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Twinstar..what is it?

Hi all,
flygja said:
Could it be creating hydroxyl ions?
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Assuming that is really hydroxide rather than hydroxyl, it could. They would raise the pH (O-H), and are a strong oxidising agent. However, this is really back to the ozone argument, why would you want to add it to the aquarium? and if you did you could always add a small amount of "caustic soda" (NaOH) instead.
Rob P said:
DC the morning following day of installation was solid blue, first time it's been back to blue on a morning. Water definitely clearer. Fish more active (some quite frisky behaviour from my P. Ivantsoffi rainbows and BP tetras that they haven't exhibited to such an extent for a while)
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The colour change is caused by the higher pH, but my suspicion would be that this is an oxygen (O2) rather than a hydroxide (O-H) effect (re; the perkier fish).

cheers Darrel
 
Hi guys,

so yesterday night after seeing a post of George in Facebook where he says using twinstar in his new NA tank, I started being curious about the device because if George is using it, it must have some positive actions. So this thread came to my mind. I started reading it from the first page, and fioooouuuu it was long but very interesting. so I went trough the web and noticed that more and more people start using it, and even big names of aquascaping do so. It should work if we have positive feedback.
As I am facing in my last three set up a diatom problem covering all my plants and my hardscape without finding my way out of this battle.
I know the device will not resolve the problem at the root, but I wanted to know if someone have already tried it on this brown algae that is very annoying ? And if there is benefic result for that type of algae
I am really interested in buying this thing, and perform some tests and report it on the community
.
Can we already find replacement disc for it ?

best regards guys
 
zanguli-ya-zamba said:
but I wanted to know if someone have already tried it on this brown algae that is very annoying ? And if there is benefic result for that type of algae
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Welllllllllllllll... lol. I pretty much battled all green algaes in my tank successfully before Twinstar and only issues i had remaining when I started using it were brown algae on rocks and some browing leaves. I purposely left rocks uncleaned when I started using it and now, 3-4 weeks later, my rocks are not brown. Some result is without doubt attributable to TS, however sometime into this period i also increased flow and added algae eating critters (Otos/Amanos) and these have helped also.

I believe forum member 'Martin in China' has had TS in his new tank from the start and this has not prevented a serious diatom outbreak for which he has just done a blackout :(

So, it's inconclusive but for me personally I think a combination of good husbandry, good/improved fundamentals, algae eaters + TS has given me (for the first time in 5 months) an algae free tank :)
 
Rob P said:
Welllllllllllllll... lol. I pretty much battled all green algaes in my tank successfully before Twinstar and only issues i had remaining when I started using it were brown algae on rocks and some browing leaves. I purposely left rocks uncleaned when I started using it and now, 3-4 weeks later, my rocks are not brown. Some result is without doubt attributable to TS, however sometime into this period i also increased flow and added algae eating critters (Otos/Amanos) and these have helped also.

I believe forum member 'Martin in China' has had TS in his new tank from the start and this has not prevented a serious diatom outbreak for which he has just done a blackout :(

So, it's inconclusive but for me personally I think a combination of good husbandry, good/improved fundamentals, algae eaters + TS has given me (for the first time in 5 months) an algae free tank :)
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Thanks for your answer mate. I really want to give a shot to the TS, to tell the truth I want to do an impulsive move and buy it lol.
to tell the truth I am actually on on line store just waiting to push on the ok button of my wish list.

thanks again
 
If you can afford it and want to try it then why not? At worse you've wasted £120/£130.

If you ask me if it is miracle cure? I say no. Has it helped? Yes, i'm pretty sure it has ;)

I think most importantly it has allowed me to experiment more with the fundamentals, bit less light, bit more light, bit more gas, bit less gas etc etc without much change to stability of tank.

And i'm as far away from a pro scaper as it gets :D lol, but simple things like not having to remove hardscape to scrub clean etc has allowed me that extra time to focus on hardware placement and dialling stuff in, which is the 'help' I was looking for from it to be honest :)
 
You could try the old fashioned approach.

Algae issues are a sign of an inbalance in the system, and there are quite a few articles and posts on here that point you in the right direction. Brown algae is a result of too much light, or more specifically an inbalance between the light/nutrient/co2 levels.
Try shortening the photoperiod if they are on for long, dimming the lights if they are dimmable, raising them from the water if possible, or placing a diffusing sheet between lights and water.

All that striving for a perfect looking tank, expensive (breakable) glassware, days or weeks deliberating over rock placement and then you stick something in there that looks like a My Little Pony hairdryer.
 
Monk d'Wally de Honk said:
You could try the old fashioned approach.

