Scrubber as a fert tuning tool?

[the-obstacle]

I've been reading a lot about algae turf scrubbers (ATS) used in marine and unplanted fw tanks for a while now and seeing as I'm setting up a big new tank that will be mostly planted with new plants I was wondering if there's any point in setting up a smaller than needed ATS to catch the odd bit of startup algae?

My theory would be that until I get the nutrient balance right the algae scrubber would be the prefered place for the algae to colonise instead of the tank walls. By using a smaller scrubber than would be needed to actually scrub the entire tank worth I wonder if I could use it as a fine tuning tool for ferts assuming that once the plants were outgrowing the algae the scrubber would stop producing algae as there wouldn't be any nutrients left for it.

I'd run the scrubber overnight when the tank lights are turned off so that there is no clash for nutrients. I may have to dose daily to get it right as the scrubber might strip everything out overnight.

Any thoughts? Anybody had any experience with this in a planted tank?

[SantaMonica]

There actually is a clash for nutrients between scrubbers and plants. But it is true that the scrubbing demand is less because of this. Some people have done this, but I don't have any info. Just use a bright light, and adjust the scrubber by varying the number of hours of light, instead of the brightness of the light.

[iggy]

Look in to plants that absorb phosphate in main aquarium like java moss in aquarium directly and discard.