yellow and green debris found on the tubes
yellow and green debris found on the tubes
Hi,
I've been running my first water cooling loop for around five months and decided to change the fluids. I encountered yellow or greenish tubes during disassembly, which indicated there was some kind of debris present.
Regarding my setup (xspc raystorm D5 AX240 WaterCooling Kit with extra radiator):
- Radiators: Black Ice Radiator GT Stealth 280, xpsc AX240 (both copper/brass)
- CPU Block: xspc RayStorm Intel CPU
- Pump: D5 Vario Pump
- Coolant: Distilled water with a drop of soap
The system was kept in a sealed case, only for noise reasons. I plan to install a GPU block this week.
I flushed one radiator with distilled water and didn’t see any issues; the water came out clean.
Could you help me understand what might be causing this? Is it corrosion, bio growth, or limescale? I’ve purchased some Innovatec Protect—will that be sufficient for future use? Should I replace all tubes, or is it okay to keep them? I’m not concerned about the appearance.
Attached are some images: 1) used tube next to an unused one, 2) end of a tube showing the difference, 3) debris scraped from the tube.
that is algae, using water alone will grow algae no matter what and can clog your pumps.... you need a dedicated cooling fluid that will also remove more heat. here is a link to what i use and have never had a problem: https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Therma...4852904613!
that is algae, using water alone will grow algae no matter what and can clog your pumps.... you need a dedicated cooling fluid that will also remove more heat. here is a link to what i use and have never had a problem: https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Therma...4852904613!
What actions are required with your current equipment? Is adding antibacterial solution sufficient, is a flush necessary, and are any components needing replacement?
It seems like the growth has stopped or there was some leftover residue from production.
Why did you add soap to the loop?
I would replace all the tubing and I recommend setting up the loop and running it with a water and vinegar solution (25-35%) to prevent contamination of the radiators and blocks from this residue. I suggest running it for at least several hours, then flushing and rebuilding the loop using clean tubing, distilled water, and an anti-microbial additive.
I saw a discussion about using soap to make the pump operate quietly.
Which type of vinegar should I use—cleaning vinegar or something else? Should I purchase it from the grocery store?
What anti-microbial additive is recommended? Can I find it at a hardware store instead of a pool supply shop? These water cooling services often take a long time to deliver.
Not sure where you got the soap info, but I would never recommended that to anyone and I've been on these forums for about 8 years. Hopefully those people are no longer giving this kind of advice out.
White distilled vinegar and water are fine, that is what I use. The antimicrobial you use can either be a copper/cupric sulfate like PT Nuke (or similar) or it can be a biocide like is used for aquariums, etc.
You will definitely want to replace the tubing, though.
I've seen articles suggesting against using vinegar on nickel-plated fittings because it removes the plating from the copper. The images in those articles support this claim. Is this accurate? Additionally, the person should replace the tubing, clean the blocks, and apply a biocide.