[Witfull]

good thoughts everyone.

let me start with what is our goal when dealing with waste? its to render it harmless to our tank. there are several ways of doing it. one is to biologically break it down into nitrogen gas and inert detrius.(DSB,Mudd) another is by consumpsion. have other creatures eat the waste thereby bonding the organics into their bodies. (detrivore kits. macro algaes) and from physical removal. (mechanical filtration,skimmers)

personally, i do not think that that the DSB/Mudd system as long term, in the fact that waste is being held onto. every tank is different and so no schedule can de adhered to,as more and more waste accumulates its functionality exponentially degrades and when saturation occurs it can suddenly result in a crash/hair bloom/cyno outbreak, which leads to headaches to say the least.

consumpsion will only bond some of the inorganics for the life of the creature, and they only process a fraction of the organics, leaving their waste to other creatures to consume. with macros harvesting is possible and is has many benefits.

this leaves physical removal. micro pads/socks do wonders of a tank to remove particulate matter, i believe in them. but allot of waste can flow right through them, this leads us to the skimmer.

personally i feel that the more i can remove before it breaks down, the less stress i put on the system. i can rely less on bacteria, no detrivore kits to continuously restock. less bioload on my tank consuming oxygen, allowing more for the stuff i want to keep.

lets keep this tube bubbling....