Just a quick vid of my tank running only on Floyd's L2 HF Scrubber

Nice looking tank

How are you liking the Gyre? I've got one, I have an Elephant Ear leather that I have been "acclimating" to the flow, had it at 30% for a while, if I go to 40% it gets too loud, I need to get that new silent mag bracket they just came out with.

 

I'm still a proponent of multiple forms of filtration - combining various forms allows for one to fail or under-perform without potentially endangering the system. The upside is that each part can be smaller - smaller skimmer, smaller amounts of GFO, carbon, etc. For very large tanks, I usually recommend multiple forms of filtration. Smaller tanks can get away with less but you still have that risk, like if a pump dies or a timer goes bad and your lights don't run for days. Or if you do something stupid like forget to plug in your driver for 2 days after cleaning the scrubber. I've never done that though, no, never.

That being said most of my systems are scrubber only and do great. But that's because those systems are ones that I simply don't have the time to maintain. The downside of running a scrubber (or upside, depending on your viewpoint) is that it tends to make you very lazy because you don't have to do much, so you just don't.

 

There is a ton of outdated and incorrect information out there, so you have to be careful.

First, algae can and does engage in forms of chemical warfare. So do corals. Just because there is algae present doesn't necessarily mean it is going to damage your corals. But it can. So can other corals.

A lot of information out there is really old and all the algae scrubber opinions are generally based on the older type of scrubbers, many of which were cleaned in-tank, turning the water yellow. Most of that data is also based on the type of turf algae that is typical for a dump-bucket scrubber, versus GHA which is what we grow. GHA is technically turf in but it is not the turf that the original ATSs were designed to support.

Most people have fond that the best combination for SPS + scrubber includes either a skimmer, carbon, or both. So there is validity to the topic, just don't throw out the scrubber with the PWC water based on old school information.

 

Killer growth!