One of the "features" of the carabiner through the top hole of the ascender is the ascender will not come off the rope unless the carabiner is removed. Your Amsteel loop does not do this. An additional safety feature defeated.
Did not think of that, good catch. I will keep it in mind. I will play around and see if I make it come off without flipping the latch. In my experience, you have to perform two distinct motions to get it off of the rope, so I will probably be ok with leaving the way I have it. Plus, if the ascender comes off, I’m still connected to the tree.