No Additives

how long can you run your computer with out any additives before getting growth and such?

Im one of the few here in OCF who think no additives is better.

I have run my loop with no additives for about 5 months no growth no turbidity no scum detected.

It will depend but not in first week.

i love my clear tubes. I hate adding things and the tubes get all foggy.

I don't think anyone here can say with certainty how long you can run pure distilled water without any buildup. I wouldn't run water cooling without some kind of additive, unless I had silver in my loop like a res or waterblock.

C'mon people, use common sense. Put water in a bowl and leave it there and see what happens. You need only about a drop of algaecide to prevent any growth. And plain old distilled water will STILL cloud tubing after a number of months.

Since I used boiling water to rinse all of my parts after a hot soapy wash out (Dawn w/bleach), I ran for a year without growth in my system using only distilled water. Of course, I also rinse like mad to remove all the soap before the boiling distilled final rinse, and the dawn dishsoap uses a bleach substitute (for those concerned it was that).
Prep and cleaning beforehand is key here, and really needs to be paid attention to. If someone sneezed on a component or machine making your part, or a spore happened to drift into the production area at the right time, you'll most likely have growth(s) sooner or later if you don't clean the daylights out of your parts.

Now for the downside. I have an all copper/ brass/ plastic loop. I had no growth inside my system for that year, but the water started to get a greenish tinge to it and became sort of cloudy looking.
What I did get was corrosion in my main radiator and inside of my MCW6000 waterblock. Nice (albeit tiny) light green chunks of corrosion were flushed from my system when I cleaned it out for a re-fill. The waterblock looked as if it were painted light green inside. Definately copper corrosion, and not an algae attack.
Not much, not like a hand-full of chunks to flush out(big truck radiator here), but definately something I had to remedy.

I now use only a 2-3% solution (or less) of anti-freeze in my loop, just enough to get the beginnings of a color change of the coolant.
I added a splash of Iodine this time also because I wasn't able to disassemble the loop entirely to do my usual near-sterilization.
I've always used steam distilled water...I accept no substitutes.
Plus my temps have remained the same, then as now.

I've concluded that since water is 1/3 oxygen (just based on numbers, not weight or some such siliness), it's crazy not to expect and plan for copper oxidation. That's what the AF gets you. You don't need much, a little dab will do ya.

i finally got scared of microbial life inside of my tubes

If they can kill a whole fleet of aliens in war of the worlds they can get inside my tubes .

I figured I had about 1/4 of a gallon (128oz/4 = 32oz in loop) in my loop so I added 1oz of cosworth coolant which is about a 3.1% mix. I will see how it works out, i wish i had added a bit less since it turned my water really blue, I was going for a really light blue. The coolant is a really dark blue so i guess it is only natural that it turns my water dark. Hopefully I added enough to keep the growth and fogging down for a while. I am hoping to get atleast 4 or 5 months out of it, because cleaning blocks is really a pain in the arse.

Lotsa work!
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4895653&postcount=2

I am a firm believer in a drop of algaecide and a few drops of iodine myself.

Sure if you leave a bucket of distilled water outside enviromental bacteria from the air will fall into it and contaminate it. Pasteur discovered this 100 years ago nothing new hear.

Go and boil up some distilled water in a glass jar seal up the jar and see if there is any bacterial growth. Like can-foods once the bacteria is killed and its all sealed up it lasts for years. Ie your loop should be all sealed up otherwise it would probably leak.

Consider this "all life needs a carbon source". Where is the carbon in double distilled water ie H2O? I dont see any "C" in the equation, if the water is "pure" enough there really isnt any food for the bacteria to grow on!

However I do see "C" in the equation for HOCH2CH2OH which everyone here in OCF seems to swear by, Oh and by the way its also the main ingredient in almost all the water cooling additive hydrex, PC ICE, etc etc. And incase you were wondering HOCH2CH2OH is not a very difficult chemical for bacteria to break down especially in the concentrations you guys use, and is quite energy rich ie food for bacteria!

Well unless you plan on sterilizing every component and the tubing when you install it, your argument falls short.

Also, tubing is permeable, hence why water evaporates from your system, so there is no such thing as a truly "sealed" system.

And why the argument when a single, itty bitty little teeny drop of algaecide from walmart will prevent any growth. Argue your carbon debate or whatever, but that just doesn't make any practical sense to me.

The question still remains... what are the bacteria eating.... they cant feed and grow off water alone!

Pour a small amount of anti-freeze into a jar/can whatever and leave it sitting outside - up high where animals and people can't get into it.

Let us know when it starts growing things ...

Thats exactly what I mean! If you add antifreeze into a "clean jar" with Distlled water. The bacteria will break down the antifreze and use it as food!


But if you but a jar of water (double distilled) then and seal up the jar nothing grows!

This is definitely one of those YMMV things. Since everyones loop is made up of different components and is set up in different environments, people have very different results. My first attempt at watercooling I just used distilled water, and my reservoir was the jug of distilled water with holes cut in it for tubing to run in. Basically, it was a disaster waiting to happen, but I ran it for months with now problem! However last time I set up my loop, I mixed in 10% antifreeze just to be safe and had growth in 2 months. I think if you are meticulous about your setup you can probably run no additives, at least in theory it makes perfect sense.

UBERCOOL said:

I think if you are meticulous about your setup you can probably run no additives, at least in theory it makes perfect sense.

Click to expand...

Diggrr might qualify for that but few others would. And least we forget, the PVC tubing we use is an organic compound ...

You raise a good point QuietIce, I have never really thought about the tubing possibly introducing impurities into the water. Especially because to make the PVC flexible they have to put in additives to plasticize it. But still, if there is no living organism in your system when you seal it, the only thing you should have to worry about is corrosion.

I'v eheard if you use the Silver Tygon then no additivies are needed? No idea how acurate that is... kinda curious myself. lol.

Basically, Silver Tygon has Silver in it and the silver prevents stuff from living in your loop. Not sure about silver and how it reacts with copper so it might require using more anti-freeze.

IIRC silver and copper get along fine with each other. Didn't Cathar custom make a few silver blocks?

I'm waiting for the long-range results from use of silver Tygon and no additives before I jump on the band-wagon ...