[Whatigot]

I think that unless you do it properly, dsb's have no merit.

Why is it that so many like James Tullock in my living microcosm book speak so highly of dsbs?

He does say that you need to install it properly and have enough "critters" to maintain it for you but even with changing it every few years, sounds a lot easier than all that maintenance you are doing.

Man, thats a lot of unnecessary work IMO.

My first tank was a 12 gallon aquapod, no skimmer, MASSIVE bioload and a DSB.
That tank was a brick, I credit the ability of that thing to keep everything I ever put into it alive to the dsb that it had.
I had 2 clowns, clown goby, gramma, red reef star, peppermint shrimps and a boxfish not to mention a tonne of coral (all came with it when I bought it and I didn't know better then).
The dsb in that thing was probably 5 years old and it provided food, calcium and trace elements and biological filtration for the overcrowded tank perfectly.
I would NEVER set up a nano tank without one now period.