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Twinstar..what is it?

Cheers too all.

Some of you may know from my flickr page that i started to test this device a week ago. Actually the Twinstar Nano model which has 2 mode. 90*45*45 and 120*45*45.
Since there's a lot of negative feedback - as usual - when something new appear on the market i thought this is a good idea to share my experience with it after the first week of use.

This will be a longer post so who do not like to read i can tell that Twinstar won the 1st week for me. 🙂 - and it did not get sponsored for this post 🙂

Here is a little background on the test tank.

This is a 5-6 month old fully matured tank. - So not a new one.
We usually had it run without problems thanks to the cleaning crew and maintenance work, but in the past 2-3 weeks we had several issues with the CO2 system and the tank slowly started to look very bad.
We had algea on the trimmed parvula mini carpet. Algae in the tennellus. Dragon stones were a little green dotted even after cleaning as you could not clean in every single hole etc.
Of course because of the algae some surface scum was there.
The left side of the tank had a massive BGA/Cyano breakout. This usually happend when the HC carpet got thick and the roots get rotted and started to lift off. Below the carpet the BGA just spread really quickly and just a matter of time when you meet with it on the carpet too.

Another issue was that the tank was a little cloudy. Not sure of the reason, as all of our others tank run crystal clear and we had 250ml purigen in this 180L tank too. But the cloud always came back a day after the water change.

So we have a nice matured tank which is bleeding from many sides. And it does not matter we have 30-40 amano shrimps, 2-3 Neritina snails, 20-30 Sakura and some CRS along with 1 or 2 siamese algae eater. They did not do the work. You usually see their cleaning activity, but this is not happened this time.

Tank parameters:

90x45x45 180L
Lighting: 4*39W ATI 7hrs a day
Substrate: ADA Amazonia with Power Sand Spec
CO2: Pressurized with ADA Beetle CO2 diffuser
Filtration: EHEIM 2075 (1250lph) full with bio filter media and 250ml Purigen
Water parameters: pH 6.3-6.5, TDS 120-140ppm, temp 22-24 celsius
Fertilizers: ADA Brigthy K 10ml/day, ADA Step 2 10ml/day, KH2PO4 a little spoon every day.
Water change 40% per week

So after the 1st week i see the following:
  • The tank is perfect clear in the past few days. So whatever we had is cleaned up fully. Purigen not helped as water changes too. I guess this is happened because of the extra oxygen this device provide.
  • Algae on the front parvula mini carpet disappeared. Only left a little next to the front glass. Where the water flow is week and the substrate is not clean. guess i had to suck it down at the upcoming water change.
  • Dragon stones cleared up. No green dot algae at all. The little we had disappeared.
  • Surface is cleaner. I fully removed the Eheim Skim. As the algae is going away this is normal that the surface gets cleaner too.
  • Fishes feels better. They swim more and they enjoy the cloud which is coming out from Twinstar.
  • We had a little algae on the tenellus. This is completely disappeared.
  • Cyano BGA partly died, but then this come back the next day because the powerful lights. All BGA looked like dying. Just like we would handle them with H2O2 or Easy Carbo.
    Unfortunatelly BGA is still there as the HC carpet lifting off from the substrate. So there i do not think this will die unless we remove the floating carpet piece and suck it down with a tube and replant the carpet.
  • Plants grows a little better/quicker. See the comparison shot below especially in the background, but HC is also grown faster
In overall we're very impressed by the effect of this product. Did a lot of work in one week to make this tank looks clear and healthy.

Twinstar won the 1st week for sure.

As i see in our operating hours the device turns on for 15 sec approx at a time. And the bubbles clean up in 30-45 secs fully from the tank. This turns on in every 10-30 minutes approx.
You almost forget this after a few days as this works automatically in 24 hours a day.

I have to add that this is an expensive bit of kit, and not solve all problems. But even for experienced guys like me could cause a surprise.
I am not here to promote/sell/advertise this item. But there's only a very limited information on this device especially on the usage. So i am sharing this just like as a hobbyist like you.
Tests not ending here. We wait for the next week. And if all will turn to wrong or not 🙂

Plant growth example:

Rotala Wallichii grown a lot - this is a slow grower usually. HC leafs are larger and looks more healthy. The new Rotala specie is also grown a lot!
I see this like 30% extra growth in the past week approx.

10579658125_05180309ff_b.jpg
Twinstar Nano by viktorlantos, on Flickr

10713418593_aa6228e729_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

On the glass you can see some algae green dust as we have lot of lights and 1-2 days missed from the fertilizer program this week.

Twinstar in work. Yes it is getting some algae on it just liek a CO2 diffuser. I already see this on macro lens.

10713134585_87a190ff96_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

10713139035_e665493b42_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

10713417033_6b81966263_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

Tank shot after 1 week

10713417943_7c3624f4e7_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

10713215234_fafc581d9d_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr

10713136595_589364bb75_b.jpg
Twinstar after 1st week by viktorlantos, on Flickr
 
Yo-han said:
Do you know anything more about the technology? Do you smell ozone or is it indeed some plasma ion tech like I mentioned before?
Click to expand...

No smell at all

virgojavier said:
Can you hear any sound comming out of it while it's workin?
Click to expand...

No sound. Either from the IC and the diffuser too

tim said:
Nice review viktor, I really wanna know how this works.
Click to expand...

me too. 🙂

The sterilizing power is a bit quicker than UV at least this has cleared up the tank cloudiness in 2 days. But even after 1st day the tank was clear it just got clearer for the 2nd day.
 
I even can think that the tank got a big oxygen boost (and the filter bacteria too) and since we added in a lot of oxygen the filter worked much more efficient than before. That's why the algae disappeared quicker than normally with an algae crew.
But honestly i do not have a clue. 🙂 Now the tank looks gin clear but maybe this is visible on the photo too. Like i would use a large amount of Carbon and Purigen together 🙂
 
So, is it actually a purifier/ozone? If so you'd need to be careful of the amount of time it needs to be on or you'll have dead fish. Have you been doing less water changes Viktor?


If it is ozone, the reefers have been using these for quite sometime.
 
Thank you Victor, after pages & pages of negative comments we are getting closer to the true effects or this device, I am very tempted to buy one myself!
I would really like to here a clear explanation of how it works but, anyway it does seem to work!.
 
I have to say, if I were plagued with algae and all else failed (addressing lighting, CO2, circulation, maintenance, ferts) then I would buy one.

It maybe hard to find how it works in fear of 3rd party rip-offs.
 
ghostsword said:
If adding o2 helps why not just had a air pump?
Click to expand...

Simple air pumps with air diffusers just not enough good i guess. This stuff generate a cloud almost no bubbles, so the gas escaping slowly.

But where filters used with oxygen - Tom Barr using this way a while ago if i am right, you can push the limits more with light and co2 and the filter works more efficient - algae has less chances.

This does not mean it is oxygen or i understand how this device works 🙂
 
foxfish said:
Thank you Victor, after pages & pages of negative comments we are getting closer to the true effects or this device, I am very tempted to buy one myself!
I would really like to here a clear explanation of how it works but, anyway it does seem to work!.
Click to expand...

I had a nice talk with Dave Chow about the device in Japan and based on that i felt i have to try it. He is a person who knows exactly how a planted aquarium had to work and his tests and observations were right.

Still need more time and different scenarios to tell 100% that it works but 1st week is promising
 
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