I use an upflow algae scrubber in my refugium (different from my sump!). I chose the upflow design because it was easier to make a compartment for it in my 33 gal refugium. It works, but not as well as I was hoping. The macroalgae in my refugium grows faster than the turf algae in the scrubber. Don't get me wrong, I grow algae in the scrubber, but not so much that I need to clean the scrubber more than once a month. Either way, I export a lot of nutrients via algae.
I think my light spectrum may not be right for the scrubber (I am using an old fluorescent fixture I had kicking around). So, I still skim and recently started running GFO, because although my nitrates were zero, the phosphates wouldn't go down. So, from experience I agree with what they say about nitrates being the limiting factor to the elimination of phosphates.
So, I don't believe that an algae scrubber alone is enough to take care of all the waste products from a tank. I will always skim and use GFO whenever phosphate situation warrants it.
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