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- Oct 11, 2022
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Blade Hybrid Algae Reactor 16
• Purchased a turf scrubber to deal with a heavily polluted tank with nitrates of 55ppm and heavy hair algae.• Tank is 92g volume so I purchased the 16 version as headroom and the 10 inch might not benefit as well due to the tank being heavily stocked.
Over the next few weeks I'll keep an update but so far it's been operational for a day and all seems going well and will report in a few weeks 4-6 weeks once it establishes to see issues some people may have been concerned about such as clogging, the inner walls white reflective flooding with Algae, potential leaks and more.
- TLDR; It works , got rid of my hair algae in the display tank entirely and significantly lowered my nitrates without problems. It is what it is, a turf scrubber.
I am not a professional product tester, I'm just a regular reefer buying and using a product like most here. I'm just writing about my own first impressions of a $699.99 Scrubber , my concerns, my loves about this product, and if this can resolve my algae problem which many people suffer. I would like to see if the concerns people online had about this product pre-launch are real issues or if there underlying issues that could occur in the long run as scrubbers are meant to be an important filtration equipment.
My concerns are just thoughts and not a reflect on the product quality or its performance.
If you want to watch BRS Video on this product, its benefits and how it works please watch this first
First day pros and cons impressions:
Pros
• Sleek Design
• Easy to setup
• Extremely Easy Basket Design (huge pro and the main purpose of this Refugium/turf)
• Virtually silent in Turf Mode (set to 350gph as instructed)
• Includes an AI Blade Refugium Edition Light featuring Wi-Fi App control and easy ready default settings
Cons
• Assembling the legs and stand with the Refugium body at the center makes it difficult to fit into the sump, especially with the 16 model, which reaches 17" even at its lowest height. Installing it required removing most of my sump equipment—like trying to squeeze a couch through a door. The screw-tightened slide locks add to the hassle. A future design with detachable legs and body that wouldn't need to have the two interconnected with the middle piece would make installation and maintenance much easier. I would like to be able to have the stand and legs inside the sump and be able to pull put the body for cleaning.
• Light Leakage, the bottom has no cover and no filter sock, just a 1" pipe leading which would be handy for runaway algae or debris especially since this is a turf scrubber , as shown i suspect algae growing inside the sump soon due to this.
The AI Blade Refugium LED is designed for enclosed refugium use, not as a ceiling-style waterfall light. Its strengths include:
- High output with a horticultural spectrum and efficient 95° spread
- WIFI Control with many different customizations, time presets and more.
- Reflective white interior enhances light distribution.
- The downward beam may not penetrate well as algae buildup masks the reflective interior.
- Unlike scrubbers with vertical LEDs along the waterfall, this shines down.
- Over time, algae growth on surfaces reducing par reflecting which could reduce bottom penetration.
Buyer Pros:
• Everything you need (except for the pump) is included such as clips , 14" worth of tubing, plumbing wrap for leaks, the screws for the stand , the light and more, keeps it simple and doesn't over include items.
• Unique design in the market, this is the first turf scrubber I've seen that has the body of the Refugium act as a path for waterfall meaning there's no awkward 1" easy disconnect pipes outside the body for the plumbing that go all the way up to the top to slide back down which keeps the design sleek and minimal and easy to maintain, this is also how they accomplished the easy basket design since no tube needs to be unplugged or disconnected to remove algae which in my book is a 10/10 feature for a turf scrubber.
• extremely well build , it's black, light up logo to show intensity and if its running, light passage made of glass for easy cleaning and better par values, it's thick (reduces waterfall sound) and nearly double wall lined which virtually cuts off sound.
• it's virtually silent as advertised meaning this is the most silent turf scrubber I've seen in person, the ice cap ones are extremely quiet however still have a slight water droplets sounds , however this one eliminates the sound once the top cover is closed due to its tight seal build and covers , I do hear small droplets when I'm in the sump but disappear once the doors close, I give sound level a 10/10.
Buyer Cons:
• Extremely Expensive, overpriced for no reason , this was $699.99 , does not include a dc pump and the shipping box was mid range material. There is many solutions for turf scrubbers at half the price and offers a pump.
Unboxing didn't feel luxurious, it honestly felt like an eBay seller’s product with flimsy Chinese packaging. It lacked the premium touch of unboxing an iPhone , an MP40 or even a $350 Nyos Skimmer, yet this scrubber costs $700.
Major issues with the packaging:
- Inside was powdery and manufacturing dust—everything required rinsing.
- Parts were difficult to remove from the box and not clearly presented.
- No protective wrapping for the acrylic build—just thin Styrofoam sheets and glued-on edges, which were already peeling.
- The glass layer was taped directly to the assembly, not housed in a cushioned compartment—easily breakable during shipping.
Adaptive Reef, please take note:
- Unbox an MP10 or high-end device to capture that premium experience.
