[APD] Flourish Nitrate

["Karen Randall" <krandall at rdrcpa_biz>]

"Paul Byham" <plbyham at bigpond_com> wrote:

> > Can anyone answer a question about dosing with flourish nitrogen. When I 
> > dose my 34 Gal tank with the calculated quantity of nitrogen to increase 
> > the nitrate level by 10ppm and I test it later in the day with an 
> > Aquarium pharmaceuticals nitrate test kit it tells me the nitrate level 
> > is only 5ppm. Has anyone come across this before or is it a problem with 
> > the test kit? The tested nitrate before adding the nitrogen is 0ppm. The 
> > formula on the bottle said to increase the nitrate level use the 
> > following equation 0.05 x Tank volume in gal x desired nitrate increase - 
> > 0.05 x 34 x 10 = 17ml or have I read the label wrong. <<

Then "Norman Hicks" <zapus at alltel_net> wrote:

> > Half the nitrogen in Flourish N is in the form of ammonium, if I remember
correctly. <<

And Scott H. wrote:

Not quite so.

> > When someone asked what it meant that the nitrogen in
Flourish was "unavailable" to algae, Dr. Morin of SeaChem
replied:

"It means that the ammoniacal nitrogen is not present as
free ammonia
or ammonium per se, but rather is part of a more complex
molecule
that can be broken down to yield ammonium (by the plants).
So, in
theory algae could also utilize it as a nitrogen source
however our
studies and beta testing did not show this to be the case
(i.e. very
little to no algae growth, in fact many saw algae
declines)." <<

The other possibility is that if the plants have been in a nitrogen-poor 
state for a number of days, it is possible that they have used up the 
"luxury" nitrogen stored in their tissue, even if they have not yet shown 
any sign of stunting.  In this case, they can quickly use up a lot of 
nitrate. (or whatever other nutrient has been in short supply)

Karen 


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