When figuring out what materials to use for an algae scrubber, don't neglect considering strings... sometimes they can hold on to the most growth, because they are narrow and light can get to all sides of them.
Advanced Aquarist Feature Article for December 2013: Coral Feeding: An Overview
The picture in the article shows that in the 1000 litre test tank:
98% of the food particles go to the skimmer when there are 2 coral colonies
71% of the food particles go to the skimmer when there are 40...
Scrubbers compared to refugiums
If you are starting a new tank, then the obvious difference is that a scrubber gives you the option of not having a fuge at all. There are other uses for a sump/fuge of course, but we'll only cover the filtration concerns here.
A not-so-obvious difference of...
Chaeto Reactors compared to Algae Scrubbers, part 3
Now for nutrients.
Nutrients are defined as inorganics, not organics. The word "nutrient" is sometimes confused with "nutrition", and maybe in restaurants the words might mean the same thing, but for aquarists they are totally different...