whiteness

[phiber]

i am running a fishtank set up....with a 10 gallon fishtank an ehiem pump and the water running through a filter....my porblem is that the water turns white.....why is that?
http://www.daocplace.com/phiber/bah.jpg

[Unkle_Freeze]

Im no expert but it looks like airborne nasties making a home in your water, its an ideal place for them, lightly warmed, constantly moving. I would try covering the tank over with a sheet of plastic and see if it stays clear.
(or use milk)

[phiber]

i have a biological filter crap or something....i dont understand...ill try i guess

[oc jason]

basically james your growing the funk in your skanky house. LOL

hmm good idea. bacterial farm and watercooling in one..good choice LOL:D

[Ridenow]

How long is it from when you put in fresh water until it turns white? It might just be air saturated in with the water.

[Diggrr]

Two thoughts here,
Number one, I had tried some cheaper tubing from the local fish supply store (origionally intended as air line). It turned white on the inside within a day, and water became milky.

The second thing, I found that the "steam distilled" water from the local grocery (Harding's) is hardly as pure as tap water. I've since switched to "Absopure" brand steam distilled water. I had found deposits on the inside of my waterblock after a week of the using the store brand. The national brand stuff is working much better to stop this.

Hope it helps ya.

[f155mph]

Well seeing no one have experience in fish keeping, I'll try to help you out. When you first set an aqurium up after a few days the water turn cloudy. This is because the fish tank is new and does not have any Good bacteria in the water. You can keep changing the water and the cloudyness will return. Aqurium store does sell chemical that help clear up the water. But until the Good bacteria get settle and build up, the water will remain cloudy. I have many fresh and salt water aquariums. Here is a problem that I see. Since you are not keeping fish in the tank, there will be no ammonia in the water from the fish waste. Without the ammonia the bacteria will not grow because that is there food supply. So my suggestion is either keep changing the water or add a few cheap gold fishs in there.

[phiber]

hmm....i have changed the water 2 times....the first time i used distilled water....and the second time i used tap water....now is tap water bad for the block?
and i cant get fishies...or actually i dont want fishies....do i have to buy that chemical to clear it up? and is it bad for my watercooling system? to have the water like this?
btw- the pipes are clear...and they came from home depot...

[Bender]

Try using some Accu-Clear. It only takes 2 drops per gallon to clear up cloudy fishtank water. Any petshop or even wall-mart should have it.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by Bender
Try using some Accu-Clear. It only takes 2 drops per gallon to clear up cloudy fishtank water. Any petshop or even wall-mart should have it.

Thats what I use for my Indoor fountain to keep the water clear :eek:

[deathstar13]

just a little something btw .
tap water is conductive.
distilled isnt.
somewhere over in video card section in forums is a guy who just lost his ti500 to tap water.

[f155mph]

Does it really matter if the water is cloudy??? Put some red dye in the water and make it look like you are pumping blood into your computer.:D

[mlakrid]

LOL!! THATS THE FUNNIEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD! If you think for 1 second that distilled water is NON-conductive. I dare you to pour it all over your power supply. What distilled means is that all the impurities have been removed. FYI, the only truely Non-conductive fluids are Dielectrics. The military uses them for cooling super highTemp computers. but the stuff they use is Much more than any of us have spent on our computers for only 1-2 gallons. Literally you could put 440VAC (SHIPBOARD electricity) thorugh a dielectric (I dont think Im spellin it right) and then stick your hand in the dielectric, and VIOLA, nothing would happen to you unless you made direct contact with the bare wires in it.

Michael Akridge
Senior Technical Support Technician
AAAV Test and Evaluation Team
General Dynamics Land Systems

[Pepsi]

If you are using clean water the foaming is from a contamination. Clean the tank try again.
Stay Cool
Pepsi

[AntmanMike]

I AM an experienced fish keeper. That is the good bacteria, Nitrifying bacteria (nitrabacter genus). It captures Nitrate (urine) which is toxic to life, and converts it to nitrite, which is still toxic. Then anerobic bactera convert it to Nitrogen, which is non toxic in normal amounts, and is a plant fertilizer. That is most likely the begining phases of the ammonia reducing bacteria settling. If there is no ammonia present, it could be quite possibly algae. Algae is like a plant. It thrives on light and nutrients. It might make the water more Thermally Conductive, though it will start to grow into Filamentous algae, which is in my aquarium a lot (******* algae). Thats stringy, and will clog your water tubes, pump, etc. I hope this was helpful. Basically, if it continues to be cloudy after a month, or it seems to build up in other parts of the system, it is probably algae. Biological Filters are normally carbon pellets and a Nitrate reducer pad, which grows nitridying bacteria for aquariums. It is NOT usefull. Get a Fiber Floss pad and Carbon, and build a filter block. For best cleaning, spend $100 and get a Diatom Filter to clean it out. Make sure no light enters the aquarium, and nothing that can be used as nutrients either.

