Let me start by saying that I have read your article and I support the ideology behind it, although I feel that is missing more to it.
Thanks, I will stipulate that much is missing in the article. It is more of an operating theory than a all inclusive description of the processes. I even admitted in the article that my knowledge is limited. I have responded to continue this discussion.
For example you mentioned dosing lanthanum chloride this tells me that your tank had a deficiency on the microbe level.
My article was all about how my tank was out of balance and had a lot of deficiencies. It is about how I decided to promote a better balance. Before taking steps to attain that "balance", I did many things, including carbon dosing, adding DIY nitrate and phosphate stock solutions, and dosing Lanthanum Chloride to try to battle the results of the imbalance.
Not enough carbon available to keep the microbe population in balance...
Do you believe that carbon dosing provides the carbon in the form needed to create that microbial balance?
you noticed improvement after dosing phytoplankton, most don’t understand how phytoplankton works in a closed system, imo live phytoplankton is not the key, phytoplankton becomes helpful after it decays and all the carbon and nitrogen is released back into the water column improving the the microbiology of the closed system.
I disagree. IMO... Live phytoplankton... real live phyto... not a bottle of mostly dead stuff... does not get to stay around long enough to decay. The phyto binds inorganic N & P; then cryptic organisms, clams, and copepods and etc. consume it thus binding it if their tissues; and finally, the skimmer exports the phyto that doesn't get consumed. This is a "Pathway" as described in the article.
edit: in addition you mentioned pest algaes also, pest algaes are not related to nutrients issues, all it means is that at some point they hitchhiked to the tank, they need the same conditions as coral to grow ( nutrients and a light source )
Algae might need a start i.e. a coral frag or a snail shell, maybe not, but microbes (cyanobacteria, dinoflagellates, etc.) are pervasive. If given the proper conditions, to include nutrient levels, one or more of these pests are likely to show up. They do have the same basic needs as some corals, but don't seem to compete well when the population of other organisms is sufficient. That is the goal of the method my article describes.
I think that dosing carbon, nitrate, and phosphate is an attempt to control the end products of a complex and intertwined process. It does not provide the input needed to make the process yield the correct levels of those end products. In addition, many required organisms live in the process somewhere between the input of food and the resulting inorganic nitrate and phosphate levels. I do believe there is a place for dosing N & P solutions, but just for a short term band-aid. On the other hand, I'm no longer a fan of carbon dosing. I think it limits ammonia and affects all the down stream processes that use nitrogen compounds.
