How do you color your water?

[baditude_df]

Howdy Gents,

If you mix your own coolant, do you color it? Or just leave it clear?

If you color it, what do you use? Where do you buy?

I don't suppose food coloring would be a good idea due to it's ingredients, but I'm not really sure. Anyone tried it?

[CGR]

Some additives are already colored, such as Water whetter which is red, Purple Ice, which is Purple and Hydrx which is Green.


There are also dyes you can add such as these http://www.crazypc.com/products/cooling/reservoirs.htm#additives

[Albyno]

y not use car coolant mix?

[Adragontattoo]

I use a really big marker to color the inside and then a fine tip marker to color by the lines..

wait my bad, got confused.

Many of the additives have color added. You can also use coolant if you want, or buy actual dye.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE DYE! If you buy the wrong kind, it will settle out of suspension and you will end up with spots of funky colored coolant.

[Conumdrum]

Buy colored tubing. Run just distilled and some Petras Biocide. Seen (read) too many posts about wired clogs, slow flows, growths, and just absolute nightmares with many other things.

Disclaimer: I have seen a few distilled/ etc loops go bad, but the number is small. I have seen, by proportion, many more loops screwed up by 'colored/UV/bling/ 'special non-conductive' liquids.

[Albyno]

so the coolant u put in ur car is no good?

[Diddyu]

Car coolant is fine, but is usually unnecessary unless you have a mix of aluminum and copper in your loop.

[Conumdrum]

No, you don't have a car in the computer room. And Albyno, I don't see how your input furthured this discussion. Why do run anti-freeze in your car, and why is or isn't it required in your PC WC loop? Awaiting your input...............

[Moto7451]

I use pentosin. ~5% yields a nice blue (or red if the red works just as well at 5%).

[baditude_df]

Ok, first off, thanks for your replies.

Second, I guess I should have been more clear. I've used many types of pre-made coolants, and I've mixed my own(distilled+PT Nuke). The only thing I haven't done is dye the fluid a different color. I was just wondering what you guys used. B4 I try this FeserF1 I want to try it out to see what it looks like and how much I will have to add to get to the desired color.

And Conumdrum, I plan on going with a dark FeserTube or PrimoFlex LRT Black for the next loop to cut down on the amount of sunlight that hits distilled/biocide mix.

Anyhow, thanks again.

[SolidxSnake]

FrozenCPU water dye. I bought the UV red stuff and used it for two loops. Never again. It dyed GREAT but stained everything nearly instantly.

[Conumdrum]

No worris bad. What you need to worry about is all the new peeps who find this site. They got no idea what's good or bad. We don't need to sustain the xx is best etc internet myths.

xtreme forums IS the xtreme and is the best place to ask advanced questions. I hate to dumb down what we ned to ask, but maybe with a disclaimer at times. Peeps could just take it wrong. So I made a almost sticky answer to resolve your general question.

What IS a new development is Fesser colored tubing, seems to be very nice. Some UV even. Still able to run a stable non-screwed-gunked up loop and have the coolness of color.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=575676

ANOTHER post to calm down the masses. Please read. I'm almost to he point of not bothering with it anymore. Other peeps problems or preventing them is my issue, it's a common humanity thing. But boy, I'm tired of doing it. I got games to play.

[Albyno]

i wasnt talking about anti freeze Conumdrum. Car coolant mix is typicaly GREEN! (and no not all colant has anti freeze in it) therefor it would color his water! what i was asking was would it be BAD if not he could use it and it would color his water..... hence furthering the discussion unlike ur first comment which was to attack me not answer either question

[baditude_df]

Be nice you guys.

Or you'll get a big green peepee slap.

[Conumdrum]

Sorry bad..........

[Adragontattoo]

No worris bad. What you need to worry about is all the new peeps who find this site. They got no idea what's good or bad. We don't need to sustain the xx is best etc internet myths.

xtreme forums IS the xtreme and is the best place to ask advanced questions. I hate to dumb down what we ned to ask, but maybe with a disclaimer at times. Peeps could just take it wrong. So I made a almost sticky answer to resolve your general question.

What IS a new development is Fesser colored tubing, seems to be very nice. Some UV even. Still able to run a stable non-screwed-gunked up loop and have the coolness of color.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=575676

ANOTHER post to calm down the masses. Please read. I'm almost to he point of not bothering with it anymore. Other peeps problems or preventing them is my issue, it's a common humanity thing. But boy, I'm tired of doing it. I got games to play.

Ok let me put my two cents in here relating to your posts.

OCF is not leet only, if you want that, go elsewhere. We have no problems with people coming in and asking from "how do I overclock?" all the way through circuit design or LN2 questions.

