I have another working theory on detritus/ an indirect impact where accumulation affects some tanks and forwards old tank syndrome compared to the clean/bare bottom condition:
even aerated detritus is functional substrate for excess heterotrophic colonization. anywhere that growth is occurring on nonfixed and sinked-up substrates (detritus has nutrients to offer beyond a quartz-only substrate for example, though its very low nutrients) the water shear cannot carve out colonies of bacteria for suspension and eventual removal by skimmers and catchments like it does for live rock jutting up into the tank flow pattern. by extension this compounding of life on the detritus makes oxygen competition increase, waste acid production increases, co2 emission increase and this may or may not have a tripping point in some tanks.
when colonies of these collective aerobes die off for any reason imagine the decay that collective rot would present over a bare bottom high flow low retention setup. one is a sooty coal engine after 350K miles and one is an alcohol afterburner engine setup. those are very low soot I would imagine for the sake of analogies lol
even aerated detritus is functional substrate for excess heterotrophic colonization. anywhere that growth is occurring on nonfixed and sinked-up substrates (detritus has nutrients to offer beyond a quartz-only substrate for example, though its very low nutrients) the water shear cannot carve out colonies of bacteria for suspension and eventual removal by skimmers and catchments like it does for live rock jutting up into the tank flow pattern. by extension this compounding of life on the detritus makes oxygen competition increase, waste acid production increases, co2 emission increase and this may or may not have a tripping point in some tanks.
when colonies of these collective aerobes die off for any reason imagine the decay that collective rot would present over a bare bottom high flow low retention setup. one is a sooty coal engine after 350K miles and one is an alcohol afterburner engine setup. those are very low soot I would imagine for the sake of analogies lol
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