hi, i wanted to ask what is the most current type of scrubber? have seen many types diy and for sale, but some pictures are old and i'm not sure which are still current. thanks
Typically today people use either either UAS/SURF scrubbers, or waterfall scrubbers. Waterfall scrubbers has proven to work very well. If you're going to DIY, definitely go with a waterfall scrubber. I'd stay well clear of Santa-Monica's scrubbers unless you're wanting one for nano tank.
My latest version is here (overview video) Here is a thread with additional product information links @Matt Berry is in the process of making a version, and @acorral is the maker of the EC Reef scrubber
Bad design. Lots of people have problems with the HOG/SURF scrubbers. In terms of performance, Santa Monica scrubbers are light years away from Turbo's / Acorral's scrubbers. For an algae scrubber to be effective you need good lighting and high water agitation/flow on the surface of the algae growing material. You also need a reasonably high turnover rate of water through the algae scrubber, otherwise the nutrients in the water won't get to the scrubber quickly enough, and will probably lead to algae growth somewhere other than the algae scrubber (i.e. the display tank). His scrubbers have ok lighting, but very poor agitation/flow and turnover rate. He uses an air pump as the sole means of moving the water through the scrubber, and it's not even close to being adequate. You need fast flow over the screen to promote nutrient transfer between the nutrients in the water and algae. You don't get this with air bubbles. In a small tanks (10 gallons and under) with less water volume - the turnover rate isn't quite so much of an issue, but it's still not great and regardless, the agitation/flow over the screen is still terrible. There's no point in having an algae scrubber that's easy to setup, clean and install if it barely grows any algae.
thx for the replies. maybe im looking at the wrong ones? the ones i saw were always packed with green growth, and the people said they had really fixed their tanks. that's what got me remembering these things from years ago. i think it was on reef sactuary that i first started reading about them here http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...ver-replaces-skimmer-refugium-everything.html but then saw the new talk of the bubbles here http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...inate-green-hair-bubble-turf-slime-algae.html i had made one back then and it worked but now that i'm getting back into it i want a 55g, 120g, and a nano, and i thought the bubbling ones were cool. i think one guy even has 8 of them on a 1000g clown tank and says it's best he's ever tried. anyway hope you can clear this up for me
Santa Monica used to make/sell and promote waterfall algae scrubbers. In the first link (from 2008), that's what SantaMonica is referring to. Waterfall scrubbers, when set up correctly are fantastic, no doubt about it. SM has now shifted his focus towards algae scrubbers that use air bubbles (HOG/SURF). Regardless of the claims that he makes about the performance or the pictures he posts, they don't come close to waterfall algae scrubbers. Take the HOG/SURF growth pictures and claims on SM's website with a grain of salt. I guess it all comes down to what you want the algae scrubber to do. Do you want the algae scrubber to be the main, or one of the main forms of filtration in your tank? If so, I really recommend that you either build or buy a waterfall scrubber. A SURF/HOG most likely will grow algae, but if it's only managing to pull 5% or 10% of the nutrients out of the water, is there much point? Like I said previously, in small tanks they can work OK, but you get diminishing returns as the tank size increases.
There are always cases where something works great for someone, and there are also cases where they do not. A lot of the time in this hobby, you hear positive things from one person that you consider a reliable source and come to the conclusion that whatever they are doing must be the right thing - and that might be true, but it might also have a lot to do with their particular system or implementation. I'd like to read more about the 1000g clown tank before passing any judgement. I've see examples where UAS do work well so I'm not saying they're a total flop. I just think that there is not enough known about how well they work in certain situations, because they are a completely different type of scrubber than a waterfall scrubber, with a few parallels. I see many examples of UASs that don't produce and I guess I still haven't completely put the picture together about why that is. I can usually spot the issue with a waterfall scrubber pretty quickly with a few pointed questions and find ways to improve efficiency or give advice.
By the way @txfish your e-mail provider is kicking back the thread reply alerts, it seems that your provider doesn't like this site. I'm trying to track down why that is but you might consider switching your e-mail account, if you have another one.
@txfish See my experience with HOG 0.5. It wasn't so great... https://www.algaescrubbing.com/threads/the-hog-0-5-scrubber.292/page-2
