I am all for Bob trying out his ideas and posting them here, but I agree with you Kip in that I hate seeing someone ask about cycling and reading over and over again about Mollies and Macro Algae in display.
I personally love the idea of macro in the display, but defer to the more experienced people who say that it can be difficult if not impossible to rid yourself of. So I have stuck to the shaving brush. I have also read that if you don't pick up the droppings of your macro algae that it releases all of its toxins it has been pulling out of the water (nitrates and phosphates) all at once which can cause a crash fast! This may even be what has happened to Bob but who knows.
I wish him the best on his experiments, but I have learned on this board to read as many posts as possible and go with the majority opinion until proven wrong. There are many minority positions that can work depending on various factors, but usually on something like this the majority opinion wins.
I think tap water falls into this category. What is rarely mentioned is the quality of the tapwater from those using it (myself included) and how much adding they have to do. For example, I didn't have high wattage lighting till this week so I hadn't had to top off but once in a 6 week period. Already this week I have had to do another top-off. This will obviously make a huge difference if you aren't adding that much water.