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SantaMonica DROP.2 drop-in UAS scrubber


SantaMonica

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DROP.2

Drop-In Scrubber
with Green Grabber surfaces



Eliminate water changes. Remove nuisance algae, nitrate and phosphate. Cultivate seaweed for feeding.


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Finally an aquarium filter that offers drop-in installation, reduction or elimination of water changes and nuisance algae, and minimal sound. And it's so small it can fit in your pocket! It operates the way the oceans and lakes do, using algae to do all the filtering, and it truly can replace all other filters in your aquarium.

This DROP.2 drop-in scrubber has 6 square inches (37 square cm) of extremely rough Green Grabber algal growth surface which can grow up to 1/2" (1 cm) thick green hair algae. This is designed to absorb the nutrients from this much feeding per day:


0.2 Frozen cubes, or
2 Pinches of flake, or
2 Square inches (12 square cm) of nori, or
0.5 grams of pellets

The physical size or number of gallons or liters of water in your tank or sump does not matter. If you feed more than the above amounts, you can get multiple DROP.2 units; multiple units are preferred over one larger unit because you can clean one unit per week, and because you'll always have one unit filtering while the other one starts growing again after a cleaning. Multiple DROP.2 units are also good for backup.


Purchase here

The DROP.2 will fit into any size aquarium. Nano and pico tanks, with sumps on the back side, normally have compartments at least 3" (15 cm) wide; and the DROP.2 fits nicely there. And of course it can fit into the display (the main part of the tank), and it can even be dropped into a fish bowl!

The DROP.2 has a water inlet at the bottom, where internal upflowing air bubbles inside the unit (from an air pump which you provide) flow up into the growth compartment and bring aquarium water inside it. As the water enters the growth compartment, it mixes with the air bubbles, and rubs the algae-attachment Green Grabber textures, and gets blasted by the super-red 660nm LED light. This rubbing of bubbles causes algae to start growing on the rock hard (and heavy) Green Grabber textures; freshwater grows thin stringy algae, and saltwater grows thicker, denser algae. The air then goes out of the top of the unit, and the water goes down and out a second hole in the bottom, without any bubbles remaining.

The Green Grabber algal growth attachment surface is so rough and prickly that is might be the roughest thing you've ever felt. A cactus might be sharper, but that's about it. Rough surfaces are critical for allowing algae to attach and grow and thus provide strong absorption of nutrients. The rock-hard protrusions stick straight out 1 to 3 mm. Previous algae scrubber screens were made from "slippery" plastic canvas that is used for sewing and knitting; algae take a long time to attach to it. Green Grabber growth surfaces are not plastic at all; instead they are rock hard and have jagged rough edges and points (don't let children play with them). Green Grabber surfaces are so good at grabbing algae and letting it grow, that if you have high nitrate and phosphate in your water you may start seeing tiny growth spots within hours instead of days. And the white color of the Green-Grabber surface reflects as much light as possible, allowing lots of light to reflect back to the algae.

The main advantage of the DROP.2 or any algae scrubber is that if you size and operate it properly (based on how much you feed), it can be the only filter for your tank, even replacing waterchanges. It can, however, also be used with other filters. Some other filters such as carbon dosing (Zeo, pellets, etc) may slow down the scrubber, but nothing will really "hurt" the scrubber except possibly large amounts of algaecide or copper medications. The DROP.2 is also dry-out proof, since it's always under water.

The DROP.2 will run on both 120V and 240V, and comes with a 10 ft (300 cm) UL and CE approved power cord with a U.S. plug. If you require a different plug you can get an adapter at any local hardware or travel store, or online, or you can cut off the U.S. plug and install your own plug from a hardware store. It is a simple 2-wire plug.

Comes with 3 ft (90 cm) of vinyl airline, but requires a small air pump. Any small pump will work. It is the air bubbles which move water into the growth compartment and up the growth surfaces, and also supply carbon dioxide (CO2 in the air) to the surfaces, which allow algae to grow in the filter.

The LED is a single red (660 nm) 3-watt LED, which is sealed in polyurethane, and then sealed again in epoxy. Some red light does come out of the bottom holes, and they make little red dots on the bottom of the aquarium or sump. You will need to get a timer so you can run the LEDs for up to 22 hours per day (not 24!). The LED never needs replacing.

The DROP.2 will need to be cleaned ("harvested") every 7 to 21 days or when thick with growth. Just lift up the DROP.2 out of the water, pop the lid off, and pull the algae out. You can even feed some of the algae to your fish.

