Coolant additive for a basic loop?

Without going in for any of these over priced "ready made" bottles of coolant, what is my best bet to give me nice clear water in the long term?
I have seen various suggestions from a drop of bleach (though I don't want to do that, I seem to remember from my school days that bleach being highly corrosive to metal) to 15% mouthwash* mixtures.
Now I am overly tired of doing my own research on this as there is no clear consensus, so will let you guys\gals tell me what you think is best, oh and my loop consists of:

• XSPC R120-S
• XSPC Bay Res
• Dangerden Maze 4 GPU waterblock
• Little River Storm G4 CPU waterblock (this is why I really need clear water, it is a jet impingement block, and thus if the nozzles get blocked it is almost certain overheating for my cpu)
• Dangerden Maze 4 GPU waterblock
• 1/2" ID Sillicon tubing
• Bosch pump

*note, mouthwash may not be as stupid as it sounds, not only is most mouthwash mostly alcohol, but the majority of the oter ingrediants are anti bacterial\fungal in nature, plus it would mean that I wouldn't need to bother with blue dye and I would get that minty fresh smell that lasts and lasts :P

I use distilled water and a couple drop of Petra'sTech "PT_Nuke" which is basically CuSO4 I believe, can also substitute that with iodine again couple drops. both of these will keep algae growth away

Presume all of those components are copper/brass but you could also grab some Pentosin G11/12 if your worried about metal corrosion

Not overly concerned about corrosion, the bosch pump has no metal parts that come into contact with the water, and the blocks are copper (though the ddm4 has an anodised alu top, and the barbs are chrome) just need to make sure that nothing can grow in this loop.

Doesn't the main cause of corrosion come from mixing metals within a loop and then applying a current to one of the parts? I seem to recall a chemistry expirement about electroplating that had a copper anode, aluminium cathode and a small current causing the anode to noticeably darken.

So that said, surely your main worry is making sure that there's no contact between the components and a component that has electricity flowing through it.

corrosion like that happens with or without a current, bassicly if you put two dissimilar metals into pretty much any solution you will find that corrosion happens much faster than if they were simply placed in the solution on their own.

Though there are really only going to be two metals in my loop, copper, and the chrome\nickle of the barbs, the anodised alu won't do anything, and the rate of corrosions for Cu + Ni or Cr is very low, and not something to worry about (Cu + Au is quite nasty, and Cu + Fe is very bad)

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Originally Posted by Golden Dragoon

corrosion like that happens with or without a current, bassicly if you put two dissimilar metals into pretty much any solution you will find that corrosion happens much faster than if they were simply placed in the solution on their own.

Though there are really only going to be two metals in my loop, copper, and the chrome\nickle of the barbs, the anodised alu won't do anything, and the rate of corrosions for Cu + Ni or Cr is very low, and not something to worry about (Cu + Au is quite nasty, and Cu + Fe is very bad)

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Personally I refresh my loop once every 6-9 months anyway with distilled water (you can also use deionised - 5l tub from halfords is what alot of others use) and the pt Nuke keeps away algae.

I did use some G12 for the first 6 months, but since running the loop for the last 6 months without it I've not noticed any corrosion.

Probably find the rad is made of Brass with Copper fins but again same principle as Cu + Ni ;)

I personally shy'd away from the Appogee GTX due to it using Aluminium, even though they use a Nickel/Zinc plating. Maybe I was wrong but didn't see why I should take that risk when there was an all copper alternative but thats just me :)