What coolant to use??

[wiatroda]

I use tap water with addition Savlon - disinfectant. Now it is few months in a tub, ran from time to time and there is no any funny smells or algae.
In my computer water cooling system I was using tap water with Zoflora (smells nice ).
Now since a cooling unit is a small fish tank it is just water. I have free heating in a aquarium from computer . Plants growing great, but after a time I had to add some anti algae treatment to stop them growing in a system.

[Jonathan]

Tap water with something in it to stop the algea is fine so long as you don't keep replacing it. Once the tap water had deposited the ions conained within it (which won't be much) you're not adding more so it won't get any worse. Could just buy de-ionised water... some supermarkets have it in 2.5L bottles.

What are you using to cool the water? If you're relying on natural radiation/conduction from the tank 4L is probably not sufficient.

[wiatroda]

Once the tap water had deposited the ions conained within it (which won't be much) you're not adding more so it won't get any worse. Could just buy de-ionised water... some supermarkets have it in 2.5L bottles.

Jonathan is right 4l is a bit low volume. To cool my 2.2kW spindle I have water in 20 L plastic tube of water with 3 holes in a cap. 2 holes for pipes and 1 for submersible 12V pump. Because it's with cap with tight fit there is no evaporation hence no top-ups and no extra deposits. Never replaced so far since filled up. BTW I have RO filter at home but couldn't bother to us it to fill a cooling system. :whistling: