Scrubbers and Copper treatments (and absorbtion)

[worley]

The copper based anti-parasitic treatments like Seachem Cupramine (the best IMO) appear to be safe to use with algae scrubbers. The copper seems to suppress/kill slime algae on the screen, but allows more beneficial algae to grow instead. If you have a lot of slime algae on the screen, rinse it off under a shower first before starting treatment, or expect an ammonia spike (DO NOT USE PRODUCTS LIKE SEACHEM PRIME WHILE TREATING WITH COPPER - they break down the copper into more dangerous forms as they are a reducing agent (e.g. anything that says it removes ammonia))
You will need to test the water every day for copper content (make sure you get a good test kit that has a reference test too (e.g. the Seachem copper test kit)), the reason for this is that the algae absorbs, and pretty quickly, the copper from the water. Expect a full dose (0.5ppm copper) of Cupramine to be absorbed in 3 days on a standard sized/powered algae scrubber (1w/gal lighting, 1 sq. inch, double sided, per gal screen). Depending on the amount of copper in the water you will need to re-dose to get it to the expected amount, but MAKE SURE YOU TEST FIRST! (double check this with the manufacturer of your treatment FIRST! This was however, Seachem's advice).

[worley]

After prolonged use of copper in a tank (12 weeks!) it does appear to affect the algae, it seems to take 3-4 weeks to have a noticeable affect then the good green algae seem to die off.
For shorter uses of 2-3 weeks it shouldn't affect the algae too much, but does still appear to absorb copper from the tank. After this point it seems to be just the darker slime algaes that grow and the green algae doesn't seem to re-grow after cleaning, so the scrubber still works, but at a greatly reduced capacity.
After removing the copper (e.g. using Polyfilters or activated carbon with Seachem's Cupramine) the good algae start to regrow within a matter of a few days, mine was back to full strength (actually much better than normal - probably due to the slightly higher nitrates) after 7-10 days of removing the copper.