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Most definitely.

 

Just ordered a batch of LEDs from Rapid and heat sinks from HeatsinkUSA.

 

You can buy one of the first ones! I've been holding people off for months so gotta give them first dibs if they want it...

 

I've finally had some time to sit down and put pen to paper and figure out some costs.
I have worked up a design for both an "L1" which is 1 cube/day scrubber and an "L2" which is a 2 cube/day scrubber. Both use LED and will come ready-to-go.
Each scrubber will come as follows:
The main body of the device will be a black acrylic box:
Plexiglas-G Cell Cast 1/4" acrylic, black body for light blocking.
The top brace will eventually have a thin colored extruded laminated to it for logo etching and also to distinguish it from other Algae Scrubbers (it's a trademark/trade dress protection thing)
Approximate Dimensions: 7.25" tall, 7.5" wide, 7" long (L1) or 9" long (L2), with warp-resistant black acrylic cover
2 custom LED fixtures:
The L1 scrubber will have 2 LED fixtures, each of them containing 4 Osram 660nm Reds and 1 Cree 455nm Blue (total of 10 LEDs), mounted on 5.9" x 6" heat sinks
The L2 scrubber will have 2 LED fixtures, each of them containing 6 Osram 660nm Reds and 1 Cree 455nm Blue (total of 14 LEDs), mounted on 8.5" x 6" heat sinks
Meanwell LPC-35-700 non-dimmable driver w/power plug (this may end up being a Meanwell ELN-60-48D, which is more $)
No active cooling of the LEDs required
Fixtures will be coated with silicone spray to reduce corrosion
Also included are the following:
Assembled slot pipe: 3/4" schedule-40 PVC pipe with screen slot, end cap, union, and gaskets (for blocking water creep along the pipe)
#7 Plastic Canvas screen, roughed up, with beaded cable ties for easy removal of screen for cleaning and maintenance
Bulkhead: 1" ABS from Bulk Reef Supply (hole also accommodates Schedule-80 bulkhead)
The L2 Scrubber will cost $350 (plus tax)
The L1 Scrubber will cost $300 (plus tax)
However, I am going to run a promotion for paying GIRS members, or anyone who becomes a paying GIRS member: 10% off if you have a membership. This means if you want one of these and you aren't a member, now's a good time to join.
GIRS member discount price for the L2 is $315 and L1 is $270 (plus tax)
If you wish to just buy the box and do your own lighting, the Model 1 box alone is $145 and the Model 2 box is $170 (no discount). You may then purchase all the LED materials if you want to try to do it cheaper.
I am basically doing the LED fixtures for material cost + about $50 labor to assemble then, using name-brand components from Rapid LED, not any of the cheaper knock-offs. So I think it's a pretty good deal for what you get.
Also this is not the price I will be selling these for outside of this forum, I'm doing this at a pretty deeply discounted price.
One of the reasons is that this design may be trumped by the newer design, which is not coming out for a month or so, and even then, it will be several more months before a manufactured model will be ready for production (they will be DIY until then). Keep in mind that the new version, which is currently in the patent process, may be better than this version. But I can tell you that as far as the current Algae Scrubber design efficiency and effectiveness goes, this one I am building will be right up there on top. Also, it is highly likely that the LED fixtures will be able to be used on the new version, and I will make all efforts to provide a low-cost retrofit that will use the new design with these LED fixtures. That way, you would only incur the cost of the acrylic box, which I will offer at a drastically reduced price for anyone purchasing one of these boxes.
I will be working on a CFL setup which will use the same box, however I have yet to figure out the way it will all go together and it will probably require fabrication of some kind of support device for the lamp socket and of course, a good reflector. There will be no discount on the CFL version as of right now (since I haven't figured it out yet). But I'm guessing it will cost about $75 less.
I will offer a multiple unit discount, if you have more than one tank on separate filtration, or multiple tanks in multiple locations (tank maintenance people) then I can work out special pricing. I will also be building a larger LED scrubber around the e-Shine fixture that will be capable of about 4-5 cubes/day of filtration - I'm still working on a cost estimate for that one, so if you need a lot more than 2 cubes/day of filtration, let me know.
There will be several weeks of lead time on building these as there is a run on 1/4" black acrylic and I won't have enough to fill orders for a few weeks.
So to recap:
L1 Algae Scrubber (1 cube/day) with LED fixture: $300. With GIRS membership discount: $270. Without light fixture: $145. (plus tax)
L2 Algae Scrubber (2 cubes/day) with LED fixture: $350. With GIRS membership discount: $335. Without light fixture: $170. (plus tax)
All prices do not include tax, which is applicable if you live within the State of Iowa. Local taxes in your area apply if I deliver it to you, so I will just ship these for $35 each for anyone who can't pick it up, unless I happen to be conveniently driving by your town.
I will start taking orders after Spring Fest. Until then, I will be building and testing a few prototypes to work out any kinks in the design.
If you are interested in placing an order with these prices, please let me know and when I am ready to pull the trigger on all of this, you'll be at the front of the line. I plan to temporarily stop building anything else but Algae Scrubbers once I get my current workload of sumps and frag tanks cleared off, so the turnaround will be relatively fast.

