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Twinstar..what is it?

I know this thread has been done to death and I think at this point we pretty much have a good idea of what's going on and the benefits but I though I'd <drop this link> I stumbled across it on youtube when I was looking for something else about air pumps. Looks like these have been in use in horticulture for some time so not sure why they came out as a bit of dark art shrouded in secrecy not that long ago. Some decent explanations although the test data appears only to be relevant to terrestial plant growing by enriching the water with o2 that they feed to plants but I suppose there is some level of crossover.
 
Nice find, copied from your link...
So, that confirms where we got to with trying to figure out what the TwinStar is exactly. It's an electrolysis device that decomposes H2O in to the gases H and O2.
Therefore, great for generating O2 and oxygenating our aquariums, but perhaps not killing algae.
Although, Mr Emitter says it will keep plants healthy and increase yields significantly. So algae inhibition is perhaps more likely a byproduct of healthier plants.

 
That video was from 2015 and they say its "patented technology" not sure if they own the patent, if I remember right without digging back through it all Twinstar also said it was patented technology although someone posted showing the technology was patented waaayyy further back than that for the purpose of sterilising water. I can only guess that it's the "logarithm" of the bursts that Twinstar had/is patenting. Probably why the likes of Chiros can bring out the same thing at a fraction of the price without infringing any patents. Essentially it's all the same hardware with just the burst and duration that people or companies are claiming to be unique to their particular model.
 
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Increasing oxygen levels, a little dose of hydrogen to kill cellular algae in the column and the possibility of increasing co2 by increasing o2>filter production>more co2 and these guys claiming it increases root development and plant yields (In terrestrial plants anyway)I suppose the claims they are beneficial to a planted tank do have some weight.

Also tip for cleaning is to soak in muriatic acid, whatever that is.
 
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Chubbs said:
I have one and have seen no benefit. But it’s a nice gadget.
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I think that's where the dark art bit comes from mate. If you run a tight ship I don't think you'll see any benefit other than the fact you will have a lot higher oxygen in your tank....which you can't see.



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AverageWhiteBloke said:
I think that's where the dark art bit comes from mate. If you run a tight ship I don't think you'll see any benefit other than the fact you will have a lot higher oxygen in your tank....which you can't see.



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If that were the case i’d Expect to see pearling more evident as Tank would be saturated. I wouldn’t recommend paying full price for one, but it is a nice gadget and the ‘smoke’ it creates is pretty cool. But all of the product claims, don’t apear to be true at all.
 
Chubbs said:
If that were the case i’d Expect to see pearling more evident as Tank would be saturated. I wouldn’t recommend paying full price for one, but it is a nice gadget and the ‘smoke’ it creates is pretty cool. But all of the product claims, don’t apear to be true at all.
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You would have to ask someone more knowledgeable than me about pearling mate. I get the principal but I think there's a lot of other factors to take into account, I would imagine whether or not the the plants themselves are actually creating enough oxygen to pearl regardless of the o2 content in the water would be one. Atmospheric pressure, amount of live stock, water temp how dirty the water is, how dirty the filter is.... All these things are oxygen consumers in vast amounts so even with good o2 plant produced and the Twinstar it may still not be enough to produce pearling. I would hazard a guess anyway.

Regarding the claims, when I read through them (the ones in pigeon English anyway) and I cross ref them against what I understand about o2 and it's effects in the aquarium I would say you could cover all them claims by increased oxygen. Oxygen is very underrated in the hobby because we are all fixated on co2.
Helping the biological process, Check. Better for fish health, Check. Clearer water, check. Go longer without a water change, yeah, increased plant growth. All these things will be improved with higher dissolved o2. That's what this thing seems to do and that's what the end result would be, I have no problem with that.

As for killing algae spores, the hydrogen will do that also. Whether it's powerful enough to destroy fish diseases in the column looking for hosts I'm not qualified to say.

All in all, I think it does more good than bad. The mist looks cool and is a great way of seeing how your flow is going round the tank too however the actual device itself is an eye sore to me. I hate it when your tank starts looking like an intensive care unit.

I wouldn't pay the Twinstar prices for one either, handy gadget with benefits but nowhere near essential and nothing that can't be re-created with good tank husbandry.