*edit* knowing more about your setup might help me diagnose the problem more clearly.

*edit 2* Completely pure water is not conductive nor capacitive. It is almost never found in a completely pure state with NOTHING in it. Dust, other particles, etc, can turn it into electrolyte. I doubt even one sample that is completely 100% pure is fuond anywhere on the planet.

*edit 3* and that filter is not sufficient. If anything, the floss and carbon gives a place for the algae to live. DO NOT GET THE ALGAE DESTROYER. it will hamper your water cooling. like i said, make an inline filter with the tubing with removable floss and carbon cartridges, and get a diatom filter to remove algae (algae is a bit bigger than 1 micron in size, carbon and floss cant remove it, they can help remove its nutrients though). Diatom particles are dead microorganisms, which have pores in their shells about 1 micron in size. They can trap algae and kill it. I have one, but unfortunately, its for my aquarium, which is being used for fish. Trust me, I know what im doing. Ive been working with fish for 5 years, and my 8th grade paper was on Freshwater Aquarium Environments. I got a "B" (I forgot to write a part about overfeeding fish)

[BigBlockk]

I'm an operator in a power plant. We use pure water to cool the inside of our generator exciters. Some of these machines put out 525 megawatts (thats 525 million watts) of electricity. If there was much of a chance of damaging a $70,000,000 turbine/generator I don't think they (they being General Electric) would have designed it that way.

As long as the water is pure enough, it is fairly safe.

BigBlockk

Later.....

[MiseryQ]

Have we ruled out air saturation?!? What happens if you leave the pump off for awhile?!? Does it clear up?!?

After a couple of days now my coolant is starting to look like that too... I hardly think bacteria is growing in what I'm pumping... :D... But my old bong water was loaded with little nasties and red slime... I'm thinking air though...

[AntmanMike]

Misery, bacteria can live in ANY extreme on the planet, including molten lava. Archaebacteria are designed to live in extremes, Eubacteria are more common. Those are also the only two prokaryote kingdoms on the planet. Algae can also live almost anywhere.

[ColdMiser]

I say you monitor the temp of the water for a few days and then go to the petstore and get some fish that can live in that temp. Going by many of the posts above, the fish will complete the cycle for the good bacteria to thrive. Besdies that, why the heck not.

One more thing. I noticed in the pic that your pump has an intake barb on it and it is pretty close to the glass. It's probably working fine for you, but look through the junk that came with that pump. You should find a sponge like thing and a plastic disc. Take off the gray cage from the pump. Remove the intake barb from the pump. Snap that little plastic disc into the hole in the gray cage. Put the sponge thing inside the cage (if you want to. It's just a pre-filter) and snap it back on the pump. This is the setup for when you use an Eheim as a submerged pump. Just maybe removing that barb will get you a couple more GPH.

Afterthought: Hmm. I don't suppose any fish would enjoy being in the same tank as that pump when it's running.

Useless Fact: A goldfish has a memory of 3 seconds.

[AntiHeiss]

56Kers BEWARE Hello Big Picture.
haha, okay no really though...I think you should probably just give it a good cleaning. And I would also like to say that there are types of pure water that aren't conductive. At least it conducts very little. Distilled water DOES however conduct. Those kinds of de-ionized water...etc...its more expensive, but there is water out there that is like that. Its just not real common.

[MiseryQ]

Really molten lava?!? hmmm...
I looked up prokaryote and still don't know what the heck it is :D...

[mlakrid]

Here's what I am saying:
If you buy distilled water at your local supermarket it is still conductive. If you were able to simply buy pure water in its elemental form H2O then yes, you wouldnt have a problem. So in that respect I can agree, but there is No distilled water that Im aware of that you can buy that would be non-conductive. As I said the military doesnt trust water period they use dielectrics. If the military has no inkling of using purified water, then why would you all even thik of trying it? Just an idea. The Whole system would have to be enclosed, free of praticulates, and contaminants, even a contamination of 1ppm (Part Per million) of the wrong contaminent could ruin your computer.

Mike A

[AntmanMike]

A prokaryote is a form of cell that does not have a nucleus or any other organelle. Only bacteria (Archaebacteria, which live in extreme environments, and Eubacteria, which live everywhere else) are prokaryote now. All other living things are comprised of Eukaryote cells. Putting fish in there would not help. First off, the tank is plain, and they would be under a very large amount of stress, as it does not resemble their native environment at all. And, that is NOT completing the cycle. To complete the cycle, you need aquarium plants to use the nitrogen, and then the fish eat the plants. You could make it into an aquarium, with an inline filter for the pump. The fish would NOT like the changing temperature from the CPU however, that would probably kill them via stress. Distilled water is not conductive, though not even store bought distilled water is truelly "distilled".

