Why is my red coolant turning purple?

[rowdymoody]

Hello, I installed an XSPC liquid cooling loop a few weeks ago. I went with their own brand of XSPC EC6 red coolant because it matches my color scheme. They sent me a free bottle of biocide drops about the size of an eye drop bottle.

After I installed and filled the loop I began scouring the internet trying to find out how much of the biocide drops I was supposed to add to my loop. Of course, I found not a single thread or anything related to how many drops you are supposed to use, and the manuals sent with the parts had no such information. So what do I do? Not post a thread on here like I should have done to ask for help, no. I took it upon myself to add half of the bottle they sent me just to be "on the safe side" if that is what I could call it.

It doesn't seem to be problematic at all, temps are good and at first I was extremely happy with the color of the coolant even after adding the biocide, it was perfect. I have been rather busy and havn't been able to spend much time with my PC since, and tonight I painted a couple sticks of ram that weren't matching my color scheme, and noticed that the coolant that was a perfect blood red a few weeks ago is now a dark (almost) purple color, and I don't like it.

Can I attribute the red coolant turning purple to me putting too many biocide drops in the loop? ( the biocide drops are blue in color) or is this a common occurrence with the XSPC EC6 red or any red coolant?

I am going to be buying another rad and waterblock for my gpu in the near future to add to my rig, and I plan on flushing the system and filling with fresh coolant when I do that. But I really don't want it to turn purple again.

(Also as a side question, since I could find no info on it when I searched the web, how many drops of biocide am I supposed to add into my loop? )

Thanks for thoughts or input

 

[GRUxTSAR]

You aren't supposed to add biocide in premixed coolants...

 

[rowdymoody]

Then why would they send me a bottle of it with the coolant I purchased? What do the biocide drops even do? And why would anyone need them?

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Then why would they send me a bottle of it with the coolant I purchased? What do the biocide drops even do? And why would anyone need them?

It probably came with the loop. I'm assuming you ordered both from the same store no? XSPC includes biocide for those who use distilled water. Biocide is not meant to be used with premixed coolants as premixed coolants already have biocide mixed in. Too much biocide is never a good thing

 

[rowdymoody]

Then why would they send me a bottle of it with the coolant I purchased? What do the biocide drops even do? And why would anyone need them?

It probably came with the loop. I'm assuming you ordered both from the same store no? XSPC includes biocide for those who use distilled water. Biocide is not meant to be used with premixed coolants as premixed coolants already have biocide mixed in. Too much biocide is never a good thing

I see, well thanks for the enlightenment. When I add my 2nd rad and GPU waterblock into the loop I will make sure to not add any biocide to my coolant when I refill it.

 

[Ellis_D]

I've been having issues with Red dyes turning purple as well. I'm using Mayhem's red dye with no other additives in distilled water. The only thing I can think is causing this is the dye is reacting with something in my radiator like solder or possibly the discoloration is caused by remnants of the PrimoChill SysPrep cleaner I used.

 

[rowdymoody]

I've been having issues with Red dyes turning purple as well. I'm using Mayhem's red dye with no other additives in distilled water. The only thing I can think is causing this is the dye is reacting with something in my radiator like solder or possibly the discoloration is caused by remnants of the PrimoChill SysPrep cleaner I used.

I am hoping that my red coolant turned purple because I put such an extreme amount of my blue biocide drops in. since blue+red=purple it makes sense.

If it turns purple again after I add more components and refill the loop, then I will simply switch over to red tubing and run distilled water. I am far too pickey about the colors in my PC to deal with this crap.

 

[Ellis_D]

I'm thinking this is an issue with contaminated radiators. I was just looking up possible causes of discoloration and I found a forum post from a Mayhems Rep talking about this being a common issue with certain radiators and dyed-coolant. Although I would take it with a grain of salt since he was also heavily advertising his products (Mayhems Blitz specifically) to clean radiators of this color-changing contamination

normally trace amount of chemicals left over in rads can cause this to happen. Just flush you system out and we normally recommend a biocide Such as ours or PT nuke.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1177250/mayhem-red-dye-turning-purple

You may Also consider that we've been selling pastel for more than two years before they brought their new full copper not so clean rads out and it wasn't until they released their product that people started having issues not only with our products but also with other companies fluids esp red.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1478145/mayhems-deep-red-turns-deep-pink-purple-help


If you think about it logically, if the blue-color of the biocide was potent enough to mix with the red coolant, it would do so almost instantly, not slowly over the course of a month.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Your only supposed to typically add a few "drops" of biocide. I think 2 drops treats a liter of water. Very potent stuff, and it could explain the color change(Blue + Red = Purple). What brand is the bottle they sent you? Biocides are used to prevent algae from growing inside your loop. When the coolant isn't flowing, it's a moist breeding ground that they could thrive in. Same reason some people(myself included) use Silver coils. Silver Ions kill algae as well.

 

[GRUxTSAR]

I've been having issues with Red dyes turning purple as well. I'm using Mayhem's red dye with no other additives in distilled water. The only thing I can think is causing this is the dye is reacting with something in my radiator like solder or possibly the discoloration is caused by remnants of the PrimoChill SysPrep cleaner I used.

That's strange. Mayhems dyes are the best on the market and shouldn't turn different colors

 

[rowdymoody]

Yeah, once I get my 2nd rad and gpu waterblock I am going to drain the loop completely and do it over again. I was told that the particular bottle of coolant I used requires no biocide added at all. So when I refill it after adding my GPU waterblock and 2nd rad I will just not put any biocide drops in it, and maybe throw silver coils in?

 

[1LiquidPC]

Silver coils have the same effect as biocide, to prevent and kill algae. Your coolant may already have anti-algae additives in it. Have to check that out.

 

[Ellis_D]

Yeah, once I get my 2nd rad and gpu waterblock I am going to drain the loop completely and do it over again. I was told that the particular bottle of coolant I used requires no biocide added at all. So when I refill it after adding my GPU waterblock and 2nd rad I will just not put any biocide drops in it, and maybe throw silver coils in?

Make sure you keep us updated.

 

[GRUxTSAR]

Yeah, once I get my 2nd rad and gpu waterblock I am going to drain the loop completely and do it over again. I was told that the particular bottle of coolant I used requires no biocide added at all. So when I refill it after adding my GPU waterblock and 2nd rad I will just not put any biocide drops in it, and maybe throw silver coils in?

Don't put coils either. The coolant already comes with a certain safe amount of biocide. Adding more only messes up the coolant

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I'd go with your alternate plan of red tubing and definitely throw a couple of killcoils in there, but I'm not a fan of coolant anyway
Moto

 

[hsharma128]

It's your rads. Im guessing you either forgot to flush the rads before installing, or the rads were exceptionally dirty. If your rads were manufactured by alphacool, then it would make sense, because although they make great rads, they are probably the dirtiest on the market. This was the case with me, and I noticed that my loop (which had flexible tubing until about 3-4 months ago) would turn the flex tubing a pretty heavy tinge of blue, and all i used was a coil and distilled water.

Now that I have red fluid with the same mayhems red dye, i notice that over a period of about 3 weeks it's turned purple. I read up on it, and i noticed that when i flushed the rads while cleaning with distilled water and white vinegar in an 80:20 mix, the solution turned light blue. These are oxidized copper deposits, Cu(II) if im not mistaken. It may be CuSO4 or CuO. Im not sure, but I know that its from copper, as Alphacool prides itself on an all copper construction for its rads. Hope this helps, as we're in the same boat