Goo kit doesn't work

[Matthew]

Hello! Hoping someone can help me here with my lava grande. I just replaced my old cloudy lava with a brand new goo kit, and it doesn't "flow". It will build up to the top of the globe, then, when fully melted, sits at the bottom as a dome. I've let it run a few times for about 14 hours each and it still does the same thing. I used the same coil that I used before, I added around 70 to 80 ml of surfactant, and I used r/o water.

Did I add too much surf? Do I need to add salt? Someone please help! I really like the idea of using a goo kit, but not if it's going to be a hassle.

[Critter]

Add some salt or other substance (like glycerin) to increase your fluid density.  Add slowly.  Hold off on surf for now you have quite a bit in there.

Critter 

[Kempton]

what bulb is in the grande first of all. Next you may need a second coil. I have never kitted a grande though.

[Critter]

I have kitted them before and the single coil is fine along with the 100 watt bulb.

[Mattmos]

1) Make sure your bulb is a 100 watter.

2) I read my goo kit instructions and it said to use distilled water only. Reverse osmosis (R/O) may be the problem, not for sure though.

3) In the instructions, it says to use 10 milliliters of surf for every quart of water. I think that calculation may be off a little, due to my last lamp I goo kitted. I redone a 52oz lamp which is about 1.6 quarts. That means I should have used around 16-17 milliliters of surf to get a flow going. I actually used three times as much surf (45-50 mills) in order for it to start flowing, but it is flowing great.  I understand what Critter is saying about not adding anymore surf, but I think you may not have added enough yet.

4)Try adding some Epsom salts if the surf isn't working. I went back into the library, on this site, and people say to add it slowly. From what they say, it doesn't take much.

 

Hope that helps

 

[Matthew]

It's doing much better now, but I'm still having issues with it. The goo is flowing really well, almost all the way to the top, however, it never separates and just continues to stay in one continuous blob. It acts like it's going to seperate, but never does.

I changed the light to a 100w bulb, added a bit more surfactant, and added a little bit of an Epson salt/water mix. Each time I added more of the saltwater mix, the blob seemed to go up much higher, but wouldn't turn into seperate pieces.

Should I add more of the saltwater mix? I'm worried though that it might harm the goo. Or should I add more surf? If so, would a certain type of dish soap work?

Thanks again for all the help, it's very much appreciated!

[Matthew]

I also have glycerin on hand. Should I try that?

[Brad]

not sure of the specific gravity of the RO water you are using and its relationship to the SG of DI water (i think they are both 1.00 at room temp., but i'm not 100% sure), but it may be to blame.  i would dump it and replace with DI water.  if that doesn't work, contact the company.  their stuff is made to flow right out of the jar with no extra tweaks.

[Dr. WHAT?!]

One thing I do notice is that you have the cap off, you need to leave that on, your allowing heat to escape making it harder for the lamp to get going. Also you dont need to add any epson salts to a gookit. Just use about 60 ml of surf and just wait man. Gookits need to break in too so you may not get flow right away just have to be patient.

[Matthew]

Thank you for the advise. As of last night, the flow was finally starting to break up, but into smaller bubbles. I think it was thinking too hot. I will post more results soon! I am going to try a 100w ceramic heater since I am planning to use fluorescent blue in it.