water cooling reservior build up(white crystal)??

[fondoo]

i've been running my water cooling system for two weeks straight and
today i found some build up in the alumnium reservior. does anyone
know what this is and how i can prevent it??

http://home.rochester.rr.com/fondoo/DSC00003.jpg
http://home.rochester.rr.com/fondoo/DSC00004.jpg

[chefmws]

what metals are the rest of the cooling system made of. if the are not all aluminum then what you are seeing is most likely a battery effect.(different metals reacting to each other)
if that is not the case, then you have something in your water that is causing the buildup. most likely it is what is called "hard water" that means that you have alot of minerals and metals in the water. get a new res and fill the system with Distilled water and water whetter. that should help alot.

[hielko]

Those cristals are not caused by hard water, that looks way different. I think you are seeing here an aluminium salt or something like that caused by galvanic corrosion. Watter wetter should fix the problem.

[GuyBFF]

I agree, use a bit of water wetter and good antifreeze with corrosion protecter (sparingly). I've used distilled and non-distilled water in mixed metal systems, and without some antifreeze / water wetter in time the distilled water will begin to conduct anyways (as soon as electrically conductive particles get in it), and the battery effect will happen.

[DSREC]

Good call with the water-wetter. Speaking of such things, anyone care to share with us their master "coolant formula"? Its like making chicken soup but um.. not really.

[GuyBFF]

I think it was www.overclock-watercool.com that posted:

2 oz Redline Water Wetter (1:60)
6 oz glycol based anti-freeze (1:20)
120 oz distilled water
2 drops Traceline Dye-Lite (for UV if you wish)

Makes 1 gallon

[GuyBFF]

Actually, the formula is what I've been using, but according to Redline Water Wetter site, water wetter is superior to regular glycol antifreeze in corrosion protection.

Maybe just run water wetter and water (but of course they could be just selling there product) any one have any information?

Could try 6oz Water Wetter to 120oz Water

[EX2C]

I heard of water wetter not being compatble with some aluminums. Is this true? I would like to use it, except the auto parts store told me otherwise.

[GuyBFF]

I don't have any aluminum in my system, but when I worked in auto parts the corrosion preventing attributes of water wetter was one of the reasons it sold so well (in mixed metal systems). In fact a lot of water cooling sites are saying water wetter alone will work well enough to prevent mixed metal corrosion. I've never heard of an incompatibility as it is supposed to protect aluminim. Any one else heard of this?

[Crosstrack16]

Just go to caseetc.com and buy some redline Water Wetter for 12.99, Use 2 ounces per gallon of water, make sure its distilled for the best results. This combo is better than antifreeze.