how often do most people flush the system?

 

[Crispy002]

Drain your loop and rinse everything (preferably with distilled water). Refill the loop and get one of the following:
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...ine_Silver_Tubing_Reservoir_Strip.html?tl=g30
OR
http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...oduct_info&cPath=59_381_384&products_id=30213

Follow the directions and your water will stay clean with no ill-effects almost indefinitely. I have no idea what's in fish treatment but I most certainly wouldn't risk tarnishing my blocks for zero benefit. You probably could use ethylene glycol to prevent bacteria growth but I don't know the long term effects it'd have on the pump/blocks/etc.

 

[scaarbelly]

Don't know about your mixture, but I used distilled water with a few drops of PT nuke and in 2.5 years I have only flushed it twice, most recently last month and every thing is clean as a whistle.

 

[mrbigshot]

now i just run pure tap water and haven't flushed in nearly 4 years.

 

[DJ_007]

its interesting how people have completely different methods, I suppose my philosophy on my mixture was i have no idea how anything could live in antifreeze and algae killer... especially antifreeze has propylene glycol in it.

 

[Buntz]

Another PT Nuke and distilled water user. Flush once a year.

 

[Loafdogg420]

I used premix for years until I finally kept a system long enough to see what builds up lol. Since switched to distilled + nuke or coil. Never looked back.