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Q&As since 1989
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Algae, fungus, bioslime in plating tanks?
adv.:
Q. I have a 1% citric acid tank cleaning solution made up in accordance with Code N in ASTM A380 . It has organic growth like crazy and needs to be re-made all the time. Is there anything that can be added or changed about the composition that would prevent this growth while maintaining the integrity of the cleaning solution?
Travis Hilton- Billerica, Massachusetts
April 3, 2024
A. Hi Travis.
Jacob H. says below that small additions of thymol solved the problem in his citric acid based rinse tanks. I can't guarantee that it will work in your cleaner but I would be quite confident that it will not interfere with the workability of your cleaning solution.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
⇩ Closely related postings, oldest first ⇩
Q. I am looking for additional ways to control bio-growth in rinse tanks after gold plating. This has always been a problem with acid gold plating baths, and I have seen a number of control methods through the years.
Our current cleanup is to dump and scrub down the rinse tanks (non-abrasively). We have also added 0.2 micron filters on the incoming water.
Other shops I have worked have used bleach to leach out the rinses (not during production!). One of our people says the growth proceeds upward from the drain to waste treatment. We can't dump bleach down the drain because it goes to a resin system.
Our gold is high purity, for wire bonding, so we really can't afford to put biocides in the plating bath or rinses.
Any contributions will be greatly appreciated.
Bill Vins
microwave & cable assemblies - Mesa (what a place-a), Arizona
2000
A. Will UV light work? There are a few lamps made for direct immersion and I thought some people put a lamp over the tank at night. No, I have never done it.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
"Gold Plating Technology"
by Reid & Goldie
(hard to find & expensive; if you
see a copy cheap, act fast)
on
AbeBooks
or
eBay
or
Amazon
(affil links)
A. Bill,
I am a QA manager of a plating shop and I am (or I was) a microbiologist so I can try to give you some answers.
1) your system (clean up of tanks) may be effective only for few hours (12-24) because microorganisms have a very fast growth rate.
2) the 0.2 micrometers filters on incoming water can only reduce the initial quantity of microorganisms in water, but consider that: - the rinse tanks are put in the open air - contamination occurs on the surface of tanks - the velocity of growth of microorganisms makes this filtration useless.
3) if you wish to solve this problem, you have to control the growth of microorganisms in some way: the use of sodium hypochlorite or other biocides is the best solution (microbiological point of view)
4)if it is possible, verify the type of bio-growth (algae, bacteria or fungi)and perform the microbial count (No. of microorganisms per mL); you have to ask to some microbiological laboratory to check this.
5) There are many simple systems to do the microbial count in house (dip tests); you may do this test on a fresh rinse bath and every day (or every two days) for a period of time (1-2 weeks); you can define some acceptance limits and when the microbial counts exceeds limits, you can dump the rinses.
I hope it will help you Franca Assone
Francesca Assoneelectroplating shop - Torino, Italy
A. Just a thought. Could bubbling ozone in the tank work? I do not know its effect on the chemicals nor do I know the source of bottled ozone, however!
Mandar Sunthankar- Fort Collins, Colorado
A. We experience the same issue occasionally. Clogs up our gold recovery system and is a mess to sanitize again. We've found that adding a little Thymol [thymol crystals on eBay or Amazon] to the rinse inhibits microbial occurrence/growth quite effectively with just a small addition (usually to the non-flowing drag-out rinse). 20-30 mL for a 10 gallon drag-out rinse is plenty. Lasts for weeks or even longer. No effect on our deposits has ever been observed. Hope this helps.
Jacob Hendrickson- Seattle, Washington, USA
2005
Q. Jacob: What type of Thymol would you use? I read that the crystalline form of Thymol [thymol crystals on eBay or Amazon] is only soluble in alcohol and acetic acid [on eBay or Amazon], so would you use a different form of Thymol, or a different preparation method?
We are having trouble with moderate amounts of Bacteria ("fuzzies") in our Gold Dragout Tanks. Its a fairly small Tank (20L), and we treat it every week with a proprietary solution from an outside vendor, but it does not seem to help. We have tried both polypropylene and carbon filters on the Tank, but both seem to get easily filled with bacteria. A small addition of hydrogen peroxide does seem to help, but we would rather control the problem then have to act retroactively once there is a significant amount of bacteria. Is there any in-house remedies we could possibly try as to help eliminate and control the bacteria content within the tank without compromising the gold solution?
Thank you in advance,
- Rochester, New York, USA
April 4, 2012
A. Hi Carolyn,
Jacob hasn't been around in a while. I haven't seen a specific protocol for making a thymol solution from thymol crystals [thymol crystals on
eBay or
Amazon]
, but thymol is commercially available as a diluted disinfecting solution [thymol disinfectant on
eBay or
Amazon]
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Multiple threads were merged: please forgive repetition, chronology errors, or disrespect towards other postings [they weren't on the same page] :-)
Bacteria or fungus in our gold plating rinse tank
Q. Dear Sir,
In drag-out tank after gold plating, some gel typed sticky foreign material are flowing and putting on the tank wall. Thinking it is caused by bacteria. Somebody help me the name of fungicide to kill the bacteria.
Thanks,
DN Chung- Seoul
2001
Hi, Chung. Bring a dust cloth with you and take a trip down "Memory Lane" :-)
Before there was an Internet, people dialed up through a modem and posted Q&A's on Electronic Bulletin Board Systems (BBS's). Here's a discussion about biological growths in gold plating rinses from our 'Finishing Technology Hotline' from 1991 which discusses the fungicides you are asking about. Good luck.
