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Just thinking there may be too much of a good thing. At worst, it'll diminish the denitrators in the bed.
Forgive me if you are already on it, just thinking aloud
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Can't have too much of a good thing if I am using the DSB mainly as a sink, and secondarily as a biological filter. I really don't care if denitrators diminish. When people stop trying to figure out how CPW is interfering with possible biological processing in the bed, they will have a better idea of what it is doing.
The concept of CPW is to maintain the aerobic processing in the upper area of the bed and also maintain a positive flow into the bed. I have not been measuring DO. It would be interesting but not a driving number.
The idea is to remove nitrates, phosphates, hydrogen sulfide and other organic waster that collects in the bed and also keep it from being released back into the tank. I am hoping it will improve the nitrification process by feeding it better and give it back the space that sulfate reduction is using up.
Accepting the fact that waste does accumulate in a DSB, it is also important to have adequate flow to remove it and not let sulfate reduction become dominate, which will stop the nitrification and denitrification that may be present. CPW will also help to assure that if the bed is disturbed what is release doesn't reap havoc and sudden death.
The reduction in rotten egg smell from wasting a quart a day is indication to me I am heading in the right direction.
What a lot of people are missing is the important of the physical method to accomplish this. It makes all the difference in the world as to the CPW process working well or not working. If you do not harness the natural behavior of fluids to follow the path of least as they are removed from a DSB, the chances of CPW working are greatly reduce. This is a major key success. I am applying some of the same hydraulic principles I have patented in composting.
Obviously over time and with more people using the concept we can start to narrow the band on the volume of the wasting and frequency. I would not be suprised if the volume of CPW increases, simply to assure of adding back trace elements in fresh salt mix. CPW may not be controlled by the minimim volume required to make a DSB a positive element in a reef tank and not the negative one that many people view it as now because of it's acting as waste collection sink that eventually boils over.