Concentrated Biocide substitute inquiry.(solved/testing)

[jboydgolfer]

Hey TPU, I am looking to acquire a Biocide as I recently installed a custom loop for a Powercolor LCS 7970. I run 100% Distilled water/steam, and obviously need to add a Biocide to deter growth.

I have been shopping online for different options, and have noticed Petra's Tech Nuke PHN Concentrated Biocide was a popular choice for many water cooling enthusiats. Now here is where My question comes into play. I was looking @ the item page in the link above, and noticed it has one active ingredient "Benzalkonium chloride 1.65%". Which got Me thinking...why should I pay SO much for this item, when SURELY it has another form, for likely a different purpose that both sells for less, and sells in MUCH higher quantities...which led Me to my conclusion.

I have a daughter, and like MANY little girls of Her age, she has recently had her ears pierced, and when she had the piercing done, the employee who did the work told us to buy a bottle of "Ear care Solution" also commonly known as other brand names, which escape me currently. So I went looking for, and found the bottle, and Viola! it's ONLY ingredients are water....and....You guessed it Benzalkonium chloride. However, the concentration is NOT listed, So i am awaiting a reply from the manufacturer that bottles the chemical, to see Exactly what I am looking at here. But Im sure You can see the point im getting @ here. a 10ML bottle of the linked product is around $10 all said and done, where as a 20FL OZ bottle of the ear care solution I have mentioned goes for around 8 bucks.

Has anyone here ever substituted this biocide with a more easily obtained, or cheaply obtained alternative? or even possibly done what I have mentioned? Also if the concentrations are even close, It serves as a great money saving step for those of Us who like water cooling, and would liek to avoid some of the inherent costs that accompany the hobby.

Anyway, I'll update the thread when I find out more @ 8AM CST, hopefully someone else here has some experience that they could share with ME on this particular subject.

Thanks For reading, Regard's
j

 

[jboydgolfer]

i have found the concentration of the Ear Cleaning Solutions Benzalkonium chloride. Also, I have figured out the adjustments needed to equal the PT NUKE biocides dosage.

PT Nuke PHN Concentrated Biocide =1.65% concentration of Benzalkonium, and requires "4 drops" to be added to a water loop per 1L.
The product I mention for Ear Care is "Claire's Ear Care Solution" and according to manufacturers support is a concentration of .10%. i.e 1/16th of the PT Nuke.

That is equivilant to 1/2 a teaspoon (2.5ML's) so if You have a Claire's Boutique near you, pick up a bottle of they're Ear care Solution, and add 1/2 teaspoon for each liter of distilled water in Your water loop, and Viola, You have yourself a MUCH cheaper solution to PT Nuke's $10 per visine bottles worth of biocide(10ML).

1/2 teaspoon of claires boutique's ear care solution per liter of Dist water in your loop = 4 drops of PT Nuke per Liter of Dist water in your loop. and costs a fraction of the price.
Please keep in mind that this is a loose conversion,obviously since "drops"arent exact,but i dont think its brain surgery either,so on thebother hand i eouldnt lose any sleep over it.ill be implementing this myself in a few minutes,if i encounter any growth over time ill sdjust ,and report my findings here.

Claires ear care solution product link

 

[jboydgolfer]

For the sake of testing,and having record,and times of my steps with this substitute,i have just added 3/4tsp to my 240mm(RAD),gpu only loop. Ill log any pertinant information as it becomes available,bad or good.

 

[OneMoar]

likely not going to be anymore effective them bleach
it brakes down when exposed to UV or even just regular light