Weird Growth in Loop

turok_t

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Aug 25, 2018
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Hey everyone,

I had my loop for around 6 weeks now and all my parts are new including: CPU block, GPU block, pump, reservoir, radiators x2 and hard tubing. They are all brand new and never used. Given that my CPU and GPU block have acrylic tops, I can see that they were absolutely clean without any debris at all when I purchased them. I rinsed them with distilled water for 30 minutes or so before installing them. For the radiators, I have cleaned and rinsed them as well for several hours to remove any debris from the factory. I did this religiously to ensure that both radiators were completely cleaned before I installed them.

Currently, I am using Dazmode protector (https://www.dazmode.com/shop/watercooling/liquids/performance-liquid/dazmode-protector/) which is an anti-corrosion and biocide coolant. People claim this is the same stuffs as Feser One from Germany. It recommends mixing 100mL of this coolant with up to 900mL of distilled water. I mixed 100mL of this coolant with 700mL of distill water in my loop.

Anyhow, my watercooling loop has been running for 6 weeks (my computer is usually turned off at night time) and I find this weird growth in my loop. As you can see from the pictures and videos below, there are blotches of white spots which look like mold/lint and appear fluffy too. You can see these spots along the hard tubing, CPU waterblock and reservoir. Also, you can see a thin layer of this fluffy stuff on the surface of the water in the reservoir.

Any idea what this is? Is this algae growth?

Here are the pics and videos:

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[url=https://postimg.cc/k6twj9Lr]20210811-103005.jpg[/url
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Where would the dust/crud have come from? I inspected all the parts before installation and everything is new. The CPU/water blocks were completely spotless before installing and the rads were rinsed too. These spots tend to be growing more and more overtime, so i doubt its residual debris from before.
 
likely from your coolant or hiding in the rad. regardless of what it is Id flush the loop and clean it.
Well, yes, obviously it has to be flushed and cleaned out...

Anyone have any good recommendations of clear coolant that they have used?
 
looks like some type of white algae. no choice but to break it down and clean it all.
edit: not sure on the coolant, i use antifreeze and distilled. there are clear coolants like: cryofuel or hyrdo-x
 
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Algae needs light to grow, so I suspect the LEDs behind the clear reservoir are contributing to those spots. One of the downsides of using clear tubing and case lighting.
 
they can. looks like there is a slight bit of blue in the led, which encourages growth...
 
I put distilled water and a tiny amount of benzalkonium chloride in my loop and nothing grows. I got the impression that at least some of the fancy mixtures were snake oil.
 
Any coolant you guys would recommend? or any DIY methods that are safe and doesnt cause more issues in your loop?
 
do you have a brand for your antifreeze? how much anti-freeze did you mix with distilled water?
 
do you have a brand for your antifreeze? how much anti-freeze did you mix with distilled water?
not really, depends what color you want. i shoot for ~15% af to water. its literally all they use in AIOs.
 
Don't use antifreeze, It has far less thermal conductivity and often has a much higher viscosity (thicker) witch can clog up a loop.There are also additaves in antifreeze that can brake done parts in the loop.
sure if you use straight af... works fine if you mix it right and people have been doin it for 20+ years.
 
I have been using EKWB Cryofuel for years & have no issues. At 30-40 dollars a bottle it is more than expensive but I'll run it for up to 2 years without any issues. Both my blocks are EKWB also. Primo chill tubes. Bitspower fittings along with a few XSPC bits.
 
purell? weird ;)
I can't remember where I got mine, but it's sold for this purpose and the container looks like eyedrops. Highly concentrated, it will go bad before I ever use it all. It's used at a rate of something like 1 drop per 100ml H2O. So far, the result has been excellent.
 
Youve got to be careful where you touch your fittings, tubing and blocks when your installing everything. If you slide a finger into the inside of any of them thats all it takes to contaminate your loop. Another problem ive had is oil on fitting o-rings. That can cause what looks like growth but is actually just oily crud. Its easily transferred to the inside of tubes and blocks and is invisible until it mixes with your coolant.
Ive never heard of the coolant you used so it may simply be a bad batch. Who knows.
I use koolance clear now but have heard that ek cryo is good as well.
Auto coolant is what we used to use back in the day but i got tired of green fluid lol. I ran 10% anti freeze to distilled and had no issues other than foaming in my res.
Then i switched to petras pt nuke and distilled for many years until last year. Draining and flushing every year and my blocks still all look nice and new. Except for that one time...haha.

I hate to break it to you OP but your going to have to do a thorough cleaning or that shit will come back. Youll probably have to toss your tubing unless you can figure out a way to scrub that crap off of it. I dont envy you.
GL!
 
