The Bladerunner magnetic algae cleaner is a new aquarium maintenance tool from UK’s D&D The Aquarium Solution with some welcome features. Algae ‘magnets’ are one of the least celebrated of all aquarium cleaning tools but having a well engineered unit can make a big difference between how well they clean the glass of tough algaes, and having to get your hand in the tank for spot cleanings.
D&D The Aquarium Solution’s Bladerunner magnet comes in two versions, a standard version rated for glass thickness between 10 and 15 mm that retails for £34.99 and a Strong version rated for thicker glass between 15 and 20 mm that sells for £42.99. The body of the Bladerunner magnet is wide and thin with a full-width blade so you can get a wider scrape with each pass and in between any rocks, corals, or decorations that are placed closer to the aquarium walls.
There is no scrubbing pad part to the Bladerunner and instead it rests solely on its double bladed ends for maximum force against the glass to further improve the glass cleaning experience. The replaceable scraper blades themselves come in a metal or hard plastic edge to be used on either glass or acrylic tanks and while it doesn’t float, it has a neutral buoyancy so that it sinks slowly for retrieval, and preventing a heavy magnet from falling on your aquascape or corals.
We’ve tested virtually ever algae cleaning magnet since 1995 and are always keen to see how subtle tweaks to magnet and blade designs can tweak the experience of cleaning algae from the aquarium glass. We hope to get our hands on both sizes of the new Bladerunner magnets because we’re big fans of the original movie, but we don’t expect the Bladerunner to be distributed outside of Europe or the United Kingdom for now. [D&D]