Algae issues are a sign of an inbalance in the system, and there are quite a few articles and posts on here that point you in the right direction. Brown algae is a result of too much light, or more specifically an inbalance between the light/nutrient/co2 levels.
Try shortening the photoperiod if they are on for long, dimming the lights if they are dimmable, raising them from the water if possible, or placing a diffusing sheet between lights and water.

All that striving for a perfect looking tank, expensive (breakable) glassware, days or weeks deliberating over rock placement and then you stick something in there that looks like a My Little Pony hairdryer.
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I get your points, really I do but it's not always that straight forward. Victor Lantos pointed out a while ago that it's easy to work on the causes of imbalance as you have suggested, IF you have much time to tinker with your tank like a full time tank babysitter! (edit - and have all the knowledge). But not everybody does. As I've also mentioned, in my circumstances it has given me leeway to work on the imbalances over a bit more time whilst not exacerbating a negative situation.

You have to weigh the benefits and negatives against each other and I can tell you from experience that I have been getting FAR more pleasure coming home from work every evening of late and seeing my tank looking healthy, growing, clean and free from algae - partly attributable to TS no doubt. It's much more pleasurable than coming home faced with yet another scrubbing/pruning session followed by massive water changes every other day of the week!

You can soon learn to look over a 2 inch white disk sat in the corner!! (and most users like the mass of bubbles it sends out anyway :D lol)
 
I do get that, but there's really no need to babysit, changes happen relatively slowly. Make a small change, have another look in a few days, or a week. If there's no improvement go a bit further until there is.


All the solutions are on here and fairly easy to find, I have no expertise in anything related to aquaculture but luckily there are a few people on here that really do. Maybe I've just had it easy with my tanks. The only real algae problems I had was when my tank crashed last christmas*. A power cut that lasted a day froze my fish in their small tank, and when I came in a week later the entire tank was a green smelly box. I never needed to fight the algae rather than break it all down and start from scratch.

*I gave you my heart, etc etc.
 
Monk d'Wally de Honk said:
I do get that, but there's really no need to babysit, changes happen relatively slowly. Make a small change, have another look in a few days, or a week. If there's no improvement go a bit further until there is
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But I was in a situation once over where my plants were being consumed by the 'orrible stuff in DAYS, so leaving it wasn't really an option. It's extremely disheartening to have to rip stuff out you'd only recently paid £'s for, even after making an adjustment (such as turning lighting right down or gas up to a level where it killed your fish :().

Monk d'Wally de Honk said:
All the solutions are on here and fairly easy to find,
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Totally agree. I'd be in a black hole by now (and more than likely have sacked it all off) if it hadn't been for UKAPS, especially Clive. Very fortunate to have sites and people like this :) Info gained here has led to me investing many many hours and pounds, but ultimately got me closer to being able to not have a 'My Little Pony Hairdryer' in my tank maybe ;) But TS has helped lol

Monk d'Wally de Honk said:
I have no expertise in anything related to aquaculture but luckily there are a few people on here that really do. Maybe I've just had it easy with my tanks
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Maybe you're just naturally talented? (I love your studio tank btw, it inspired me to try Blyxa in my moderately hard water recently - massive FAIL btw!! lol :cigar: ).

It's a very confusing hobby at the best of times and seems different for everyone. There's experienced folk who seem to use significant lighting levels from the start, in tank co2 diffusers, aesthetically preferable lily pipes and can achieve a yellow DC in an hour with 3bps! etc and have zero issue with algae or fauna unless there is a known reason like equipment failure (either that or they are not telling us ;)), whilst others are using 'better' diffusion methods, massive flow, hardly any light and full EI for example and everything seems fine yet still run into problems in the blink of an eye. How can this be possible?!?! lol :)

It does seem strange that quite a few people, experienced people included, have bought this device but not many talk about it, like there's some kind of 'shame' attached to it?
 
Rob P said:
Too early in the day to be drinking ;) lol
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With rythme like that who needs drink?

And anyway 1130 is on a wet and windy Thursday. Is it my round?!?!?
 
Man I can't believe i'm posting this but made me chortle reading it back :D

Best Gloria Gaynor voices now :D

At first I was afraid I got algae’fied
Kept thinking I could never achieve clean tank by sofa side
But then I spent so many nights
Doing great big water change
And I grew strong
And I learnt how to get along
Now Twinstars here
From outer space
I just walked in to find you bubbling and fish with happy face
I should have changed that short spray bar
I should have added more KN03
If I've known for just one second you'd turn up to bother me
Go algae go, walk out the door
Turn black and die now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to cause strain on my eye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no not I!

:)
 
I think he's a few pints ahead of us.......

Rob mate, stop singing! It's not even karaoke night...... ;)
 
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