Cheers Darrel, it blows me away how much the normal at home hobbiest has to contend with compared to my first aquarium 27 years ago, under gravel filter and a heater, done 😅
But it's certainly creating more of a biome than a fish bowl 👍
I'm definitely on the plants are the best filter side now, but can't let go of my backup/lifeline just yet 😊
My only evidence for the denitrate and low flow is from about 10 years ago. I had a fairly well stocked tank, a few live plants but had not really started down that route yet. Our tapwater had about 50 ppm nitrate at the time so water changes to lower it in the tank were near pointless. I heard about de-nitrate, constructed a DIY add-on filter that I used a loop of hose off the inlet and a inline tap to create resistance on the mail line and divert a slow flow through the second filter (denitrate says it works best with a low flow to limit oxygen, the mail filter is still running full steam and full flow).
On that old tank it worked wonders, I went from a minimum of 30-40ppm to near zero and very low maintenance, a year or so later I discovered plants and moss and it just got better.
It may be inacdotal but I've just stuck to using it ever since.