- Your box should snap open, with every component securely wrapped and clearly labeled.
- Consult packaging specialists to ensure components are protected, clean, and feel special.
- Make the unboxing feel premium—your packaging is the first impression of a $700 product.
Concerns:
Based on some of the first day concerns I’ve noticed which could potentially happen:
- Clogging at the waterfall water holes and algae growth holes
- Algae growth inside the sump at the exit hole due to light leakage at the bottom
- Humidity buildup
- Uneven algae growth
- Basket design: The current design uses textured walls to encourage algae to grow. I wonder how effective this is compared to the typical scrubber that uses a mesh/net surface. Was it a design choice or a production limitation? It would be great if Adaptive Reef offered a net-style basket as an alternative, especially since the baskets are hot-swappable.
Test Setup and Equipment:
• Red Sea 350 Tank (72g Display + 20g sump)
• Heavily stocked , infested with hair algae and bioload (55ppm , hair algae inside the tank keeps this number floating here, will remove the hair algae in increments over the next few weeks while the turf acclimates and populates it's own algae)
• Jebao MPD-3500 , this is the same dc pump I use for the return so ordered another, most silent pump ever in my opinion. There's virtually silent and there's pitch silent, this is pitch silent.
Overall the product itself in terms of functionality , ease of usage, its features, and its the build quality is an A+ Quality in my book, hopefully it does its job well as a turf scrubber in the next few weeks.
Day 1 (7/1)
• All seems well, no noise, no clogs everything is operational. The body is 1" submerged having around 1" of water inside the body.
Set to the highest brightness and keep it on for the next three weeks at 24/7 while the turf grows acclimates as instructed.
Day 7 (7/7)
After the 5th day lots of the basket looks like to have saplings of seeded algae, with the seventh day enveloping it entirely,
Once the algae established on the basket surface it started expanding rapidly, these two were taken within a 24hr period. Its easier to tell how much film developed by looking at the bottom portion of the basket side by side.
This is normal in many newly started turf scrubbers, with the first week growing biofilm or film algae, Hopefully by next week I hope to see growth of turf algae.
This basket is around 11" x 15" so there is a lot of surface area for the film to grow.
Day 24 (7-24)
The 24th marked a little over the third week of the break in and the basket switched from a diatom film towards to brown slime , enveloping all over the basket holding on well on the rough texture while the diatom film are breaking apart, no signs of green turf yet, only small strands of brown hair algae and slime.
The light down design is starting to show concerns some worried about, I'm noticing the slime growing is a lot more lushful, all spread out and thicker in the first 10" of the basket compared to the bottom region where it's thinner or not evenly spread out, maybe it's due to the water spread, maybe its because the top waterfall might break apart the nuisance algae better allowing for more slime, maybe it's because the way the top is absorbing more nutrients than the bottom region, but who knows, as of right now there's slime all over the basket, top to bottom , however it's noticeable better on the top as expected.
Fortunately this thing spits out crazy par on the first foot of the basket so that's more than enough for turf Algae growth to absorb nutrients just fine, this could potentially mean the effectiveness between the 10" and 16" models of this Refugium/ scrubber might not be as effective when compared to each other if turf will block out some light the farther down to goes if the slime is already noticeable thicker and lushful at the top compared to the bottom. What I will say is there's definitely slime covering most of the basket so I expect turf to envelope most of the basket without problems, this is a insane light despite its clear disadvantage of beaming down rather than directly to the basket like traditional rain waterfall designs.
Month 1 (8-1)
Today marks the first month , 31 days or around 4 weeks.
In the morbius settings I set the AI blade to 100% only white to visually see the green for my photos, any red/blue on would make the green virtually brown making it hard to distinguish from nuisance/brown hair algae so if you're checking for green turf then I suggest doing the same.
Good news, after four weeks multiple patches of green turf algae is starting to grow over the extremely thick blanket of brown hair algae that covered the basket , I had my doubt about the basket design but it is working extremely well holding onto the dense blanket. Since it takes up to 6 weeks to break in a new turf scrubber I say it's on schedule.
My nitrates are still hovering around the 55ppm I started with, for some reason brown hair algae completely stopped growing in my display tank entirely and bright green algae is growing on my tank glass , the present hair algae in there has almost disappeared, dissolved even. I would love an answer for this. I understand the turf scrubber is mature enough to compete with the display but how is this possible if theres a presence of nitrates/phosphates.
Week 5 (8-6)
Tested my Nitrates with the Hanna Checker and my nitrates are now down to 38.6~ppm , I'll start testing it weekly until it's 0 and change the lighting schedule if needed and perhaps even see if it reaches equilibrium but since it's a massive scrubber for my tank it might reach 0 without problems.
Week 6 (8-16)
Did my first harvest, nitrates stopped at 40~ so I figured it was time, will note how long it will take for the turf to grow back, removing the basket was easy and algae scrubbed off fine without problems
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