The reactors - or rather - the electrodes of all Twinstar models should be cleaned in regular intervals, to keep the components’ service live as long as possible. The manufacturer declares the reactor as a wear part with a general life expectancy of about one year. After that it should be replaced. With appropriate water quality and good care, you can make full use of this time frame or even extend it. If fewer and fewer bubbles are formed on the reactor, lime deposits can be the reason. These are recognizable as white deposits on the metal lattices of the reactor. The mesh is blocked and the production of bubbles restricted. SOmetimes the bubbles will only form on the underside of the reactor, agglutinating into one big bubble, that can’t escape anymore or only badly. Some aquascapers try to circumvent this problem by installing the electrode not horizontically but vertically. This doesn’t cure the cause of the problem, though. Insofar you’re on the safe side with regular maintenance. The amount and frequency of such calcifications is highly dependent on the water quality in the aquarium. This is much less of a problem in low-calcium, soft water than in harder water or when using stones as hardscape with a high lime content or lime-inclusions. All in all, we recommend cleaning the reactor every two to four weeks, depending on the nature of the water.

Cleaning

Twinstar offers a dedicated, granulated cleaner for the targeted removal of limescale. The procedure is explained in detail in the following video, but we have briefly summarized the most important steps right here:

• Turn off the Twinstar and disconnect the reactor, including the cable, from the contol unit
• Heat up ca. 200 ml of water to 50 °/ 60 °C
• Empty the bag’s content of Reactor Cleaner in a suitable receptacle
• Fill the heated water into the receptacle
• Stir the solution until the cleaner has dissolved
• The electrode is put into the receptacle and dipped into the solution
• Rising bubbles indicate the chemical reaction of the descaling process
• Remove the electrode with a suitable tool as soon as the bubbling has stopped
• After the process clean the reactor under running water
• Now, the electrode is ready to use again
• If the cleaning effect was not strong enough, you can repeat the process if necessary

Notes: This cleaning process not only removes limescale from the metal mesh, but also removes impurities and algae from the housing of the electrode. The reactor should never remain in the solution for longer than necessary. As a rule, usually only a few seconds to minutes.

Source and author of the video: Twinstar - Enbion