The DROP.2 comes with a 90 day warranty: Warranty is for replacement or repair only; not a refund. Costs for shipping back to us are covered if you are in the U.S. Costs for shipping back to us are not covered if you are not in the U.S., however we will pay for shipping back to you. In either case, you will need to ship the entire unit back to us before we can ship a replacement. Warranty is limited to repair or replacement, and does not cover fish loss, personal injury, property loss, or direct, incidental or consequential damage arising from the use of it. The warranty and remedies set forth above are exclusive and in lieu of all others, whether oral or written, express or implied. We specifically disclaim any and all implied warranties, including but not limited to lost profits, downtime, goodwill, damage to or replacement of other equipment and property, and any costs of recovering animals, plants, tanks or other aquarium related items and/or equipment. We are not responsible for special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any breach of warranty, or replacement of equipment or property, or any costs of recovering or reproducing any equipment, animals or plants used or grown with this product.

Can be shipped to any country; you can find shipping costs by using the shopping cart; be sure to click "display rates". If you don't have a zip code, enter "zip code" instead. Note that shipping outside of the USA might require you to also pay an import charge when it arrives, although the DROP.2 is low cost enough that many customs offices will not charge for it. We cannot mark it as "gift", however. The lowest cost overseas shipping is generally USPS First Class Mail International, however this option does not offer tracking outside the U.S. The size of the shipping envelope is 11 x 8 inches, (27 x 20 cm).

DROP.2 size: 4" tall by 2.5" wide by 1" thick (10 cm tall, 6.25 cm wide, 2.5 cm thick). It requires at least 3" (7.5 cm) of water to operate in.

"Works perfect! 10 mosquito fish and 2 marble crayfish in my 5.5 gallon breeder tank. Thank you for a great product my tank parameters are excellent for a growing thriving tank. Here is a pic..." - Keith K.

 

 

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DROP.2 Instructions:
English (Word)
English (PDF)

 

 

Purchase here

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Price? Availability? This model isn't on your website yet. Do you need a beta tester ?? I have a new MicroReefs 10" cube that this would fit perfectly in the rear chambers.

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Just got my scrubber today. I'll need to get an air pump as I don't have one, believe it or not!

 

But it may be a couple of days before I'm able to get one as we are due for some major snow tomorrow with actual temp of -3!!!

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Yikes. You are better off in zero-degree water :)

 

A note about the bubbles; they are designed to only flow up the left hand side of the compartment; they circulate back down the right hand side.

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I just purchased one for my BC29 Realistically the .5 model would have been better suited but if this helps I may get another one. The idea would be one in the DT and one in the back. Harvest one at a time etc.

 

I notice that in the forums you recommend shutting down a GFO if we are using one. I am going to try first using both. If I move this into the back after I see it work I think I am going to put this in the first chamber where the Aquatic Life 115 is now. It only makes sense to have the first thing filtering be the algae scrubber. I will have to move the protein skimmer possibly into the second half of the middle chamber next to the GFO.

 

I am still battling GHA. I have it under control but I find if I turn the lights up a little the corals like it but the GHA grows and I have to harvest some manually with my hand. I never let the GHA grow more than an inch long or so but I am hopefull that this will reduce the amount even more.

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Placement actually does not matter for filtration. Scrubbers remove a tiny amount of nutrients each pass, but over 24 hours remove a lot. So it can go anywhere. And, putting a scrubber after a skimmer will allow pods to survive more.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I ordered one of the .2 units for my BC29 a month or so ago. When it arrived I decided I might want to try something a little more drastic lol. I bought a .5 unit from someone on here and I am going to try to fit that in the back of my BC29 and attach it to the InTank Fuge basket. It might be a tight fit but I have the idea of growing whatver grows in the HOG then also having the Chaeto growing in the fuge basket area. The HOG SHOULD increase the circulation in that chamber which has always been an issue for me so the TWO together should be a win solution for me.

 

Right now I am just too busy remodeling my our kitchen. It's all tore up to the studs so my wife is without any kitchen.,,, that has become priority to finish that and install the $14K of cabinets lol. I will update with some before and after pics once I get the time to begin this process.

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Yes it must have an air pump.

 

Although, a second usage is as a waterproof fuge chaeto light. For this it would not need air.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
SantaMonica

"Works perfect! 10 mosquito fish and 2 marble crayfish in my 5.5 gallon breeder tank. Thank you for a great product my tank parameters are excellent for a growing thriving tank. Here is a pic..." - Keith K.

 

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  • 2 years later...
tdannhauser30

So I know you go by how heavy you feed and two pinches of flake a day sounds right for my 28 gal cube. This particular model looks to be the perfect size to fit into one of the sump compartments as well. Will this be grossly under powered for my tank? Seems like people normally use this one on smaller tanks. Obviously some scrubbing is better than no scrubbing but should I be going bigger?

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