[Ebonyks]

Try adding a tablespoon of chlorine bleach, and see if that clears it up. Just an idea, my hottub gets all skanky like that whenever it has no chlorine in it for a peroid of time

[RangerJoe]

hey, im growing bacteria in my microbiology class, in yummy augre (or however you spell it)

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by Diggrr
Two thoughts here,
Number one, I had tried some cheaper tubing from the local fish supply store (origionally intended as air line). It turned white on the inside within a day, and water became milky.

The second thing, I found that the "steam distilled" water from the local grocery (Harding's) is hardly as pure as tap water. I've since switched to "Absopure" brand steam distilled water. I had found deposits on the inside of my waterblock after a week of the using the store brand. The national brand stuff is working much better to stop this.

Hope it helps ya.

i had the same problem.. i got a different brand water and it seems to be ok..

[Wolfe]

a few ideas:

Yank the filter cartridge. after a point they begin to contaminate the water

try using a diffrent resivoir, like a tupperware container for a while- does the water still get cloudy?

water is nonconductive when it is pure. However, totally pure water is impossible to attaqin for longer than a millisecond or two, however, try using de-ionized water. if you can find it, it is pretty dang pure (check the chemistry labs at your local university) Good Luck

[rivercom9]

Hmm, weird. Is this the first time that it has happend? You are using Distilled water right? I think that it might be the filter you have in the system, but then again, who knows.

[Tat2monsta]

i got white cloudyness in my newly built system. i washed all the tubes out b4 the build but the only thing i did that maybe i shouldnt.. was i used the fluid from my old system. becouse i had only just bougt it.. its fluidXP with a dye in it.. meant to be red. bit it looks pinky. but with blue light is looks ok..

if it gets worse i will ditch the liquid and buy some new stuff.. how is the easyest and best way to flush it all out? i dont wanna take it all apart. becouse my new cpu block has a tendency to pull out the chip when you loosen the screws. theres no wriggleing space...
along with the cloudyness that is the only other downside to my new setup

maybe MY slime is tiny tiny bubbles. that are forming making a cloudy slime.. this setup was only built in the last couple days any info be cool as im still pretty new to this new addiction!

P.S these piks are from the t-line fluid was clear when i added it..

[YouEatLard]

BigBlockk,

Do you know anything about the water you guys use? Not attacking, just curious. Chances are it's alittle higher grade then the stuff off the shelf at Wally World. Think that stuff comes in at .5 megohm. The stuff some labs use comes in at 26 megohms. I'm guessing you guys use something inbetween there. Also, the water may not be comming in direct contact with anything carrying current. Think tap water (atleast in Oklahoma) comes in at 200-300kohms (FYI for perpective). If I remember correctly these measurements are all taken over a 1 inch gap. Normal distilled is far from non-conductive.
Justa thought.

mlakrid,

Lol, very true. Ever heard of fluorinert (something like 30-48KV between leads .1" apart). Course, this is far from water. Completely man made.

[chr0nicles]

Im an expert fish keeper to :).... The white stuff in your water is most likely the gravel cloudying the water.... Did you just put in new gravel or has it been in your tank for sometime? Theres this stuff called Accuclear and put 3 drops per gallon and let it do its stuff for 2-3 days and the water will be super duper clear. Also .... fish will die in tapwater

You have to get water conditioner to make the tapwater have no chlorine and heavy metals in it. The filter you use should be able to handle all the water in your tank also. Since yours is a 10 gallon... you should use atleast a rated 20-30 gallon filter in my oppinion..

In my setup... I run 1 Fluval 304, 1 aquaclear 500 and it keep its unbelieable clear but was pretty expensive :rolleyes:

[eobard]

i got white cloudyness in my newly built system. i washed all the tubes out b4 the build but the only thing i did that maybe i shouldnt.. was i used the fluid from my old system. becouse i had only just bougt it.. its fluidXP with a dye in it.. meant to be red. bit it looks pinky. but with blue light is looks ok..

if it gets worse i will ditch the liquid and buy some new stuff.. how is the easyest and best way to flush it all out? i dont wanna take it all apart. becouse my new cpu block has a tendency to pull out the chip when you loosen the screws. theres no wriggleing space...
along with the cloudyness that is the only other downside to my new setup

maybe MY slime is tiny tiny bubbles. that are forming making a cloudy slime.. this setup was only built in the last couple days any info be cool as im still pretty new to this new addiction!

P.S these piks are from the t-line fluid was clear when i added it..

This is all well and good but why did you choose to bump a three year old thread to say this? Some of the people in this thread haven't been here in a year or two. For instance....
BigBlockk
"Last activity: 08-10-03" (http://www.ocforums.com/member.php?u=11007)

[chr0nicles]

WOH its a 2 year old thread? OMGOSH!! what a waste of typing :)

[Tat2monsta]

ooops didnt see the date. . nevermind.

[Ciffer]

i don't know what is causing the whiteness but can you say ancient thread resurrection? i can. also, how do you even find a thread that old, i think you'd have to search for it. aren't posts removed from the main page after a certain point