My thought is why not have this come off your overflow and possibly flow into your fuge if you're running one already or into your sump. That way you can run a "T" off your overflow and be able to adjust flow into this more easily that with a pump. This would save quite a bit on power. I understand you wont get the same amount of pods or whatever, but IMO the power saved is better than pods, because they'll grow in the tank and eventually get to a healthy level anyways. Just my humble opinion.

This is how mine works on my FW setup. My goal was to add it in without adding another pump - already have to run the bulbs. You could also do this on the return to the tank from your sump if you have room under your canopy, or if you can make a nice slick looking unit that doesn't look out of place sitting atop your tank.

Wow, some great reading. It's great to see this idea get some revival. I haven't really seen anyone do much with algal turf scrubbing in years. But the idea has merit. I like it. :)

cvermeulen, do I understand correctly that you are running one on your FW tank?

Yes, I am. It's doing a pretty good job too. There are a few FW success stories on MonsterFishkeepers.com as well. one fellow successfully "ungrew" algae from his whole outdoor pond with a solar powered algae screen.

My only complaint is that I removed my mech. filter bags to make room for the scrubber in my sump, and the filter floss I replaced the bags with don't do nearly as good a job... this of course is easily remedied. It's only a problem in my tank because of it's messy inhabitants.

I thought this system was a thing of the 70s and had major problems with water discoloration?

Well it's definitely not NEW technology. I haven't seen any report of water discoloration on either FW or SW applications. I'm not sure why they aren't more predominant in hobbyist aquaria. It's a similar idea to running an autotrophic denitrator with sulfur or alcohol as an energy source (as in some public aquaria). The only issue I can foresee (which is preventable !) is when you do not clean your scrubber for weeks and weeks, and the bottom layers die and begin to decay causing an ammonia spike. There are scrubber designs though that prevent this problem... and realistically can you say it's a system flaw that negiligence causes potential problems?

The issue with water discolouration in these systems, as seen in some older reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef display in the Smithsonian Museum (it was actually really bad in this system from the pictures I looked at) probably stemmed from the fact that this was the only form of filtration used in these systems. I would think that used together with common technologies from today (skimmers, prodigious use of live rock, etc.) this would probably be a non-issue.

And if a little colour was noticed, you could just run some carbon.

Glad to see this idea getting some attention. Seems like a more efficient way to export nutrients than a 'fuge.

Well said.

i set one up a couple weeks back using the spray bar from a Rena canister filter. i recommend one for anybody having nitrate trouble.

any pics or designs to share would be great:biggrin: