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Thats why I said the best system is a trickle filter with enough live rock. It is good to convert ammonia to nitrate, it has to be done to have a working system. I had a trickle filter for 25 years. My nitrate was always around 15 or 20. There is no problem with that but in a reef it is better if a filter converts the ammonia and eliminates the nitrate at the same time. Of course we don't want ammonia at all but it seems that live rock alone, providing there is enough of it will convert the ammonia and eliminate the nitrate at the same time. I always said that a trickle filter is the best filter for a fish only tank because ammonia is the main polutant with fish.
With a trickle filter alone the water will have to be changed more often because there is no place for the nitrates to be converted.
I myself use a reverse UG filter run very slow. I think I invented this system and for about 30 years my reef has been stable with almost no nitrate. I think I have the best of both worlds. My RUGF also converts nitrate to nitrogen gas as I can see it being expelled if I turn off the pumps for a while. I stated that wet drys are too clean. In a RUGF run slow, the interfaces of the gravel will become anoxic on a tiny scale. This will not happen at first when the gravel is very clean but as the mating surfaces of the gravel build up detritus and accumulated bacteria, de nitrification will begin. If the RUGF is run fast, this will not happen or the gravel will become clogged and nothing will happen.
M2434, you are correct in your regard of your formula's but you diden't figure "time" in your post. A trickle filter will convert ammonia very fast, which as I said is a good thing.
If we could get a dinitrification filter to work as fast we would have no problems at all.
Of course this is all conjecture on my part as I am not a chemist or researcher but I do have a very old tank to experiment on and learn from.
Have a great day.
Paul
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