Purple Metallic Astro - Very Cloudy! Help

[Simon Lloyd]

Hello,

 

I have recently bought a purple metallic Astro - but the liquid is very cloudy.

 

1. Can i use my MSR Ceramic filter?

2. Could i refill it with Glycerine?

 

Help please!

[Arne]

well, thats all just theory. I would say it would be btetter to try adding pure glycerin as surf makes the flow rather stringy. the problem with my glycerin water mix was that the flow was too blobby rather glitterball like which use pure glycerin. So IMHO if your flow is just thin but still not too blobby just try adding small amounts (maybe 2ml steps) of glycerin, mix it in well when your lamp is cold, so it dissolves properly...just shake it when cold to make it mix in, if you try it when running the glycerin will just fall down and take forever to mix in... But its all on your own risk. Ionly have one metallic left so I wont try it on that one. optional you can get surf from gookits.com and the 85% glycerin/water mix can be obtained at pharmacys...most have it as the standart glycerin. Then you would need surf. Artleast this way you can out the old fluid in if it doesnt work like it should....how does your flow look...any pics?

Best of Luck!

Arne

btw, thought about a hotter bulb?

[Arne]

oh, didnt read it all;-) should be easy...water is lighter than glycerin so it stays on top

and on its own it wont mix. so just wait untill the lamp is cold and shake it to make the water mix in. should all be well after mixing it...and dont worry if it looks blurry first, thats normal and will settle.

[Oliver]

Thank you so much Arne!!! This is so very helpful. I am going to try out your suggestion. I just love this metallic red. Teehee.

 

Thanks a lot!!!

 

 

[Oliver]

Just shaking it a bit more solved the problem! Lava goes all the way to the top again and the flow is better. :)

 

Maybe I experiment a bit with adding tiny amounts of glycerine to even better the flow. But it looks way better already.

 

Thanks a lot Arne!

[Arne]

You're welcome. never change a running system! and use tiny tiny amounts and add when cold, might cloud otherwise.

[Oliver]

Lol! Yeah you are probably right with not changing a running system!, I like this one too much to mess with it.

[Oliver]

So I have it running for a while now but it is still weird. It seemed that adding the water to top it off (what started the whole thing) ruined the bloblike original flow of the metallic and made it slower and the the wax formed in bigger blobs.

The shaking Arne suggested helped so that the water mixed in and the wax could rise to the top again but the "heavyness" of the flow was still there.

I added a bit of glycerine and it is running now but it seems that the flow is still weird....

It goes like this: When the lamp is heated up the wax stays down for 30 seconds or so and one huge string/blob builds itself up, slowly rises to the top and slowly falls/drips down again. There is no separation of the wax, it mostly stays in one huge piece, goes to the top while connected to the ground and than flows down again. Than again a 30 to 45 second pause...and all starts again. It is really slow and not really nice.

Maybe someone has some advice, whats wrong and what I could do to fix this...

Arne! Please help. :):)

[Oliver]

Here are a few pics to demonstrate what I mean...

The first picture shows my purple metallic,  it flows how the red one used to flow, I would love to get this old flow back:

The next series of pics shows the new flow of the red one, after I topped it off with water and added some glycerine. It is very slow, looks heavy. It stays in the first stage for up to a minute sometimes, than slooooowly rises like described above.

Would be awesome if someone could point me in the right direction. I am ready to exchange the whole masterfluid, if I could achieve the old flow of pic one again. Thanks guys, this forum rocks!

[Oliver]

P.S.

I was also wondering why the metallic effect isn't as strong as in the purple one...I guess because its cloudy and there is not enough light coming through due to all the wax staying at the bottom....

So if I understood correctly I could use Arnes formula of 85 percent Glycerine and 15 percent water to get it going again?

Thanks

[Arne]

Yes, but not going like it was before. but it doesnt look like thats the problem. It seems to have a bad sticking issue. its sticking mostly all around the bottom as far as I can see. I would recommend a bottle swap as stickiness can change the whole flow. And for the purple I'd use a dimmer, the way you are running it, it'll go cloudy fast!  It's supposed to flow like a normal astro just a bit slower.

[Oliver]

Thanks a lot Arne! I will buy a dimmer tomorrow!  Don't wanna mess this one up. 

Regarding the red one,could you please clarify what you mean by saying  "yes, but that it would not get going like it was before" if I change the masterfluid with 85percentGlycerin and 15percentWater? It sounds easier than doing a bottle swap.

Also you say you would recommend a bottle swap. What exactly does this mean? Changing the whole content of the bottle (masterfluid and wax) into a new , spare bottle? If so, how do you do that?

Thanks again.

[Arne]

Oliver I think I already described what I mean. The flow will be glitterball like. I DIDNT figure the full metallic fluid!

And I would try another bottle first anyway.