Cheers Tom, i see how wet dry improove the filtration efficiency. With optimal water temp and the wet dry could max up your filters. As i've seen on our tanks this is good for many algae, like hair etc, but may have less impact on bga especially in substrate and green dot, brush.
Bga sometimes can be killed with more flow and oxygen, but the last video from your meeting with the plant guys shows me this isnt perfect.
The point when you sliced the hc up on the front glass, i've seen bga there if i am right. Typical with hc when the roots strart to rot and float, but if that was bga, then even your strong flow (which seemed powerful) and the added o2 not solved it.
On my very first test the TS unit killed the bga too from the similar floating hc carpet. And was effective against bga in all of our tanks. Eliminating bga not just on top if the soil and front glass, but from the soil too.
I am not saying this is a must have thing, but like we have tanks which have poweful filters uv and ts in the same tank, each thing add a little to the result. Where we use ts we not use anymore any algaecide like carbo, excel, h2o2. And we need less algae eater for the same amount light.
Sorry for the misstype i am from mobile now
That was not BGA, that was old crusty green algae, and hard species that forms below the glass from not cleaning it for months. There's no BGA to speak of except below the gravel line in the ADA next to the glass where is poses no issues and has never been an issue.
BGA wipes out easily with your hand, that algae is tough and requires some scraping or I prefer a razor blade. But it's not an issue. Just a deep cleaning, that's below the gravel line if you want to make the front edge look nice, no one would even notice it unless I pointed it out. But it's a very minor issue, nothing that twinstar or any other product could address because it's below the gravel line, the ADA As is fairly old in this tank and has a lot of fines, so there's not much circulation. That's fine also, as roots add the O2.
So this is a mute point, BGA has never pestered me, at least in the last decade or two now. Nor is this green algae an issue either. It's just beyond the plecos and the typical cleaning routine. But if I hack some plants and then pull the gravel back away, every tank has some algae and film down there. It's a minor non issue.
I scrape it off once every 2-6 months if it's even there. I did not scape it, it's gone now anyway, the gold nugget ate it all
Better a fish than ANY mechanical device as long as the fish do a decent job.
I do not use H2O2 or Excel etc on these tanks. I do not need them, same for UV etc.
I think folks that use algae killers often cause more harm than good if they use them all the time as a routine.
A one time application after something goes wrong is okay, but........or for folks that do not use CO2 and use excel instead etc.
Still, the point is rather straight forward about Twinstar, we KNOW what it is, how it works and we have other data that shows similar things based on O2 readings.
I added O2 to several test tanks in 2001 and 2002. At 15 ppm , there was no significant difference between algae biomass on artificial media versus 7 ppm. But many canister systems do NOT have 7 ppm or more in those aquariums, they are almost always LESS than 7 ppm at 28C.
7 ppm is typically 100%, 15 ppm is 200+%. Algal species where similar also between treatments. Plants and sediment etc where present, small filters etc, and light etc. So at 100% O2, that's likely enough, plenty to do the same job.
O2 is lethal if you add too much also, eg, 200-300% or more will kill most fish, but will likely do not much to many plants, but also will not kill a lot of algae species in natural systems also.
Amano uses Wet/dry sumps on most of the larger tanks that ADA does, his home tank included.
I'd figured you'd jump right on board the sump/wet/dry filter thing........being the ADA fan boy that you are?
Try the DIY method, this can be placed outside the tank if you have a sump.
I use a grounding probe also, the stray current from this and the Carbon plus etc units will toast your pH meter.
You use thicker wire and then heat shrink and wrap the wire connecting them to the mesh. You can make your own mesh holder I suppose DIY out of something pretty cheap also.
Given the cost of canister filter, + this item, vs a wet/dry alone............I'm far from convinced.
Sumps are just much better overall on many areas, evaporation is a huge one, stable DEGASSING rates is another.
Also, you have no O2 controller for the O2 production inside the tank, so you have no idea what is actually going on with the O2 ppm concentrations.
You learn little by blind loyalty and NOT questioning or testing ideas, theories, things, products etc.
If you know what level of O2 ppm that helps the tank, or have a good idea of the range, that is helpful, regardless of the product or method of adding the O2.
O2 can be added like CO2 gas, a gas tank, it can be increased using a sump/wet/dry, chemical RXs, or via electrolysis. O2 meters can easily measure this and optimize it/control it.
That offers far more than "I use this 200$ product, you should buy it also"[DOUBLEPOST=1407307609][/DOUBLEPOST]
I'm not going near a Twinstar while I'm learning how to grow plants but I do find it interesting. I'm naturally sceptical too but members like Viktor have seen real benefits from running this device.
I was under the impression this wasn't a new invention from Twinstar but just an application for existing water treatment products - products using electrolysis to produce disinfection compounds (H2O2, ozone etc.) PDF found here:
http://www.technology.matthey.com/article/52/3/177-185/
I think the electrodes are more than just stainless steel mesh due to how easily people have damaged them… stainless steel wouldn't stop working when cleaned in bleach of scrubbed with a toothbrush.
You can get other anode protections and sacrificial protection such as magnesium to reduce corrosion on the SS mesh. Or Pt plated SS mesh.
Mg metal works well, is cheap and ideal for FW, Zn is used for marine ships etc.
The Mg takes the corrosion basically, instead of the mesh.
This would reduce the cost and Mg metal is fairly cheap.