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Multiple threads were merged: please forgive repetition, chronology errors, or disrespect towards other postings [they weren't on the same page] :-)
Q. Hello all experts,
I am new in plating field and I am now in a flexible circuit factory for nickel and gold plating. I realise that the rinse tanks after both nickel and gold plating are occupied by slightly red-color sludge (I am not sure what's these substances are but my supervisor tell me that is bacteria or fungi. The spray nozzle is blocked by these fungi even I have already put 1 micron filters at the pump inlets. If this is really bio-fouling, can I add some chemical to inhibit their growth without affecting the deposit?
plating shop employee - Zhuhai, China
September 26, 2010
A. Hi, Sam.
Your question was discussed in this forum before the public Internet even existed, believe it or not :-)
Please see: "Algae Growth in Gold Plating Rinses" from our electronic BBS days.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
Q. Amazing, Thank you Ted. But both my gold and nickel rinse get the same bio-fouling problem. I understand gold rinse may be more easy to have this phenomenon but why nickel rinse exists this? What is the nutrition for the fungi? How can I get rid of them thoroughly?
Sam Chan [returning]plating shop employee - Zhuhai, China
A. Common help is very fine filtration, UV light exposure, Frequent tank dumps and finally antibiotics.
James Watts- Navarre, Florida
Q. 1 micron PP filters already fit in the inlet of the pump, but it just lasts about 3 to 4 hours and clogging happens again. The surface of the filters cover with sponge-like bio-fouling and the spray rinses no longer function. It seems to be so frustrating to replace a new filter for working just 3 to 4 hours. Therefore, I wonder any possible solution to eliminate this kind of problem.
Sam Chan [returning]plating shop employee - Zhuhai, China
A. First, never put a filter on the inlet side of any pump, especially a 1 micron.
Your filter will probably last at least twice as long on the outlet, as well as the pump will not be killing itself when it cavitates.
Till you get the bulk of the bad stuff out, it will just exponentially grow.
On a weekend, put a large 10 micron filter on the outlet. Later in the day, put another one on for all night. The next morning put a 5 micron filter on it. That night put another one on it, or if you feel good about it, put a 1 micron filter on it.
By a large filter, I mean one that is 5 to 10 times larger than the one that you are using.
- Navarre, Florida
Large 'nodules' on gold rinse filter
Q. Hello all,
Chemist for an electroforming shop here. We've been having some issues with our gold rinse tank -- cyanide gold, acid (4.8 - 5 pH). Our rinse tank seems to get a lot of "bugs", especially over the weekend. I'm not sure if these are microbial, or something else. The assumption is they're organic, and we've been trying to treat it with H2O2 or HCHO. Nothing really seems to work. We tried a proprietary chemical (Fungicide G) and it didn't work either.
This past weekend, we came back to see large "beehive" nodules on our filter.
Any clue as to what's going on? Any ideas on how to fix it?
This chemistry has little to no phosphates, is a citric acid based cyanide gold tank. Little else is in the tank besides these chemicals.
Thanks,
Brian
Plating shop chemist - Rochester, New York USA
May 8, 2017
? Hello Brian, is the rinse tank connected to a "gold bug" or resin column?"
Mark BakerProcess Engineering - Phoenix, Arizona USA
A. If I am not mistaken, it is the citrate in the gold plating solution which helps the growth of white fungus in the drag-out tanks. Using other complexing agents instead of citrate will solve the problem.
Lee leong teeleeplating company - malacca, malaysia
Ed. note: Bio-fouling of rinse tanks is a perennial issue also discussed in thread 13946 and thread 34242.
Q. Hello
I work as a gold plater and currently there is a lot of green algae contained within the yellow gold tank. I plate onto sterling silver and sometimes it comes out slightly dark, or grey or just dull, despite having thoroughly cleaned everything in acid. I have read with interest information using activated carbon in a mesh sock hung over the side. Or using a fish tank filter? There is nothing in place at the moment to remove any of the algae. The water colour is dark green and not very pleasant. Please can somebody recommend what I need to do to get rid of the algae?
Many thanks indeed
Debs
- Brighton. East Sussex. England
February 16, 2018
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A. Hello Deborah, you didn't mention if you had continuous filtration which would give you solution agitation. Algae forms quicker with a stagnant tank. When I worked for a precious metal supplier we did have a algaecide that you could add to the tank. I would pump out the tank, filtering into a clean, leached tank. Clean your main tank using a little bleach [adv: bleach/sodium hypochlorite in bulk on eBay or Amazon] , scrubbing the walls and anodes well. Be sure to rinse the tank very well before pumping the gold bath back in. Plating equipment suppliers can set you up with a filter system that is sufficient for your tank size. These systems also take carbon filter tubes as well as polypro filter tubes. It would be beneficial to run carbon packs for 2 hours a week. I haven't ever used a carbon sock and be careful if you have to go that route. Passing the bath through a carbon sock has to be continuous for 3-4 hours. Be sure the sock has a micron rating of 5 micron or carbon will be released into the bath. Don't use powdered carbon, but a high grade granular type. So to sum this up, buy a filter system if you don't currently use one. Run the filter system the whole day your shop is open. Run a carbon pack once per week for 2 hours. Check with your gold bath supplier for an algaecide. Hope this helps. Mark BakerProcess Engineering - Phoenix, Arizona USA A. Hi Debs  Geoff Smith Hampshire, England |
A. Hi All,
I'm a process engineer and part of my responsibility has been to set up a pure/soft gold rack electroplater, and to do the process development to start producing parts. Anyways, we also had a lot of problems with fungus in the first drag-out bath. By adding an immersion heater to the drag-out bath, we drastically decreased the fungus growth. We simply turned it on once per day, waited until the water reached about 140 °F, and then turned it off. Immersion heaters are pretty cheap.
- Newark, Delaware USA
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