I have been using EKWB Cryofuel for years & have no issues. At 30-40 dollars a bottle it is more than expensive but I'll run it for up to 2 years without any issues. Both my blocks are EKWB also. Primo chill tubes. Bitspower fittings along with a few XSPC bits.
Not sure where you're located but here in the States Cryofuel is available for $17/liter. At that price it was a no brainer to buy the pre-mixed stuff. At least when you're building your first loop, there are plenty of other things to worry about 😄

I'm new to liquid cooling this year and Cryofuel is all I've used, but so far no issues 😎
 
I have used XSPC and Koolance fluids, mixed with distilled water, in systems that have literally lasted for years trouble free. Flush those rads very well with hot tap, then rinse with distilled before filling. Clear and clear/blue fluids have always done me well when it comes to color. I usually mix a bit heavy ratio-wise, up to 2X, than instructed.
 
I've used the EK Cryofuel clear in my 2 custom loop builds. The first was a soft tube build with black tubing, and my current is clear PETG hard line. I've never seen any build up or corrosion issues, and moved the cpu block from one buidl to the next, so it's been running the longest of anything in my build. I left the rad and pump in my first build for a friend of mine that was going to use it for a build.
 
Youve got to be careful where you touch your fittings, tubing and blocks when your installing everything. If you slide a finger into the inside of any of them thats all it takes to contaminate your loop. Another problem ive had is oil on fitting o-rings. That can cause what looks like growth but is actually just oily crud. Its easily transferred to the inside of tubes and blocks and is invisible until it mixes with your coolant.
Ive never heard of the coolant you used so it may simply be a bad batch. Who knows.
I use koolance clear now but have heard that ek cryo is good as well.
Auto coolant is what we used to use back in the day but i got tired of green fluid lol. I ran 10% anti freeze to distilled and had no issues other than foaming in my res.
Then i switched to petras pt nuke and distilled for many years until last year. Draining and flushing every year and my blocks still all look nice and new. Except for that one time...haha.

I hate to break it to you OP but your going to have to do a thorough cleaning or that shit will come back. Youll probably have to toss your tubing unless you can figure out a way to scrub that crap off of it. I dont envy you.
GL!

Oh dont worry, ive taken it a part before and cleaned every tube, opened up every block and cleaned it too. Its just a hassle, but its not a problem. Im more worried about taking things apart and putting it together repeatedly which may cause fittings and orings to be loose which may increase the risk for leaks. I can't use PT nuke, EK explicitly advises NOT to use it for their waterblocks.

Nah, the tubing doesnt have to be tossed at all, the white spots dislodges easily from the tube. im just going to scrub it gently with something soft to clean it.


So it seems like EK cryofuel seems to have good results. How does it compare to Mayhem's X1 or XT-1 nuke coolant?
 
Not sure where you're located but here in the States Cryofuel is available for $17/liter. At that price it was a no brainer to buy the pre-mixed stuff. At least when you're building your first loop, there are plenty of other things to worry about 😄

I'm new to liquid cooling this year and Cryofuel is all I've used, but so far no issues 😎
Last time I bought a couple liters it was overpriced & I couldn't find it cheaper on amazon or ebay $30 was the cheapest I found. Ive lost track of any smaller boutique stores online also they don't sell it in any stores anywhere here. Im in LA Cali.

Where can you order for 17?
 
Did you flush/clean your rad with hot water before install? That crud looks more like residual flux/manufacturing gunk. I always use a little vinegar and near boiling water to flush the rads when new, then rinse a few time with clean water. It is kind of crazy the amount of junk will come out of them, even when "cleaned at the factory".

Coolant wise, distilled and PT nuke or other biocide is enough, although I switched to premix a few years ago.

XSPC is fine, although I have had problems with their opaque stuff. The last couple of years I have used DP ultra which is great, and Alphacool eiswasser which is good, and has very vibrant color if you are going for that.
 
Aquarium guy here.

1: Leds can absolutely grow algae and all sorts of other stuff. I use boring old LED Light strips for many of my planted tanks.
2: That looks like the stuff that we call Biofilm.
1628753793142.png


Normally it comes out of fresh pieces of driftwood or recently transported plants, how the hell it ended up in your loop is beyond me. It's actually a fungus that is considered quite beneficial in an aquarium because it's quickly devoured by fish and such and is basically a huge lump of the good bacteria needed to keep an aquarium in balance.
Only way I can imagine it being involved in a loop is if your distilled water is actually far from distilled and somehow contained bacteria.

It also grows on sinking foods that are left too long, at which point it isn't a good thing.
 
Would a silver coil be of benefit in this situation? I no longer water cool, but always ran plain distilled water with a silver kill coil, no color additive, or anything else. I don't remember ever having issues with any growth.
 
Clear tubing, cover blocks, reservoirs, et-al combined with lighting effects, waterfalls (mixing of coolant with air!) are ill advised on ANY closed loop system, period. If you like such things be prepared for lots of maintenance downtime/hauls. The ticket to low maintenance, preserving efficacy over time is sealed circuit that blocks out all light 100%. Use of the purest water possible (18.5 MegOHM) which can be done with mechanical->granular activated carbon (GAC)->RO->DI resins. Hobbyists in the fish trade often use setups similar to these for producing lab grade water which then trace elements/salt mixes are added. Depending on what wetted metals are in the circuit is what you plan your antimicrobial strategies. In the PC cooling industry there are more snake oils then one can shake a stick at unfortunately.

