Algae in the loop, how to clean and how to prevent?

[Dolk]

Hey guys, so I just noticed a wonderful amount of algae growing in my EK nickle plated GPU block. I'm going to assume that everything now has algae growing in it even though most of my tubes and reservoir appear fine. It seems like everyone is mixing their distilled water now with some biocide or some sort of agent to prevent growth and other things. What's the best on the market these days?

What's the best tubing out there that will last several years of usage and cause small plastic stuff to build up on the walls of the tubing? I'm looking to keep everything in the clear color category.

I'm using a Swiftech MCP655, XSPC Raystorm Copper CPU block, two nickle plated copper GPU blocks, a Swiftech single rad and a black ice dual rad, and a Swiftech Micro V2. I also have two sets of nickle plated brass quick disconnects, and another 2 sets of steel quick disconnects. The QDs do have corrosion going on when you disconnect them, so I'm guessing something is not happy in this loop as far as material stackup is concerned.

Thoughts?

 

[Mr.Scott]

The 2 sets of steel QD's is what's screwing you. You need to take them out or you'll need to run a corrosion inhibitor also.

 

[Dolk]

Whats a corrosion inhibitor? I guess you can run that in tandem with a biocleaner?

And would it be ok to run something like that with nickle plated metals in my loop? I feel like that would be a nope.

 

[Alaric]

There are premixes that do both. https://modmymods.com/liquid/clear-liquid.html
http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-cryofuel-clear-premix-900-ml.html

Bearing in mind these aren't recommendations, just options. I'll leave actual suggestions to Those Who Know.

 

[Mr.Scott]

https://www.primochill.com/products/primochill-liquid-utopia
I'd go with that.
On your Nickle blocks, Cu based biocides don't play well. Avoid those and Silver.

 

[maxfly]

if you dont mind green liquid you could go with swiftechs hydrx(aka. zerex). its ethylene glycol based but easy to use and it works well.
http://www.swiftech.com/tubingandcoolant.aspx

once youve cleaned the loop out really well and removed the steel qdcs you should be able to run problem free with just a biocide like pt_nuke. you will have to refill and possibly break down every 6-12 months depending on whether or not you see anymore gunk.

 

[Dolk]

Yeah I'm looking to make sure I don't have to break down the entire loop for cleaning every half year or so. I'd like a system that is stable, and I don't mind if I have to keep a pH balance or the like in my loop.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

My koolance QDCs (Brass) did the same with just distilled water and silver. I stop using that stuff and started using this clear premixed fluid from Aquacomputer. Haven't looked back since and haven't done a tear down in 1+ years now. Just a annual drain and refill but I plan to possibly have a look at the CPU block around the 2 year mark to see how well it went. Temps still look great.

Before I forget, EK's nickle plating and silver doesn't sit well as EK has been adamant about it. Stay away and just use some clear premixed fluid from a reputed company. Heck, I'd use EK's clear fluid in case you need to RMA the EK block one day if it were to run into issues.