Weird built up in WC system

[AdzOnTheMic]

I built this pc about a month ago and I used distilled water, washed my radiator out, added a few chemicals to prevent corrosion and algae etc and suddenly (a month later) I see these odd stringy fluff like things in the pump and CPU block.

 

what is it? What do I do and how do I prevent it? I thought maybe I didn’t turn my system on for a day or two and it was caused due to stationary water.

[Bombastinator]

“Weird buildup in WC system” attracted my plumbing interest.  Turns out WC stands for “water cooling”not “water closet” though.  
 

thoughts on the actual problem:
 

Spoiler

I don’t know what the material is.  Someone might. No matter what it is, draining and cleaning out your loop seems like a necessary thing atm. The cold plate fins are usually delicate hair fine things and clog easily.  Doing so may give you a better idea what the stuff is and might suggest a way to keep it from happening again.

 

[EpicEric]

Does it seem like it's a solid-ish blob or just a cluster of loose particles? My first thought is that it's an accumulation of minerals from the water, but since you used distilled water, that may not be true.

[AdzOnTheMic]

19 minutes ago, EpicEric said:

Does it seem like it's a solid-ish blob or just a cluster of loose particles? My first thought is that it's an accumulation of minerals from the water, but since you used distilled water, that may not be true.

Looks like a stringy cluster of loose particles which sway in the direction the water flow is. 

[EpicEric]

7 minutes ago, AdzOnTheMic said:

Looks like a stringy cluster of loose particles which sway in the direction the water flow is. 

Is that specific area of the cooler getting good water flow? Perhaps the distilled water or some of the chemicals managed to have some impurities, which ended up in the places that have still water.

 

Edit: maybe try putting the PC on its side so that the stuff can move to an area with more circulation. See if it goes through and flows through the system again, and check if it accumulates again at the same place.

[AdzOnTheMic]

13 minutes ago, EpicEric said:

Is that specific area of the cooler getting good water flow? Perhaps the distilled water or some of the chemicals managed to have some impurities, which ended up in the places that have still water.

 

Edit: maybe try putting the PC on its side so that the stuff can move to an area with more circulation. See if it goes through and flows through the system again, and check if it accumulates again at the same place.

The particles are swaying a lot and quick speeds, especially when I up the RPM. I do think there is moving water present.

Perhaps this is due to bad quality water or not enough chemicals?

[AdzOnTheMic]

I feel that this is fungus of something along those lines, I’ve added a few drops of biocide and I am allowing the system to run. Hopefully thatll solve the issue.

[Bombastinator]

44 minutes ago, AdzOnTheMic said:

I feel that this is fungus of something along those lines, I’ve added a few drops of biocide and I am allowing the system to run. Hopefully thatll solve the issue.

So no clean out?  If it’s fungus it means plant material. Plants make cellulose As their “skeleton”.  Adding biocide would kill the plant, but would it break up the created cellulose? And if the cellulose is clogging up the cold plate fins (it might not be I don’t know) killing the plant might not solve that.  

[AdzOnTheMic]

1 hour ago, Bombastinator said:

So no clean out?  If it’s fungus it means plant material. Plants make cellulose As their “skeleton”.  Adding biocide would kill the plant, but would it break up the created cellulose? And if the cellulose is clogging up the cold plate fins (it might not be I don’t know) killing the plant might not solve that.  

I’ll see how this goes, if the problem isn’t solved then I will go ahead and clean out the system.

[AngryBeaver]

You are also using soft tubing and if it is new tubing it could be plasticizer. It does strange things and is why I hate replacing tubing because I can guarantee I will need to do a flush in a few months to get it all out of the system.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, AdzOnTheMic said:

I’ll see how this goes, if the problem isn’t solved then I will go ahead and clean out the system.

If temps aren’t a problem it could be argued there isn’t one. Stuff could conceivably cause corrosion over time. I don’t know.  I don’t even know what the stuff is myself.