I've always thought that algae plays a more important roll in denitrification than it's given credit for. When I switched from PCs to T5s my nitrates went from 20 to 10, and when I took a DSB refugium with too low of a flow off line it went to near 0. I'm thinking the biomass of algae living inside live rock and sand would be equal to or greater that that of bacteria. Perhaps buying or making rock with an open porous structure is more important for the growth of algae rather than bacteria, allowing light to get farther into the rock.
For anyone considering carbon dosing to increase bacteria efficiency, sugar will work as well as any of the commercial probiotic systems, but the down side is it doesn't come with an instruction manual. If you're not willing to spend a couple of weeks researching it before you give it a try, it's far safer to stick with Zeovit, Polyp Lab etc. which has a dosing regimen already established for you.
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