# Just added to my tank - Twinstar Mini



## haruko05 (Jan 23, 2013)

So I have been having really bad algae outburst in my tank. I couldn't figure out what is the cause of it nor do anything to control it. I've tried doing water changes, stop fertiziling my tank and increasing the CO2. I finally gave up after my contact in Hong Kong told me about Twinstar Mini and how it should help with my algae problem. It was kind of expensive at $160 USD but if it would help me keep my tank algae free, I'm all for trying it out. 

Picture of my tank after a full cleaning and water change (5/31/14):









I did another 50% water change on 6/6/14 after my tank got cover with algae. Removed most of the algae by hand and 2 days later (6/8/14): 









At this point I was just so frustrated with my tank. I haven't dose any fertilizer and been doing water changes. Maybe I was doing too much water change? idk... I decide to give in and order the Twinstar Mini. In the meantime, I left the tank alone till I get the device in.

Here's what it looked like after the algae defeated me on 6/17/14:









So I finally get my device on Friday (6/20/14).









In the meantime, my tank is probably every planted tank owner's nightmare of algae growth:









I figure might as well clean my tank and find a spot to put my device so I did a 90% water change as well as replanted some of my plants. After 2 hours of cleaning and pulling half my plants out, I got my device set up:









2 more hours later: I got everything replanted the way I want it.... Lots of left over on the side... I gotta wait till my plants grow back in too. I just wish the Twinstar Mini had been black and not white... It's sticking out like a sore thumb.









Image with the device going off:









I'll try to post daily photos to see if Twinstar Mini really does work. But I really hope it does because I don't want to grow algae. :icon_mad:


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## IiScaPeJuNkiEiI (Aug 7, 2013)

From my research on battling algea not dosing ferts is one of the worst things to do. Algae out competes plants when you stop dosing. You want the plants to out compete the algea. Can't find it at the moment, but there was blog that Tom Barr referenced that had all the info in it. Hth.


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## aquarist (Aug 29, 2012)

I saw an ad for this before, glad to see someone is trying it out. From what I have read on this device is it sends out an electrical pulse into the water when it's turned on, so I am interested to see how it works with fish and shrimp.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

No device will fix a poorly cared for tank. 

Ferts, CO2 and good light.

Your tank obviously did not have enough CO2.

You can send me the 160$. :icon_idea


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## Ghia (May 1, 2014)

Being a gadget lover, I had a look at the website. Nowhere on the webpage does it say HOW and WHy it works. It takes a top spot on my list of confusing and non-informative webpages. Count me out !


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

The lights is an obvious problem you should fix when you have algae. Hey, if you got the money to burn, go for it.

I did a little digging around on the twin star. It's simple electrolysis, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and a little ozone. Anything with o2 has a little ozone.

So the gasses are somewhat good at breaking down algae spores but don't expect algae magically to disappear. I think it's a preventative tool, maybe. I'd be curious to how it works in your tank.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD


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## HUNTER (Sep 4, 2012)

Yeah I would like to see the result on this as well, you never until you try it. It could be the missing piece in the algae battle.


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## charlie 1 (Oct 22, 2006)

mistergreen said:


> The lights is an obvious problem you should fix when you have algae. Hey, if you got the money to burn, go for it.
> 
> I did a little digging around on the twin star. It's simple electrolysis, splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen and a little ozone. Anything with o2 has a little ozone.
> 
> ...


That is so true, it does nothing for established algae.


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## haruko05 (Jan 23, 2013)

It's been over 2 weeks now and here's what I noticed...

