Algea Scrubbers

Has anyone had a personal experience with algea scrubbers? I've read some info on the one from Santa Monica and it sounds good. Its a new floating design they have.

 

I was looking at his floating model and it looks good. I just put a small upflow model in place today. I have no skimmer atm so im hoping that this will grow lots of algae.

 

I used to have a waterfall type. It works as advertised. If I have NO3 PO4 issues in my new tank I wouldn't hesitate to set up one again. I would probably do the newer designs this time like the upflow. The key is designing it to where it doesn't get messy by letting out salt creep, letting stray light get out so algae doesn't get all over your sump, and being easy to take out for cleanings.
For now I will be going the refugium route. A little easier on the maintenance.

 

I was thinking it could only help. Im not big chemicals and like doing things as natural as possible.

 

I recommend the waterfall style. I have a surf2 floating and the idea is great but it hasn't been able to keep my display clean with only 1/4 cube day feeding. I just now added a fuge light and chaeto. Had the surf2 running since tank setup but turf in the display is getting bad. Turbo's waterfall scrubbers can't be beat.

 

Where can I buy turbos?

 

If you set one up make sure you do your research. They are not plug and play even if you buy one. It could end up giving you a bunch of head aches. For example you "must" clean off the algae periodically. Usually once a week. You don't want the algae to get old as it can leach bad things into the water. That's another reason they were not popular until the last few years as people did not understand them fully. Thanks to people like Santa Monica it has cleared up some of the negative feelings toward them.
About everything you need to know or can ask is on algaescrubber.net

 

https://www.turbosaquatics.com

Fantastic build quality. About as plug and play as a waterfall scrubber can get.

 

I love turbos design, and I built my waterfall scrubber based off his design. They are not plug and play like skimmers are. You need to make sure you have the right size screen with the right amount of flow and the right amount of light. But once you figure that out they work great.

 

Here is my surf2 thread:

Hart's SURF2