Now Taking Orders for The Turbo HF Algae Scrubber

I am taking orders immediately for all types of units. My goal is to ship all units within 2 weeks of payment.

Refer to the Coming Soon thread for detailed information and videos about the Turbo HF Rev 3 Algae Scrubber
Refer to the Upgrade Kits thread for detailed information regarding upgrading or exchanging your existing Turbo Algae Scrubber

There are a few ways to make payments:

PayPal or Credit Card: I will send you an invoice via my PayPal Business account. You may pay that using your PayPal account. If you do not have PayPal, you may use any major credit card via PayPal's website. Paypal is the most expensive option for me (2.5% of the transaction, or more), so please consider the other following options:

Dwolla: Dwolla is only available for US residents and is just as safe and secure as PayPal, except I only have to pay $0.25 to accept your payment. I am in the process of setting up Dwolla payments. Payments through Dwolla will be paid directly from your bank account - credit cards are not accepted. You do not need a Dwolla account to pay. I would greatly appreciate any payment made through Dwolla as I am rather tired of being mandatory partners with PayPal or the credit card companies.

Check: US Residents only. Check must not be post-dated. Contact me for more information

Cash: Cash is king. In person only.

Before making payment, I want to clarify the exact options available.

The Rev 3 HF units come with all items that were previously "Add-on Kits", namely, the Cleaning Kit, Drain Kit (new version), and Inlet Plumbing Kit. The only thing not included is a pump. I offer a selection of Rio pumps, contact me directly for pump prices.

Here are the prices for the Turbo HF Rev 3 units:

L2: $399
L3: $489
L4: $549

Alternate Version

I have a decent sized stack of parts from the previous version (Rev 2). For people with difficult access areas, sometimes the old slot pipe design works better. I am going to refer to this as the Rev 2.3 model.

Drain holes are still threaded, but there are "U" shaped cutouts for cradling the slot pipe instead of threaded holes to tighten down and seal the slot pipe, and the previous style of slot pipe is used (which has an endcap on one end, and a threaded adapter on the other).

There is no price difference for Turbo HF Rev 2.3

LED Boards

I have developed and include a metal-core PCB (printed circuit board) for use with my Algae Scrubbers. The primary reason I developed this board was to reduce my production time. The secondary reason was to eliminate the need for diffusers by providing the ability to adjust the intensity of the LEDs.

After having many of these units out in the field, it made no sense to offer alternate the DIY LED kit anymore, as there are major advantages to using the LED board. Plus, the price savings was really negligible.

- LED board is 3" x 5", and is 2mm thick aluminum. This amount of material spreads the heat out over a much larger area compared to LEDs on "star" PCBs. As a result, heat sink stays noticeably cooler. Fans should not be required for any model.

- LEDs on the boards are connected in pairs with a jumper terminal associated with each pair, so pairs can be operated in series (full current) or parallel (half-current). LEDs can also be bypassed or isolated, as can entire pairs. Technically, you could configure the board so that only one LED was on, if you really wanted to.

- The purpose of this functionality is to be able to reduce the intensity of the LEDs during start-up, and then increase intensity after the algae screen is mature. This is equivalent to using diffusers during start-up and removing them at maturity, with the difference being that with the LED board, you can increase intensity in several steps due to the way the LEDs are paired (i.e. one pair at a time).

- FAN NOTE: Turbo HF model Algae Scrubbers do not come with fans. The MCPCB in combination with the heat sink spreads heat so efficiently that the heat sinks stay only slightly warm to the touch at all times.

For the L2 model, I had already stopped including fans with old style the individually wired LED fixtures. I had still been including fans with the L3 and L4 models (as well as any L2s shipped overseas). Since the heat sinks are oversized, it was rare that someone actually needed to use the fans, even on the L4 - fixtures never get too hot to handle without discomfort. The fans require a separate 12V DC power supply (not included) so most people just took the fans off. Some left the fans in place without running them, which is a no-no as they block convection when not operating.

If you still desire fans, they are available for $7 for 2 fans; includes MakersLED mounting bezel and hardware; separate 12VDC power supply not included.

Shipping

I do not do this full time - I have a full time job and full time family too! All units are individually made, and I usually do not have finished units on hand. Lead time for manufacturing is usually 2 weeks, but can be more or less depending on my schedule.

Shipping is quoted for each individual order. Shipping costs are actual + $20 (rounded up to nearest dollar) to cover time and material for packing.

Shipping within the United States of America

Units shipped within the Continental USA are sent via FedEx and usually arrive within 3 business days after they are shipped. Approximate shipping costs for each size unit are as follows:

L2: $20 + $20 = $40
L3: $30 + $20 = $50
L4: $40 + $20 = $60

These are example prices. Shipping to the East and West coasts may be a bit more. Shipping to the Midwest may be a bit less.