Algae still does grow if there is algae already in the tank but it grew way slower. It doesn't kill algae but did help me control it. Just the hair algae and brown algae. It didn't do anything to the black beard algae. 
Plants seem to love it. The erios in the tank have turned a brighter green with an almost white center. Even the buces seem to be growing faster. Down side is that since it's growing so fast, it seems the plants are a brighter green instead of a darker shade of green. My rotala wallichi needs to be trim once every 1.5 weeks it seems. I'll have to try moving one of my anubis back to my main tank and see if the darker green plants would start going lighter green.
Water flow and position of the device made a big difference. The areas where the device's bubbles doesn't touch, no burst of growth on the plants and algae grew like usual.
I can't tell if the fish are liking it more or not... They wouldn't reply when I asked them.
On the side note... Before I decided to try the Twinstar Mini, I've tried different ways to stop/slow the algae bloom. I've tried stopping fert or increasing fert... water changes... Cutting the light back by a few hours... Spot treatment of the algae with H2O2... Increasing CO2 levels. For 3 weeks, nothing slow it down, in fact, the algae bloom just got faster.

*Overall*: I would get it again for my main tank. I'm only an amateur when it comes to planted tank and trying to figure out what's wrong and causing all that algae just frustrates me. 

*Photo log* (I got too busy on a few days to even remember to take a picture of my tank.)
6/21/14

6/22/14

6/23/14

6/24/14

6/26/14

6/29/14

7/2/14

7/5/14

7/7/14

7/8/14

7/9/14


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

I am glad to see some feed back on this thing. They seem to be increasingly popular but every one I have seen, nobody says how well it works or not, many seem to not have a real need for it. I don't trust anything from any website when I can't get verification that people can get similar results, there site is pretty comprehensive in documenting results but without user validation, I can't trust it.

You also said your plants grew better and I can see from the pics that it is the case. That was one claim I really didn't trust from their webpage. 

Not saying I will buy one or not, just glad to hear some feedback on the thing. They are expensive but I bought a UV in hopes of killing algae spores which didn't seem to work, other than green water which I have had once, so it's not that bad in price if you have considered that idea, not saying it's a good one but plenty of us have hoped it would help. 

I can't tell because the pics are a bit blurry but it looks like it did a good, but not perfect job with the algae.


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## HUNTER (Sep 4, 2012)

We buy so many equipment and ended up thrashing them. If I ever need to battle algae, I'll definitely try this one, it's a gadget I don't mind having.


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## aaronbear (Mar 17, 2013)

I bought one of these in March of this year and have had it installed in my tank ever since, here is a thread I started about my initial experiences and a summary of the research I did on it before buying: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=590945

To anyone interested, I borrowed a dissolved oxygen test kit from the university where I work and have been doing some tests to measure what effect the Twinstar has on DO in the water. Once I have enough data I will be posting my findings in the thread I linked above.

I had a little bit of GDA, it wasn't a big problem in my tank but it was persistent and had been there for about a year. I love gadgets and tech so honestly the purchase was more to have a cool toy than anything, but I was pleasantly surprised with the effectiveness of the Twinstar. Within two months of installing my Twinstar, the GDA had been completely eradicated. I definitely think this device actually did what it claimed based on my personal experience. I placed mine underneath my spray bar and I get very good coverage of the mist throughout my tank which I think has increased its effectiveness. At this point I have almost no algae in my tank whatsoever, basically just a slight dusting of diatoms that becomes barely visible on the glass walls and inside my glass pipes after a month or longer without attention but is easy to wipe off. I actually had to give my ottos away because they were starving to death, and now I have to feed my cherries more regularly or they too will starve due to lack of algae. There still seems to be a biofilm for them to graze on, but it's not enough to sustain my colony. I even added a new light fixture to my tank a month ago and more than doubled my light, the results were no increase in algae but insane amounts of pearling every day.

Honestly, the single most effective thing I have found to combat algae in the years I've been keeping high tech planted tanks is to use a dirt substrate (I cap it with EcoComplete) and keep your nutrients out of the water. It does limit you to root feeding plants, but it's incredibly effective at allowing the plants to outcompete algae and with a properly balanced dirted tank I have found I don't have to dose ferts at all to maintain healthy growth. After a few years your soil's nutrients will dry up and you have to either start dosing or rebuild the tank, but until that point you can enjoy algae free bliss. The Twinstar definitely worked for me though, and I would recommend it over a UV sterilizer to someone experiencing algae issues.


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