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Green stuff?

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Tyreal

Tyreal

Member
​
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
Location
Vancouver, Canada
A few days ago my tubes started clouding up so I took my loop apart. Upon opening my storm I found some green crap around the edges of the jet plate. None of the jets were clogged and the copper itself was free of this green muck but was tarnished (normal AFAIK). I couldn't figure out what it was but assumed it was algae. I had been using distilled water with a little more than a cap of antifreeze and 4 drops of Proviodine which is the same as povidone iodine.

I cleaned everything up and reassembled the loop. This time using only a capful of antifreeze, distilled water, and 5-6 drops of iodine. Anybody have any idea what this green crap could be? I should also mention that i had noticed some crap floating in my t-line. Also, I ran a rolled up paper towel through one of the tubes and I got this greenish stuff out.

EDIT. By the way, my loop consist of a Swiftech Storm, MCP655/ Laing D5 pump, brass t-line and brass t-line cap, and a Black Ice GT Stealth 240. As far as I know, I am not mixing metals so I did not put alot of antifreeze.
 
Tyreal said:
I don't have any pictures of the stuff in the block, but I do have pictures of the tubing and some of the stuff in it.


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Click to expand...
It looks like either algae or green additive(antifreeze)
 
ok. I think I'm going to go to an aquarium store and get some serious anti algae stuff. but 6 drops of iodine should cut it,
 
green = photosynthesis

Im unsure if iodine works against algae, I think it only works against bacteria.

Iodine being a dye will not cross the waxy outer cell walls of plants...

pool cleaners have a lot of anti alge chemicals in them, however often they are often corosive.

You really shouldnt have any algae in the water to begin with unless you used tap water to fill your loop.
 
I use a few drops of povidone iodine and a drop of aquarium tank algaecide. The algaecide costs about $5 at walmart and is enough to last a lifetime.
 
Alage needs phospahate and some form of nitrogen (nitrate, nitrite or ammonia) to develop.

Did you use some form of cleaning product on the equipment?
 
cleaning product? No. I used a splash of vinegar on all the components, then alcohol, and then distilled water to clean it off.

Although my storm had some tarnish on it and i really wanted to get rid of it so I tried all sorts of different things to get it off. Lemon juice, ketchup, etc. But nothing so I just let it be. I always cleaned it off afterwards.
 
So what would be the best course of action? Will the 6 drops of proviodinebe enough? should I add more antifreeze? or go get some algae killer at the aquarium store.
 
He said to use both but for the $10 you spend you only need a few drops over the course of a full year so its not so bad.
you might also wanna take it all appart and sterilize it in some boiling water then rinse with vineger and distilled.
 
To the greenmaji:

Algae and cyanobacteria are one of the few (very very few) organisms that can "fix" nitrogen from the atmosphere N2 style. So in fact they dont need a soluble nitrogen source such as phosphates (commonly found in soap and detergents) to create cell mass, they are able to do it from thin air (literally). Oh and to power it all up they have solar power pannels called chloroplasts!

Bacteria and algae are not the same thing...

Yes people use iodine to kill bacteria yes it old school and has worked quite well. But your iodine will not kill a plant cell or algae...
 
I added some more antifreeze. The loop has taken on a greenish tinge when before it was slightly red because of the iodine. I read up on ethylene glycol and its suppose to kill algae.
 
You were misinformed. Antifreeze is pretty much only poisonous to organisms with Kidneys. The mode of death in Antifreeze poisoning cases is renal failure. People are more likely to get bacteria in their loop through their skin than algae so iodine tends to work just fine. A proper algaeside like barley based algaeside is a great option.

To prevent another bloom from propagating you should boil your remaining water in a glass container or just buy some new stuff (water the garden with the old stuff ;) ). I had this problem once before and it came from a contaminated bottle of distilled water (it was opened before so it wasn't the bottler's fault).
 
Thats what I thought... antifreeze aka ethylene glycol only kills because it is broken down in the kidneys to a more toxic substance.

I still recomend you get the real stuff from the pool cleaning store. And maybe even take that loop apart and start over with some clean H20.

I autoclave my water before I use it all the time...
 
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