coolant mixture

I am building my loop now with the parts shown below (a condensed version). Now i understand that you need to use distilled water, and algaecide (have some tetra's left over from fish) and if you have mixed metals, antifreeze (10 - 20% depending). My question is, do I even have the necessary amount of mixed metals to warrant using antifreeze if its just going to hurt cooling?

MCP655
MCR320-QP 1/2" metal barbs
D-tek FuZion

I am thinking about adding a MCW60-R or another vga block at some point. If i do not need antifreeze, what metals should i steer away from for the vga block.

Right now you've got all copper and brass. Stick with a copper GPU sink and everything will be fine. And don't forget the iodine ...

Add a drain port to it and use straight, water flush/rinse/refill monthly.
If you loop bleed air fast it's the way to go for simplicity and a good excuse to look inside your case regularly.

QuietIce said:

Right now you've got all copper and brass. Stick with a copper GPU sink and everything will be fine. And don't forget the iodine ...

Click to expand...

Doesn't the algaecide serve the same purpose as iodine?

Tekko said:

Add a drain port to it and use straight, water flush/rinse/refill monthly.
If you loop bleed air fast it's the way to go for simplicity and a good excuse to look inside your case regularly.

Click to expand...

I like that excuse!

Many of us use iodine to kill everything else that may be problematic besides algae such as bacteria, etc. Povidone-iodine doesn't contain any alcohol which is harmful to acrylic.

Antifreeze isn't absolutely necessary if using an all copper/brass loop, however, antifreeze does provide PH buffers and some feel it also helps pump longevity by providing a bit of lubrication. 5-10% of antifreeze isn't going to effect cooling measurably.

Alright, thanks a lot guys! See you in the project logs.

For future searches I'll be using 5% AF, few drops of iodine, necessary algaecide (tetra), and distilled water.