This is not an exclusive club, there is no threshhold that makes it legit to post.

Keep it up and you wont be around a very long time.

[muddocktor]

Be nice you guys.

Or you'll get a big green peepee slap.


Too late, the peepee slap is coming up right now.

No, you don't have a car in the computer room. And Albyno, I don't see how your input furthured this discussion. Why do run anti-freeze in your car, and why is or isn't it required in your PC WC loop? Awaiting your input...............

No worris bad. What you need to worry about is all the new peeps who find this site. They got no idea what's good or bad. We don't need to sustain the xx is best etc internet myths.

xtreme forums IS the xtreme and is the best place to ask advanced questions. I hate to dumb down what we ned to ask, but maybe with a disclaimer at times. Peeps could just take it wrong. So I made a almost sticky answer to resolve your general question.

What IS a new development is Fesser colored tubing, seems to be very nice. Some UV even. Still able to run a stable non-screwed-gunked up loop and have the coolness of color.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=575676

ANOTHER post to calm down the masses. Please read. I'm almost to he point of not bothering with it anymore. Other peeps problems or preventing them is my issue, it's a common humanity thing. But boy, I'm tired of doing it. I got games to play.

Conumdrum, like Adragontattoo just posted, this forum isn't for the "leet people" of the overclocking world; as a matter of fact that's why I can hardly stand reading at XS because they have too many that think they know it all and can't be bothered to help the noobs out except to tell them that they are stupid for even thinking differently from them. :rolleyes: On these forums, if you don't want to help out with beginner's questions, then just don't post. But condescending posts such as these have no place on these forums. Albyno asked a valid question and you answered him like an @sshole instead of explaining why it isn't good. And that doesn't help him out and anyways, he meant something different than what you assumed he was implying. If this is the quality of your "help" you will give here, then you had best move on over to XS instead because I won't permit this kind of posting.

Either help out nicely or withhold posting completely and go play elsewhere, understand!

[Conumdrum]

Thanks Mud, I didn't do what I try to do, and it opened my eyes too.

I'll be a better poster and member.

[mils128]

I have read that taking a highlighter and cutting of the tip and letting a Little bit of it mix into your mixture works well too. I did it once and it worked well but i do not know if it has any nasty aftereffects. can anyone comment on that?

[hellzarmy]

ill throw my thoughts in to help put this thread back on track.


auto coolant is fine to use in your PC, if thats what you want to use.
it isnt going to fugger up your pump, or tubing, and will be just fine for anyone, no matter what parts you use in your loop.

now, if that aint your cup of tea, ( like SolidXSnake) i use the red UV color from FrozenCPU.

while it works good, she/he is right that it stains anything it touches like a mofo. a pink color stain!!!! and it aint comoing out after that.

i also added in a little Zerex to the loop as well, but honestly there was no improvement over the distilled water.

now adays, i just use simple distilled water with a little Zerex and algea eater.



since people were talking about anti-freeze... like i said at the top, if it is what you want to use, knock yourself out. alot of old timers like to use the Zerex, which is basicly a motorcycle coolant. i think the viscosity is a little lower with the motorcycle coolant than with typical auto coolant, but really, if your that concerned with the viscosity rating of your fluids.......

i got taken away from my desk and lost my train of thought... will pick up after a bit

[Diddyu]

I have read that taking a highlighter and cutting of the tip and letting a Little bit of it mix into your mixture works well too. I did it once and it worked well but i do not know if it has any nasty aftereffects. can anyone comment on that?

I have had highlighters stain a tygon tube, but it was a faint stain, and I used way too much highlighter "juice" than I should have. On the plus side, the highlighter fluid was UV reactive, which made me have to buy some CC blacklights.

[Ben333]

Agreed with mudd, ENOUGH with the XS links for WC advice

I run a little bit of antifreeze with distilled water. Do I need to? No, but it does make the loop green and can protect against corosion. Yes, I am all copper and brass but it can't hurt.

[Blindrage]

Here is my 2 cents from reading around a lot before I built me loop.

If you use car coolant then do not use on with anti-freeze... Well unless you room temp drops to 0c or lower on a normal basis.

For the love of god, do not use WaterWetter ever. It has a chemical component that will precipitate out over time and cause clogs and tubing issues.

If you are going to use additives to the basic distilled water mixture than be very careful. Each additive is based on chemicals that may mix badly with other things you put in the loop. So picking only one additive at most seems like a good bet. Otherwise you may end up with something destructive to plastic, rubber, or metal.