And finally, and foremost all this trouble with planning and engineering is wasted if proper assembly procedures aren't followed! At the very least wear gloves when assembling parts. If you need to purge water NEVER, EVER blow on the hose!

Also it's a good idea to set up a circuit of your unmounted parts with good tubing AND a water filter (5 micron) and let it run for a day. You would be surprised at the number of shavings, flux parts, etc. that comes out of radiators. If this isn't done, guess where all this crap winds up? On the next closest thing to a filter, the block. Just as you should never run your air handler without a filter (coils become the filter!) this step should not be omitted. Otherwise you're spending time tearing things down when load temps aren't quite where they used to be. ;-)

I have systems that have been in use since 2011 without any teardowns, the coolant is still diamond clear and the wetted surfaces clean. Copper will oxidize black but it works fine. No slime or other nasty lizard snot looking goop in jet plates or fins.
 
Last time I bought a couple liters it was overpriced & I couldn't find it cheaper on amazon or ebay $30 was the cheapest I found. Ive lost track of any smaller boutique stores online also they don't sell it in any stores anywhere here. Im in LA Cali.

Where can you order for 17?
https://www.titanrig.com/ekwb-ek-cryofuel-premix-pc-coolant-1000ml-03-75-ek-0106-00-xx.html#93=198
https://www.performance-pcs.com/wat...clear-premix-1000-ml-ek-cryofuel-1000-cl.html
 
Aquarium guy here.

1: Leds can absolutely grow algae and all sorts of other stuff. I use boring old LED Light strips for many of my planted tanks.
2: That looks like the stuff that we call Biofilm.
View attachment 384041

Normally it comes out of fresh pieces of driftwood or recently transported plants, how the hell it ended up in your loop is beyond me. It's actually a fungus that is considered quite beneficial in an aquarium because it's quickly devoured by fish and such and is basically a huge lump of the good bacteria needed to keep an aquarium in balance.
Only way I can imagine it being involved in a loop is if your distilled water is actually far from distilled and somehow contained bacteria.

It also grows on sinking foods that are left too long, at which point it isn't a good thing.
Yes! that is exactly what I see. How the biofilm got in is beyond me, probably was the distilled water that was used (even though i got it sealed) or the Dazmode coolant i used was ineffective (i heard feser one isn't that great).
 
Eventually it'll starve and kill itself out, but the actual physical matter will stay in the loop. I'd definitely flush with some sort of fungicide so it doesn't bloom again.
 
Dan_D turned me on to Koolance 702 in an awesome post he made for me last year about getting started in water cooling. It's a great all-around coolant. I've actually been running the clear version of it in my current system since May 2020. I have an acrylic-topped cpu block and an acrylic distro-plate in my system. Both are currently running the color blue on the LEDs. I'm using bitspower fittings and EKWB zero maintenance black tubing. So far, knock on wood, I don't have any growth and it still looks nice and clear. I need to bite the bullet and flush/clean it this fall I guess. I also never turn my system off as I've read that helps with keeping stuff from growing as well. Good luck with your system. You may want to buy some Mayhem's Blitz and really knock out the radiator.
 
I've run that Koolance coolant in two Exos 2.5 units that were used for mine and Kyle's test benches for more than ten years now. Those units are still serving me now in the same capacity and are still perfectly clear. I probably only flush them about once a year or so when I change out water blocks for different CPU types, etc. I'm also using EK's Cryofuel in my main rig right now and I haven't had any issues with that so far either. Granted, I've probably only run that for about 8 months. But I've got clear tubing and clear blocks on the CPU and GPU. I have no signs of growth, clouding or anything like that.
 
Another thing to remember with silver "kill coils"...
They need to be very very pure like 99.99%.
And nickel plated blocks don't even get me started on those!
Nickel has its advantages but unfortunately to (properly) apply it to copper or bronze is an expensive procedure that's often rushed or done incorrectly from the start.
And troubles arise.
Best blocks are either solid copper lowers and uppers if increased mass isn't an issue (on GPUs they must be braced or mounted horizontally) or at least copper lowers topped with acetel. No acrylic. Acrylic and nickel looks nice but it won't stay that way for long and when the plating deteriorates you will cry. If you really insist on this look, you would be better off purchasing a copper block and finding a competent chrome plating shop to take care of you.
 
EKWB Cryofuel + distilled and never any algae or crud here. Seems about perfect for hardline, only downside is very quick to stain on soft tube (cryofuel with the colors or dye I mean).
 
Another vote for the koolance 702 clear. Thats what i switched to and ive had no issues with it.
The problem with pre-mixes is shipping. I got a good deal from ppcs with a coupon and one of their 10%off deals but shipping wiped it out.
 
I guess premixes are fine but when you're filling your system with five gallon buckets it would be a bit expensive. ;-)
 
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