Algea scrubber

[Rmckoy]

I have been doing a little research on algae scrubbers .
Very simple and seam to be very effective .
To my understanding they are for
1) removing nitrates ?
2) helping with gas exchange ?

What are the pros and cons from everyone with experience ?

 

[Hondatek]

All pros no cons in my book . They actually don't remove anything .the growing algae uses no3 and po4 to grow . They then are removed when you do your screen cleaning every 5-7 days. I have a 40b where the scrubber is the only filtration and it holds a 0 no3 and .04 p04 with monthly water changes. My 180 gallon uses both an algae scrubber and a skimmer. I have even experimented by turning off my skimmer for a month on that tank and nothing changed . I couldn't imagine trying the opposite . I even go as far as drying out the removed algae into sheets and feeding it to my fish and they absolutely love it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

All pros no cons in my book . They actually don't remove anything .the growing algae uses no3 and po4 to grow . They then are removed when you do your screen cleaning every 5-7 days. I have a 40b where the scrubber is the only filtration and it holds a 0 no3 and .04 p04 with monthly water changes. My 180 gallon uses both an algae scrubber and a skimmer. I have even experimented by turning off my skimmer for a month on that tank and nothing changed . I couldn't imagine trying the opposite . I even go as far as drying out the removed algae into sheets and feeding it to my fish and they absolutely love it.

Agreed, over 20 years my scrubber has been working. There is no down side except needing the room to put it.