RC I am ot slinging anything my friend and we are having a discussion. You made a statement that maybe its was best to not think so much about it and just go with a substraight of some kind and nature would take care of it somehow. Then you through out Robs Tank. I have nothing against Robs tank, and it is truely a sucess story if it is truely what he says it is. I look at his tank and I see a breed of corals that are very nutrient tolerant (actully enjoy nutrients). I this tank are a few fish, do I believe these fish are 12 or 14 years old ...nope to small and not developed enough. But it really doesnt matter in what we are trying to do here, this is not a debate its a discussion on trying to break down the biochemical nature of the filtration system of a bunch of forms.
Always in this hobby thier are scenerios like this in the hobby where we get into what is best and so on, and then give an example of someones tank and say look at this. My friend I can show you pictures of BB tanks that are 25 years old, berliners that are 15 to 20 and even undergravel systems that have been set up since 1974.
I will say it again, if you understand how the bioloical pathways work it really doesnt matter, you can figure out how to manipulate a system to work for you, no matter what it is. Robs tank is a tank the is biologically set up to keep the kind of corals that he keeps in them, for me I would suggest that anyone that wishes to only keep the kinds of corals e has to give his filtration system a good look at because it might be the best route to go. For me personally 95% of what I want to keep I feel would not survive very long in that kind of set up.
RC if you would like to dscuss/debate the DSB system I would have no problem accomadating you, but lets do it in another post so we can keep the integrity of this one going. Also if you wish to see studies on long term DSB systems and the cons of them, I have dozens of them would have no problem sharing them with you.
take care
mike