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Twinstar..what is it?

Hello George,

It was intended to be light hearted banter, more so in response to NatureBoys Link to Ian holdiches topic on 'the silver Bullet'.

I too regard victor as an exceptional aquarist. One of the best on this forum.
And I do not doubt his findings either, as the results are clearly showing something is happening, and his tests seem methodical.

I believe the product produces a likeness in results to the use of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2).

Cheers,
N

don't dob me in!
 
Love this thread it's wholesome :) now if only the twin star worked on bba/red algae I'd bloody buy two lol all other algaes have been easy to shift trying to do battle with bba ha I hate the bloody tuffty black beard stuf and I cannot shift it, on the plus side though I've cleared up GSA diatoms gda staghorn and various others I would imagine in my pursuit to irradicate bba, saved a few pennies too :) if twin star can stop bba I'll be buying one :)
 
After reading this thread I'm hearing voices from the dark side... pay rise/back pay almost spent already lol :D
 
Love this thread it's wholesome :) now if only the twin star worked on bba/red algae I'd bloody buy two lol all other algaes have been easy to shift trying to do battle with bba ha I hate the bloody tuffty black beard stuf and I cannot shift it, on the plus side though I've cleared up GSA diatoms gda staghorn and various others I would imagine in my pursuit to irradicate bba, saved a few pennies too :) if twin star can stop bba I'll be buying one :)

Its not good for brush based on the documentation unfortunately.
Which is strange as H2O2 do a great damage on this type of algae too.
 
There's a little annoying feature what i faced with today. As we had some electricity maintenance in the shop.
If the electricity is down Twinstar will not come back to operation later.
So you need to restart it. It's ok but i had to do this 2-3 times today because of the outages.
 
It's a pity we can't find a air pump powerful enough and run it though an atomiser, as it'll do the same thing.
 
You dont need an air pump just get a divers bottle same as using FE co2 then
 
Hello All,

Just thought I would let you all know my Twinstar Nano arrive today, I’ll be installing tomorrow. This will be installed in my current tank:

My own iwagumi scape’

This scape was started just under two months ago, so not new (currently running a journal), but i wouldn't say is fully matured.

Tank Parameters:
  • 120l Optiwhite tank
  • Inline diffuser connected to C02 fire extinguisher connected to timer (4-6 BPS, and set to come on 1.5 hour before lights on)
  • TetraTec External EX1200 (filter media as supplied, but in of the compartment i have replace the Biological Filter Foam with 1 litre ADA Bio Rio, I have also put a 100ml bagged of seachem purigen on the top compartment)
  • Hydor ETH External Thermal Heater
  • 2x AquaRay GroBeam 1000 ND suspended approx. 250mm from top of tank, connected to timer (set to turn on for 7 hours a day)
  • Hydor Koralia 900 pump
  • Glass intake and lilly pipe
  • C20 drop checker
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia (65% of which is mature over a year old)
Hardscape: Seiryu stones
Plants: HC, Echinodorus uruguayensis, Anubias nana bonsai

Water parameters: pH 6.2-6.5, temp set to 23celsius, TDS 180-200ppm (recent purchase TDS meter from ebay for my shrimp tank)

Weeky Fertilizers: ADA Brigthy K, ADA Step 1 & ADA Green gain (note I have only recently started using only ADA fertilizers previously I was using the Easy-life range)

Current livestock: 3 Otos, 2x black neon tetras, 6 amano shrimp & 2x assassin snails. Will shortly be adding a large school fish (not sure what thou).

Typical weekly maintenance regime:
  • 40% water change (tap with conditioner – water is very soft and is approx. 45tds direct from source)
  • Twice weekly scrub rocks and tank glass with toothbrush, as typical covered in a thin layer of algae.
As suggest despite my best efforts I can not remove algae completely from rocks, there also always some visible algae on HC (which i am afraid to remove in fear of ripping up carpet) and also below substrate up against tank (which I don’t know how to remove – tried blacking out substrate only with little effect).

Note I have no idea what the different type of algae I have so many have more than one type, it all the same to meo_O

No photos at the moment as camera acting up, I going to leave Twinstar running and report back in a week.
 
Hi all,
Working from the assumption that the Twinstar unit has a positive effect (and I still think that is a very large proviso), you would have to look at the 2 component parts separately. The increased oxygen levels could be replicated by a large gas exchange surface, a reversed period planted refugium or adding oxygen via a liquid oxygen cylinder and vaporizer (this is how the oxygen barges on the Thames work). This is only relevant to period when lights are off, for most of us when the lights are on dissolved oxygen levels are going to be at ~100%.

The second component is the nano-bubbles, which would be responsible for the algal suppression, increased fish health etc. as described here:
welcome to the wonderful world of nano bubbles http://staff.aist.go.jp/m.taka/nano-bubble.pdf
and people will have to make up their own minds about them <http://staff.aist.go.jp/m.taka/Video_E6.html>. You could only produce these nano-bubbles with a dedicated unit.

cheers Darrel
 
Anyone want to try this out? It would be good to have a comparison, it would also be a lot cheaper!
Hmm I am not sure if you are serious ?
Basic 12l dive bottle £150...decent one from around £250 - £550, not sure how you would deal with the 3000psi but a dive reg starts around £250.
Personally I would not really fancy a dive bottle in my lounge but if you think that would duplicate a twinstar performance I guess it might appeal to some?
 
Hello All,

Just thought I would let you all know my Twinstar Nano arrive today, I’ll be installing tomorrow. This will be installed in my current tank:

My own iwagumi scape’

Echinodorus uruguayensis

No photos at the moment as camera acting up, I going to leave Twinstar running and report back in a week.

Looking forward to see your results. Btw, you know the Echinodorus gets huge? I had it over 60cm...
 
Hello Chaps,

Further to my last post, manage to get my misses camera working:) FUJI x20, lovely camera but no idea how to use properly:(, but photos are well better than the one taken on my phone.

Here some pics taken before I turn unit on.

UrcWJTZ.jpg
necwpjp.jpg
UuZ5kfT.jpg


Photo showing algae on stones, and if you look carefully you make out algae below substrate and on surface of stones. As you can see not a completely a badly maintained tank but still with a few algae issue

Here a photo after device has been turned on, lovely cloud effect.:)

dJDEiUc.jpg


Water changed and tank was given a once over before turning on. As suggested i going to leaving running for the next week, i also wont carry out my usual mid week maintenance. Let see how we get on.

Cheers
 
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