 

I forgot to cover one more item, I will be recommending that these Algae Scrubbers be fed from a separate pump. The L1 will need about 140 GPH and the L2 about 210. Both of these can be driven by an Eheim Compact 1000 pump, which retails for about $33 on Marine Depot. I didn't include this as people may have spare pumps or want to tap into the overflow or return line. If there is enough demand I will probably stock these.

 

Also a side note, my raffle item will be a $200 gift certificate. Another reason why I'm not starting to sell them until after Spring Fest.

 

Just to give everyone an idea of how well an Algae Scrubber can work, this is a picture recently posted on the RC thread. This is side-by-side shot of the tank before and 10 weeks after running an Algae Scrubber.

 

After asking for a few more details from folks who have built a few of the LED scrubbers, I'm going to offer a lower-cost option

I'm going to eat a few of these words now...
Several people have successfully built LED fixtures using the cheaper knock-off products, so I started looking into these. I can get 660nm Deep Red LEDs for about $1.80 each vs $5.50 for the Osrams. If you prefer the Osram/Cree fixture, the price stays the same: L1 is $300 ($270 w/discount) and L2 is $350 ($315 w/discount)
However if you really don't care, then I can build the fixture using the knock-offs. So here are the adjusted prices:
L1 Algae Scrubber $260 ($234 with GIRS membership discount) ($40 less)
L2 Algae Scrubber $300 ($270 with GIRS membership discount) ($50 less)
Also I will offer a $50 across-the-board price reduction (on the non-discounted price) if you just want the parts want to assemble the fixture yourself. That option will include the LEDs, heat sink (modified for mounting in the Algae Scrubber box), and an LED location and wiring diagram. You would need to supply the wire, adhesive, solder, soldering iron, etc, and of course, do the assembly yourself.
So to summarize it all, you have 4 options with each unit
L1 (1 cube/day) Algae Scrubber:
Osram & Cree fully assembled: $300 ($270 w/GIRS)
Osram & Cree LED DIY kit: $250 ($225 w/GIRS)
Generic LED fully assembled: $260 ($234 w/GIRS)
Generic LED DIY kit: $210 ($189 w/GIRS)
L2 (2 cube/day) Algae Scrubber:
Osram & Cree fully assembled: $350 ($315 w/GIRS)
Osram & Cree LED DIY kit: $300 ($270 w/GIRS)
Generic LED fully assembled: $300 ($270 w/GIRS)
Generic LED DIY kit: $250 ($225 w/GIRS)
I have to include a disclaimer I guess, if you want to DIY your LED fixture, I can't be held responsible if any of the LEDs are damaged in the assembly process or if something else related to the assembly of the fixture goes awry, like one of the stars detaching or sub-standard soldering, etc. Just like anything DIY, it's on you man.
I really want to get these out there to the people that want them, but still want to save a buck by doing some of it on their own.

 

Just posted a build thread on the 4 cube/day e-Shine LED Scrubber prototype

http://www.greateriowareefsociety.org/Community/DiscussionForums/tabid/78/aft/26505/Default.aspx#97012

 

not my tank. Reportedly the scrubber took care of all the algae in this system.