Are we just talking phosphorus, or do you include nitrogen, metals, etc,?
You mean in a "crash". Nitrogen and metals would fall into the category of poison. Ammonia poisoning, copper poisoning. I know, I know - it's a fine line. But it is what it is. You can dump P into the system and it won't have the same effect as ammonia or copper.
IF you were to say that you believed that (or allowed for the possibility of)something besides phosphorus being the culprit, I might be a lot less inclined to dispute the mechanism.
Sheesh, the next weekend we both have off, I'm spending it teaching you about bacteria. You do know that P inhibits calcification, right? just establishing a base line so I know where to start.
H2S, for example, seems like a very good candidate to me.
It might chronically leak and reduce the health of a reef aquarium, with more and more leaking over time as the tank and sand bed aged.
It might also acutely come out in large quantities if something (maybe something even unseen) disturbed the sand bed, causing an immediate "crash".
yep, but you'd smell it way before it had any effect on your tank. Actually you and the tank would be living here with me by now.
Algae may not be particularly harmed by H2S, while other organims (e.g., corals) may be.
True. I would think a acid running around in the tank with all the pH meters in use today, someone would have made a connection by now though. I know it's not a problem in nature, at least not until there's a problem with P first.
Back to the sulfite/sulfur reducing bacteria again. Do you know how H2S is made by bacteria?