Is there a way to avoid this green/white build up?

Sounds like improper cleaning prior to installation led to what you have now.

Did you do the rad dance? Did you flush all parts?

No i did not.

There's your problem then..........

No one actually advised me to flush it all before hand.

That said, it shall be done.

Heres a photo with fitting and kill coil.

Almost all the fittings look like that.


Its actually more black and green.

Never used silver
Been using Nuke with no issue since its inception

However i know many who do use silver

But old school here if it ain't broke don't fix it

This is why I run a pH buffer and corrosion protection in my loop. It's possible your loop became acidic and that accelerated the corrosion. What I'm seeing in that somewhat unfocused picture looks like silver tarnish (not worrisome really) and oxidized copper flecks (somewhat worrisome).

The copper flecks have a couple of possible sources, but the most likely candidate is the rads since they weren't flushed to start with. They probably had a few flecks in there from manufacturing. That's why new parts need to be flushed before use.

Nobody told you to flush before filling because it's in the stickies, and you're supposed to read them. Then read them again. Then have them open as you're planning your loop. It should all be second nature before you start, it's largely assumed that you know what's in there. Yes, it all takes a while, but custom loops are a labor intensive process compared to air. Doing it correctly from the beginning pays dividends down the road.

In any case, your loop probably needs a total teardown at this point. Pull everything out, disassemble that which can be taken apart, clean, inspect (particularly anything involving copper, look for failed coatings, etc), then re-assemble the parts, flush, and re-assemble the loop.

There's no reason you can't run biocide and silver together. Is it overkill? Maybe, maybe not, but they don't interact with each other in any way and you really do want broad spectrum death for any biologicals unfortunate enough to find their way into your loop's water.

Heres a few better shots.



Bottom rad In


Kill coils. Left, is from the top of the loop, right i from the bottom, right by the Rad In seen above.

I take back the comment about copper flecks. Probably copper powder. Still most likely just leftovers from manufacturing though, and my advice doesn't change. Disassemble the loop and pretend like everything's new. Inspect it, clean it, re-assemble it.

Get ready to learn the rad dance. It helps to have music. I like a little "Shake Your Booty". The refrain keeps me shaking, and the remembrance of the awfulness of disco makes me shake harder so I'm done faster. It's almost convulsive by the end.

JeremyCT said:

I take back the comment about copper flecks. Probably copper powder. Still most likely just leftovers from manufacturing though, and my advice doesn't change. Disassemble the loop and pretend like everything's new. Inspect it, clean it, re-assemble it.

Get ready to learn the rad dance. It helps to have music. I like a little "Shake Your Booty". The refrain keeps me shaking, and the remembrance of the awfulness of disco makes me shake harder so I'm done faster. It's almost convulsive by the end.

Click to expand...

Its already complexly apart, all i need to do is remove the rads from the case. Which will be in the weekend. Then i have a bunch of mods im going to do while its all out anyway.

My only other thought is you might want to replace the copper-coated kill coil simply because the copper coating might somewhat prevent the water from interacting with the silver. Maybe try a light scrubbing and see what happens, but the copper might be electricrolytically bonded to the surface. Silver and copper are close on the galvanic scale, but they're not identical. My chemistry is too rusty (har har, get it?) to know for sure.

The rest of your plan sounds good, let us know how it goes.

Yeah of course, im getting 3 brand new ones.

Now that i have really had time to dig into this. It seems that ALL the green stuff comes from the bottom rad!

I have flushed both out, and checked what came out, and the water came out green from the bottom rad. I think its all gotten stuck at the bottom.

Its being hyper cleaned now.

Or, all the particles settled in the bottom radiator because of..... gravity.

Thats kinda what i meant by "Stuck at the bottom".

Pierre3400 said:

Thats kinda what i meant by "Stuck at the bottom".

Click to expand...

Your first line reads like you thought all the particles were coming from the bottom radiator, as in forming in there.

Maybe you just left the distilled in the loop too long and the ion exchange has altered the water chemistry.
Due to distilled being low in dissolved solids... Minerals etc it's uptake is pretty good.

Flush the loop more frequently in future as apposed to just topping up

But its only been max of 10 months?

I'm 99.9% sure the issue arose because the parts weren't flushed at the time of building.

Pierre, you really need to go read the stickies.......

Pierre3400 said:

But its only been max of 10 months?

Click to expand...

6 months then drain and replace the distilled (before its ion soup)

And yes as ATMINSIDE side says... Not flushing the residue from parts left over from production is a good way to start issues. We flush because it's essential

Get it cleaned up and don't leave the distilled so long next time... Be fine

Yeah i get the point now, but i have to be honest, i recently got glasses, now, in more up for reading, i use to grow tired of reading too much at once, which is why i may have only read parts of the stickes. That a side, the water has always looked clean in all my previous loops.