Hajj wroteFor surfactant, a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid (fairy, etc..) per liter is more than enough
Yup I realize that. I was looking more into the corrosion inhibitor role.
As to the corrosion inhibitor role, antifreeze is your friend. It doesn't sensibly lower the thermal transfer properties of water unless you use LOTS of it, just follow the instructions and divide the amount by two or even three and you should be safe.
I do have a 50/50 antifreeze solution ready in bottles. I'm just wary about using the antifreeze solution since, obviously, a PC waterloop is subject to much less harsh environmental conditions than a car is. I was worried about antifreeze lowering the thermal properties of water, but since you say it shouldn't affect much, I guess I will try a 25 antifreeze / 75 water mix by using equal amounts of water and antifreeze solution.
I am guessing the corrosion type you're talking about is galvanic corrosion, brought about by the contact of dissimilar metals. The potential for galvanic corrosion on a Nickel/Copper combination is among the lowest as these two metal differ very slightly in electrochemical potential.
Nope, no galvanic corrosion here. Only nickel / copper, which as you said, the electrochemical potential difference between the two is very low, less than 0.05 I believe. Not a cause for concern.
However, I'm simply worried about the natural copper oxidation that occurs over time in the presence of water and oxygen. I've had some oxidation happen on my CPU waterblock which is copper base (not nickel plated), and I used Brasso to clean it (since the chemicals in Brasso do not adhere to the copper and form a complex like Benzotriazole does).
Another advice, just use distilled water (collect it from your A/C drain and boil it), and as long as the water does not get exposed to sunlight, you shouldn't have any fungal or algea growth.
Yup, I have distilled water that I obtained from someone who collected it from AC drain I believe. It does have an "organic" smell, though, so I suspect it does have growth inside it. This is why I want to use biocide. Or is boiling the water before usage enough to solve that?
Just don't fall for advertisements or you'll be getting on a slippery slope, dumping tons of cash trying to solve problems that don't exist, unless you are building an insanely overclocked rig to act as a server farm in a constrained space and the need to dissipate the heat equivalent of a nuclear plant.
I am definitely not going to do that, I'm looking for the most efficient way of doing this while minimizing any negative effects on my copper parts. There are not much ready-made solutions here in Lebanon for PC watercooling, though, this is why I'm trying to search for car solutions and mixing them in appropriate amounts.
Thanks a lot for your response! I'll try antifreeze and compare temperatures to using water, I guess.
