I like to see it this way:
no matter how we begin a reef, or add to it, water shear and natural space competition and biofilm creates limitations on how much your live rock can hold...being post cycle means they're full, live rocks are full on bacteria post cycle and don’t stack higher or thicker with more bioload, as the masses would claim.
whats not adhered gets skimmed as aggregate, or lodged in a sink, its not helping tremendously vs simply manually cleaning out clogging waste, re exposing work surfaces to waste water, and upping your actual nitrification through cleaning and not through repeated retail purchases, which are clogging or + mass additions
export is where bacterial management is at in my opinion
zoos regulate their giant filters by backflushing largely
export.
these tanks self regulate their own bac if you de clog them
not that specialized additives don't exist, but in 2021 what they do well is quick cycling, any of the maintenance stuff is getting ur cash
the microbial world is full of opposites.
export helps you manage bacteria the best, not import. clear out the proteins and slicks competing bacteria want to capitalize on so that your sheerest cleanest surface area is exposed to wastewater, and the nitrifying communities always adhered to that surface no matter how well you clean will be doing the best nitrification you can possibly attain.
our focus is always on bacteria in the hobby because that's the cash driver, they've already sold us the surface area.
the bottle bac they keep reselling us has no more vital space to attach, so its becoming exported
we need to be managing our surfaces for a strong reef... it’s not always about the additives
