brettinteriors
New member
Yep, I did this with no issues. It worked great.
Just ordered hair algae mower
- Thread starter brettinteriors
- Start date
Yep, I did this with no issues. It worked great.
dotcommer
Active member
Well I was finally able to get around and set it up and use it.
The unboxing was pretty straight forward and it was pretty easy to set up. He has a set up video on you tube which was nice.
It seems as though he thought his product through nicely. You have the option of using a battery or a powered plug. The pole extender is nice for those who have taller tanks. Being able to turn it into a sand vac is a nice feature (but I haven't used that yet) I would have like to maybe see a more powerful pump, however it worked fine so it is not needed.
It works great on your rocks, and getting into those tough area's but does not work well on your sand bed. I was trying to get some Cyanobacteria off my sand bad, and a small rock got caught twice in the pump propeller. Even though its pretty easy to unscrew the 4 small bolts and clean it. Its not worth doing over and over.
However I think the sand vac would work great on the sand bed so I am glad he has that attachment available
The one thing that is missing is a safety lock to keep kids from turning it on. I have small kids and since it has a drill bit at the end of it, you really have to make sure that you don't leave it under your tank or in a place that kids can get to it. It looks like a fun toy for kids and I can just see them turning it on and playing drill master on my acrylic tank or each other.
At the end of the day, it is our goal to spend as much time as we can enjoying our tanks instead of always maintaining them. Any tool that helps speed up the process of maintenance and helps us to have more time enjoying our tanks are usually really worth it. As is the case with this product.
Is $70 a high price, I am fine paying that price and wouldn't have a problem spending more than that for what it does (as long as it doesn't break on me).
It's great to see people coming up with better ways to assist us in maintaining our tanks. I don't remember 20 years ago if anyone had a magnet to clean your glass, but the $70 I spent on my hammerhead float magnet a few months back was definitely worth it.
I had some hair algae on my overflow and it cleared up pretty easily, It did stall a few times but still worked great. below are a before and after pic.
The unboxing was pretty straight forward and it was pretty easy to set up. He has a set up video on you tube which was nice.
It seems as though he thought his product through nicely. You have the option of using a battery or a powered plug. The pole extender is nice for those who have taller tanks. Being able to turn it into a sand vac is a nice feature (but I haven't used that yet) I would have like to maybe see a more powerful pump, however it worked fine so it is not needed.
It works great on your rocks, and getting into those tough area's but does not work well on your sand bed. I was trying to get some Cyanobacteria off my sand bad, and a small rock got caught twice in the pump propeller. Even though its pretty easy to unscrew the 4 small bolts and clean it. Its not worth doing over and over.
However I think the sand vac would work great on the sand bed so I am glad he has that attachment available
The one thing that is missing is a safety lock to keep kids from turning it on. I have small kids and since it has a drill bit at the end of it, you really have to make sure that you don't leave it under your tank or in a place that kids can get to it. It looks like a fun toy for kids and I can just see them turning it on and playing drill master on my acrylic tank or each other.
At the end of the day, it is our goal to spend as much time as we can enjoying our tanks instead of always maintaining them. Any tool that helps speed up the process of maintenance and helps us to have more time enjoying our tanks are usually really worth it. As is the case with this product.
Is $70 a high price, I am fine paying that price and wouldn't have a problem spending more than that for what it does (as long as it doesn't break on me).
It's great to see people coming up with better ways to assist us in maintaining our tanks. I don't remember 20 years ago if anyone had a magnet to clean your glass, but the $70 I spent on my hammerhead float magnet a few months back was definitely worth it.
I had some hair algae on my overflow and it cleared up pretty easily, It did stall a few times but still worked great. below are a before and after pic.
rizon25
Member
I bought the algae mower as well from reefapalooza. They had a show sale for 50 dollars. I can say that I am happy with it. I was able to take out the bryopsis on my rock. It did get clogged once in a while with the algae but all I had to do was pick it off the drill and it worked again. I no longer have to take out my rockwork to hydrogen peroxide the bryopsis. I do wish the motor was a little more powerful as well.
brettinteriors
New member
?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
dotcommer
Active member
Is there a sample of how it does this?
Dapg8gt
New member
Special interest? Seems like it would scratch the glass..wheres the vid at?
I purchased the algae mower a couple of months ago and I use it once-a-week as part of my water change procedure primarily to vacuum the sand bed with occasional algae removal activity. So far, it does just what it claims to do. Others noted that the construction felt "cheap" or flimsy; actually, I would describe it as "flexible", which is a valuable characteristic for reaching into challenging areas of my tank.
I have some cyano on the sand bed surface, and it is effective in sucking this slime out of my tank. The "clumps" of cyano do seem to pass through the powerhead without clogging it and I can see then in the waste receptacle. The powerhead does occasionally clog with detritus while vacuuming the sand bed, which necessitates a time-consuming disassembly/reassembly. I place the powerhead in distilled water after use and run it for a few minutes, and that procedure seems to lessen the clogging/stoppage. I think that in the future, the vendor will offer a more efficient connect/disconnect feature for the powerhead assembly than the 4 screws that currently must be removed to clean it.
The hair algae removal capability works best for me by just letting the hair algae wrap around the drill bit and then stopping the procedure and manually clearing the bit of the collected algae.
For me, it is one of the few aquarium devices I've tried that exceeds expectations.
Ken
I have some cyano on the sand bed surface, and it is effective in sucking this slime out of my tank. The "clumps" of cyano do seem to pass through the powerhead without clogging it and I can see then in the waste receptacle. The powerhead does occasionally clog with detritus while vacuuming the sand bed, which necessitates a time-consuming disassembly/reassembly. I place the powerhead in distilled water after use and run it for a few minutes, and that procedure seems to lessen the clogging/stoppage. I think that in the future, the vendor will offer a more efficient connect/disconnect feature for the powerhead assembly than the 4 screws that currently must be removed to clean it.
The hair algae removal capability works best for me by just letting the hair algae wrap around the drill bit and then stopping the procedure and manually clearing the bit of the collected algae.
For me, it is one of the few aquarium devices I've tried that exceeds expectations.
Ken
brettinteriors
New member
I agree, it has kept on ticking for me and I regularly use it. I recently got an email pertaining to replacement part availability and upgraded thumb screws for the pump to make it easier to service.
