Thank you for organizing these tutorials on Reefkeeping. After 50 years of reefing, I still enjoy learning. While I only watched this one episode, I appreciated how you showed pros & cons to different methods.
I will critique your grouping bristle worms into pest category with introduction of live rock. As a proponent of natural filtration, skimmerless & sumpless, I am most interested in micro fauna & fana in sandbed. Instead of nutrient export, I focus on nutrient recycling. I emulate nature as much as possible in establishing live food webs which process both organic & inorganic nutrients and feed the tank. To that point,
@Dana Riddle articles in Advanced Aquaria illustrates these food webs beginning with carbon introduced to the reef via carbon dioxide combining with alkalinity to produce glucose during photosynthesis, which is “where the inorganic & the organic world come together.
Bristle worms are with out a doubt the most effective detrivore in the CUC. I consider myself the most important janitor in the clean up crew. As a good manager, I find other ways to do the dirty work. Instead of gravel vac sandbeds clean, I allow live food webs to feed my tanks which feed differrent hungry mouths. I do not haphazardly add predators like wrasses to decimate the sandbed detrivores.
Keep the videos coming.