So after taking all that into consideration I ended up going with colored tubing for my color fix (a nice deep red) and only using distilled water with a couple of drops of Petra's biocide in the water. This has only been running for about a month, but it looks great, I have no growth, and I do not wake up in a sweat wondering what it is going to do to the loop over time. You milage may vary, but it lets me sleep well at night by one have one chemical in the entire loop. And by using colored tubing I never have to worry that my liquid might stain it.

Goo dluck with whatever you decide.

[baditude_df]

I tend to agree with this line of thinking. I have a nice coil of primoflex black on the way, and a jug full of Distilled+PT nuke waiting to go in. I see the red dye job on my previous mix is growing funny things in the reservoir after only a few weeks, so I can't wait to get that out of there and swab things out.

[voigts]

Don't use food coloring, highlighters, or dye in general. I have used Blue VW antifreeze and red Toyota antifreeze (both are actually Pentosin) to color water just fine. I used about 10% and it worked fine. In an all copper loop you don't need antifreeze though. Do make sure to use algaecide/biocide.

Colored tubing really would be the better way of coloring. My tubing on this rig isn't clear, but to color my clear res, i have a red LED cluster shining directly onto it and it glows red so that it looks like the water is red when it actually is clear.

[baditude_df]

Thx voigts.

[Tethered]

The "super" coolants worth their salt err cooling? I have primochill pc ice, with UV dye bombs..

I have never used water to cool, just due to its conductivity and the anal pucker thing about running water near my expensive parts... I never had any problems using either feser or primochill coolants but am I setting myself up for something in the future?

I do have a reverse osmosis unit here so I could use some if it would be better in the end. I am using tygon clear tubing (easy to get here).

Thanks,
Teth

[CGR]

The "super" coolants worth their salt err cooling? I have primochill pc ice, with UV dye bombs..

I have never used water to cool, just due to its conductivity and the anal pucker thing about running water near my expensive parts... I never had any problems using either feser or primochill coolants but am I setting myself up for something in the future?

I do have a reverse osmosis unit here so I could use some if it would be better in the end. I am using tygon clear tubing (easy to get here).

Thanks,
Teth

You do know that you dont use regular water to WC right? You used distilled/deionized water w or wo an additive.

[Tethered]

You do know that you dont use regular water to WC right? You used distilled/deionized water w or wo an additive.

Yeah, I was aware of that thanks. Any idea if using the special coolants better or worse then using water (deionized in my case)

Like I said above using anything conductive kind of bothers me, even with leak testing prior to installation.

Teth

Edit: Sorry probably should have said my RO unit does DeIon as well. Its pretty pure when it comes out the end and it isnt much per day but we use it mainly for drinking water and cooking.(We live in Mexico)

[xtkxhom3r]

hey what can you mix in the water to turn it black? i saw pic of a rig with clear tubing and black water and it gave it a awesome look the cleartubing gave it like a shine or something

i dont want regular black tubing it looks to dull

will it create gunk in the block\?

[CGR]

Yeah, I was aware of that thanks. Any idea if using the special coolants better or worse then using water (deionized in my case)

Like I said above using anything conductive kind of bothers me, even with leak testing prior to installation.

Teth

Edit: Sorry probably should have said my RO unit does DeIon as well. Its pretty pure when it comes out the end and it isnt much per day but we use it mainly for drinking water and cooking.(We live in Mexico)

Distilled/Deionized water is far less conductive than regular water. while it can still carry a current, it may not short out computer equipment.

To give you an example, one of my blocks cracked and dripped down on my vid card. It was a slow drip but it landed on the back of the card. It didnt short out the card, but did smell awfully bad due to the additive in it.

A loop that has been running a longer time tends to have more conductive water than one just installed due to the radiator and waterblock adding to its conductivity.

Anyway, pure water is the best for watercooling, but additives help protect against algae and corrosion. I prefer to add a small amount of additive to protect my loop, while it may reduce the thermal conductivity of the liquid, it is only a small reduction.

[Tethered]

okay I was under the impression that PC-ICE (Primochill) was on par with water +/- 2-3c plus non conductive and no need for bio-cide along with non-conductive or very low conductivity (polluted), safe and will not mess up any equipment in the loop.

I will have two loops within the next 12 days depending on shipping will try out both and see how the temps looks, the gear is essentially the same minus the ram and video but neither will be in the loops.

Thanks for the information.

[CGR]

okay I was under the impression that PC-ICE (Primochill) was on par with water +/- 2-3c plus non conductive and no need for bio-cide along with non-conductive or very low conductivity (polluted), safe and will not mess up any equipment in the loop.

I will have two loops within the next 12 days depending on shipping will try out both and see how the temps looks, the gear is essentially the same minus the ram and video but neither will be in the loops.

Thanks for the information.

I have never seen/heard of/used it so dont know.