New to scrubbing. Question.

[mh0000]

Hello, I have a 90 gallon tank with a single RES turtle in it. As such, I have a UV and incandescent light for basking. Therefore, I have ran into the problem of algae that I would love to eliminate. While a turtle is known to be "messy" on the individual level, a single turtle in 90 gallons certainly yields a low total bioload. My tap water reads 5ppm nitrate (I will be testing phosphate soon), and after 2-3 weeks of absolutely no maintenance, the reading doubles to 10ppm nitrates. My question is, how will the smaller bioload affect the efficiency of a scrubber? If it bottlenecks algae growth, will I not need to clean it as frequently? Or maybe even allow for a smaller screen (i'm a little tight on space)? Perhaps with a smaller screen, I can place an emphasis on effective lighting over the entire surface of the screen rather than only a small section of it.

Also, how well does a scrubber work in freshwater? I know someone on the MFK forum made an outdoor one will good results (as far as I know). Anyone else with knowledge of the effectiveness of FW scrubbers?
I'm desperate to get rid of the algae, I'm even going to construct a DIY external overflow box just to accommodate a scrubber. Just hoping this will work!

Thanks!!!!

[SantaMonica]

Think about it: If algae can grow in your tank, it can grow on a scrubber. And MORE can grow on your scrubber, because of the strong light and flow.

how will the smaller bioload affect the efficiency of a scrubber?

It will grow less.

will I not need to clean it as frequently?

You WILL need to still clean it every 7 days in FW, because of the underlying layers dying and putting the nutrients back into the water.

Or maybe even allow for a smaller screen (i'm a little tight on space)?

Maybe. All depends on lighting and flow. I don't know how much food a turtle eats, but if it's equal to once frozen cube of food per day, you might get by with a 45 square inch screen, cleaned every 7 days.

how well does a scrubber work in freshwater?

Wonderfully. You WILL eliminate the nuisance algae.