Re: Nitrates

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Jim Seidman said, in part:

> I wouldn't call 8.8 ppm NO3 "really high." U.S. law
> allows up to 10 ppm
> NO3-N, meaning 44 ppm NO3, in "safe" drinking water. 

It's high for a planted tank if you have lots of fish and
the fishfood/poop is going to push the NO3 even higher. 
But still, it's not a bad number if you give the plants
enough of everything else so that they can use up a lot
NO3.  It 9ppm could be a lot of NO3 in a slow grow tank
setup, no?
 
Water companies sometimes report nitrate levels saying
"Nitrates" but are actually giving a figure for NO3-N --
precisely the case that Ms. Gonzaga ran into.  In the
hobby, the focus is on NO3, but outside the hobby, it's
probably best to ask what one means by "Nitrate levels"
because it isn't always NO3, sometimes, apparently, its
NO3-N.   

As Chico said to Groucho, "Hey Mister, you gotta code
book?"

Scott H.

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