"*muffin*" wrote
[snip]
but if your idea is going in & swilling string algae
around a 'collecter'
[snip]

My hands. Sometimes a stick (I suppose that's
what you mean by a "collector"). But mostly my
hands. That's also how I clean up dead waterlily
leaves, dead stems & the like. I'm 61 and retired
and hope like hell I can still be doing "physical work"
in the yard when I'm in my 80s, like a good friend
of mine who still does most of her own yardwork
even though she can well afford to pay someone
else to do it.

Gail
near San Antonio TX