Confused about Additives

[tolagarf]

Hey folks, I need something explained here as I seem to get confused about additives for water cooling.

I bought some Feser Base - Corrosion Blocker 50 mL which I mixed with distilled water, but then I noticed it doesn't say it's an algae inhibitor. Then I bought some of this from Coolerkit, where they do mention it inhibits algae growth and metal corrosion, but on the bottle itself it only says corrosion blocker.

On the bottles it says the following:

Feser bottle: ethylene glycol - 1.2 ethandiol < 70%
Coolerkit bottle: Benzotriazol < 1,25%

Which of these does what exactly, because I'm clueless. I'm just tired of buying super expensive pre-mixed distilled water from EKWB.

 

[Kilbane]

Ethylene glycol and Ethandiol are used as both an antifreeze and bacterial growth inhibitor. Benzotriazol is a corrosion inhibitor.
EKWB also do a concentrate for adding to distilled water to do all the things you need. around the €6 mark I believe and will mix to make around 10l of fluid.

 

[tolagarf]

Ethylene glycol and Ethandiol are used as both an antifreeze and bacterial growth inhibitor. Benzotriazol is a corrosion inhibitor.
EKWB also do a concentrate for adding to distilled water to do all the things you need. around the €6 mark I believe and will mix to make around 10l of fluid.

Oh for some reason I believed the EK concentrate was only for 1 Liter. Well 10 liter then it's actually worth it for its current pricing. Edit: Or was that a typo? On the EK website it says to use for 1 Liter only.

Alright so you're saying I should use the Feser concentrate instead if the one from Coolerkit?

 

[Kilbane]

Oh for some reason I believed the EK concentrate was only for 1 Liter. Well 10 liter then it's actually worth it for its current pricing. Edit: Or was that a typo? On the EK website it says to use for 1 Liter only.

Alright so you're saying I should use the Feser concentrate instead if the one from Coolerkit?

Yeah thats my bad, each will make 1l, so not a great price. Website i was looking at had it listed as 1l of concentrate mixed 1:9. I see what they have done now, really should read more carefully lol

Personally I would use a anti corrosion additive and get a Silver kill coin to deal with the algae side of things. Just remember to add the required amount of coils based on your water volume. General rule of thumb is a kill coil per 500ml. The advantage of kill coils are they can be reused so no need to get any more additives for each fluid change etc.

 

[tolagarf]

It's too late for me to add kill coils. Guess I'll just have to switch out the water in 6 months time and run some system clean through.

 

[Kilbane]

It's too late for me to add kill coils. Guess I'll just have to switch out the water in 6 months time and run some system clean through.

Only down side of water cooling, Personally I stick to pre mixed stuff for convenience and the hope of less problems. As you said, it can become a costly game. Of the 2 you have mentioned, I would go for the corrosion inhibitor. On the plus side, they both say it does both. On the plus side you will see algae growth long before you know if metals are starting to be damaged.

 

[tolagarf]

Well hey.. I could add in some fish, plastic castles, and some tiny stones in my bay reservoir! Get things looking alive with all that algae

That reminds me I have two outlet ports not being used in the bay reservoir. Could buy some of those monsoone silver bullets and place them there.

 

[Kilbane]

Well hey.. I could add in some fish, plastic castles, and some tiny stones in my bay reservoir! Get things looking alive with all that algae

That reminds me I have two outlet ports not being used in the bay reservoir. Could buy some of those monsoone silver bullets and place them there.

Inspiring me for a Finding Nemo custom build lol

The silver bullets look great, not seen them before. Biggest issue i have always had with coils is that the look crap on clear tubing. These make a good clean install.

 

[Asperatis]

The silver bullets are a great choice imo if you have any leftover ports. In my system I've added a few drops of PtNuke for instant effect and coils for long term effects, as it takes the silver about two weeks before it does its job properly.