Using cell pore as substrate

[crrichey]

I had an idea. I like the idea of using turf algae to help remove nitrate and phosphate. I was wondering about using the cell pore material from the biorocker as the substrate to grow the turf algae on. The slabs would be secured to eggcrate to form one single sheet. This sheet would be slanting at a 45 degree angle from the top of one side of the sump to the bottom of the other. Water would be directed at the top of the slab, running down and through the sheet. With the proper lighting and some starters, one could easily get turf algae growing on the slab. You now theoreticlly have a turf algae scubber/trickle filter, removing ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate (hopfully).

[crrichey]

Here is a diagram
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v259/FLCL787/Filterdesign.bmp

Red arrows are dirty water
Red/blue curved lines are water being filtered
Blue lines are clean water
Green is turf algae
Grey box is pump

[grim]

Why bother with an expensive material like that? I would think vinyl window screen over plastic eggcrate would be just as effective. With this method, you could remove the screen as soon as it was populated, install a new screen, and seed it with some algae from the old screen. Simply clean off the dirty screen, and you are ready to cycle it again.

I think the cellpore material would trap detritus and become a nutrient sink possibly. Not to mention I have no idea how you could effectively remove algae from the panel once it's grown in (the nutrient export part of this).

jb