Units shipped to Hawaii and Alaska are sent via USPS, and shipping cost is slightly more.

International Shipping

Units are shipped via USPS Priority Mail International and usually arrive within 7-10 calendar days after they are shipped. International shipments are generally about $50-$100 more depending on the location, with Europe and North America (outside the US).

Please contact me for a quote on international shipping

HOW TO ORDER:

If you are not already in contact with me and wish to place an order or have questions, please send me a PM or a message using the Contact Us page and I will take care of you from there.

Thanks for your interest!

Bud

 

This will probably answer a lot of your questions:

FAQs

And this section has product info for each unit

Turbo Algae Scrubbers

The pics in those threads are outdated however, the new Rev 3 box has the slot pipe enclosed. One thing about that is that you really need to have the unit oriented sideways or at least in a manner where you can access the threaded plug to tighten down the slot pipe.

For this reason, I still offer the Rev 2.3 versions which use the older style "U" shaped notches that cradle the slot pipe. Since I have stock of parts for this older style of slot pipe application, I'll probably continue to offer this version as an option.

 

I will be posting some more product photos in the next few days.

If you look at the Rev 2 product threads and FAQ, you can see how those are set up and arranged.

The main differences between the Rev 2 (now the Rev 2.3) and the Rev 3 are this:

1) The bottom and side drains are now directly tapped to accept a threaded adapter instead of a bulkhead
2) The false bottom and lid have been redesigned
3) The slot pipe is fully enclosed

The only one that really defines which style of scrubber is for you is #3, because #1 and #2 are changed over for all versions from this point forward. So here is the difference:

The Rev 3 slot pipe is held in place via threaded fittings that are screwed in from the outside of the box. The fitting on the pump-side of the box stays static, you can position this one where it needs to go and leave it. The fitting on the opposite side of the scrubber is a threaded plug that must be tightened down in order to secure the slot pipe and seal each end of it inside the box (so that water doesn't spray everywhere). So you need to be able to tighten this cap while holding on to the slot pipe. You don't need to hold on to the slot pipe very tightly, but it will rotate on the last 1/4 turn of the end cap if you don't hold it at all. In this version, the pump is not directly connected to the slot pipe, so unless you are going to remove the entire box, you do not need to disconnect the pump to clean the screen.

The Rev 2.3 Threaded version is identical to the Rev 3, except that the unit uses U-shaped cutouts that cradle the slot pipe. This means that if you have to orient the unit such that the far end of the scrubber (opposite the pump) is not accessible (like in the back of a sump cabinet), and you cannot place the pump on the far end (so that the plug is in front), then you can go with the older drop-in slot pipe design. This design requires that you disconnect the slot pipe from the pump (via a union, included) in order to remove the screen.

So in short, if you can get to both ends of the scrubber, or if you can install the unit such that the pump is on the end that you can't easily access, then Rev 3 is the best choice.

Does that help?

 

The U-shaped cutouts? That is the Rev 2. You had one of those.

 

You can see the cutouts in the main body of the pic above (this is the Rev 2 L3)

 

Here are the banner ads that I had at my booth at MACNA.

Banner A highlights the construction and quality aspects of the Turbo HF Algae Scrubber

 

Banner B highlights the functional aspects

 

Banner C highlights the reasons for using a scrubber

 

Corrected the link...thanks for pointing that out!! Not sure why that one wasn't working, redirects are in place..hmmm...oh well

1) yes, except the slot pipe doesn't extend out of each side of the box, so the "+ slot pipe" dimension is a bit less

2) There is only one option, it is all inclusive (all 3 add-on kits are included, no pump is included)

3) pump depends on the model and the flow rate you want. For the L2, the Rio 1100 minimum (suggested 1400 maximum). For the L3, Rio 1400 minimum (suggested 1700 maximum). For L4, Rio 2100 minimum and probably the 3100 maximum. You can get away with lower flow, you will just have a little less filtration due to lower turnover.

 

L2 to the UK is going to be right around $105 currently.

 

L4 = 4 cubes/day at about 9 hours/day light period with full intensity light or ~18 hrs/day at low intensity. Flow a 420 GPH for both...at least, that was the general target I was shooting for. Since the L4 has 12 different combinations if intensity based on jumper settings, it's kind of a moving target.

If you have all LEDs at full intensity for 18-22 hrs/day and 600 GPH flow, you might get a lot more than 4 cubes/day capacity, but I have no hard data to support what that number might be.

I'm still waiting for my research grant to figure that one out.