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Yes, as mentioned it’s a cool gadget and is better looking than an air stone, but for the price you could buy lots of air stones
 
Worked for me, but is a short lived product with the hassle of having to replace the diffuser too often, even when looking after it meticulously.

Not sure why the gadget and wires are bright white which itself is a magnet for algae and go green first ?
 
Chubbs said:
Yes, as mentioned it’s a cool gadget and is better looking than an air stone, but for the price you could buy lots of air stones
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Very true but I don't think an airstone comes close when it comes to dissolving o2. Fair enough the breaking of the water surface will help but I would imagine very little has time to diffuse on its short journey and large bubbles plus you have the downside of noise with a pump running and crap like air fresheners etc being sucked in and pumped into the tank. When I watch mine the mist actually disappears in so far as it never makes its way to the surface it just vanishes which leads me to believe that it has fully dissolved as pure o2 back into the water column increasing the overall o2 content.

Trevor Pleco said:
Worked for me, but is a short lived product with the hassle of having to replace the diffuser too often, even when looking after it meticulously.
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Really? how long are we talking here? I've had mine over twelve months and so far only ever wiped the plastic.
 
Chubbs said:
Yes, as mentioned it’s a cool gadget and is better looking than an air stone, but for the price you could buy lots of air stones
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I think it's worth the money, and there are cheaper versions out there now which are probably just as effective.

Trevor Pleco said:
Not sure why the gadget and wires are bright white which itself is a magnet for algae and go green first ?
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I guess white fits in with the whole Apple aesthetic, they're obviously trying to emulate.

Trevor Pleco said:
Worked for me, but is a short lived product with the hassle of having to replace the diffuser too often, even when looking after it meticulously.
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My reactor (the mesh bit) lasted about a year before it finally gave up. I've since replaced it with Chihiros reactor, plugged in to the TwinStar control unit, which works well and is a quarter of the price. Not sure how long it will last though.
 
My reactor (the mesh bit) lasted about a year before it finally gave up. I've since replaced it with Chihiros reactor,
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Right, I never had the Twinstar so if @Trevor Pleco was referring to that one I have no experience of it. I've just had the Chihiros one from the start. Still going strong though. I guess you're pretty stuck colour wise in a aquarium, green, white or black is probably the only options for not standing out like a sore thumb. I suppose clear maybe an option just for the diffuser but then there's a mish mash with the actual unit where you don't want to see the inner workings and the cable has to be some colour. I suppose green would be the less obtrusive colour in a a planted tank but like you say the white has an iphone tech feel to it probably for marketing purposes.
 
AverageWhiteBloke said:
Very true but I don't think an airstone comes close when it comes to dissolving o2. Fair enough the breaking of the water surface will help but I would imagine very little has time to diffuse on its short journey and large bubbles plus you have the downside of noise with a pump running and crap like air fresheners etc being sucked in and pumped into the tank. When I watch mine the mist actually disappears in so far as it never makes its way to the surface it just vanishes which leads me to believe that it has fully dissolved as pure o2 back into the water column increasing the overall o2 content.


Really? how long are we talking here? I've had mine over twelve months and so far only ever wiped the plastic.
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I had four of them in a 780l tank, as I say I was happy with the performance and they created an impressive bubbly high tech show, not that I was after this, lol. Some diffusers lasted just over a year others 18 months if I was lucky. I replaced all the diffusers once, but after that lost patience and spares were difficult to come by In Africa so had to order from abroad so not cheap..

Black or dark green would have looked much beter in a scaped tank instead of ghastly bright white wires all over the place...
 
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Trevor Pleco said:
spares were difficult to come by In Africa so had to order from abroad so not cheap..
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Yes that is a problem, odd that the business isn't geared up to providing easy access to relatively cheap replacement parts.
Chihiros won't be complaining though, they've slipped in and filled the gaps neglected by TwinStar.
 
I hope the diffusers are interchangeable, I guess they are Tim if you got a chihiros one to go on your twinstar. Was looking on their site before and noticed they have brought out a newer version of the Doctor and couldn't see any diffusers for their old version sold separately. Essentially they are just passing a current between the plates so can't see any reason why one wouldn't work with the other.
 
Cool, nice one :thumbup:
 
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