That was my first thought when I had this Scheibenreiniger found for the first time on Amazon. So far I have the discs in my aquarium always cleaned with some filter wool. With a slight algae film works very well. However, many algae sit surprisingly firmly to the disc. And for this disk cleaner is just awesome. So quickly I get algae not yet eliminated. Surely this machine belongs under the heading "nice to have". If you have it, but you will not want to give it away.