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Re: PMDD ingredients, high nitrates

> From: James Wong <u2120863 at acsusun_acsu.unsw.edu.au>
> Subject: PMDD ingredients
> 
> 
> I've found some trace elements mix but its constituted somewhat differently
> from that which is recommended. It made by an Australian company named 
> Manutec. Its listed below:
> 
>   Sulfur as sulphate              6.29%
>   Calcium as calcium carbonate    10%
>   Magnesium as magnesium sulphate 3.62%
>   Maganese as maganese sulphate   2.88%
>   Iron as iron chelate            2.73%
>   Copper as copper sulfate        1.25%
>   Zinc as zinc sulfate            1.00%
>   Boron as sodium borate          0.09%
>   Molybendium as sodium molybate  0.0038%
> 
> I would like anyone's opinion on whether this would work in the PMDD.
> 
> >From what little I know I assume I would need to add magnesium and maybe
> some iron. Also the high level of copper worries me, and the calcium 
> carbonate is going to mess up the hardness some. 
>
	I would draw the same conclusions, but the CaCO3 is not going
to be a significant problem if you do a water change once in a while; the
amounts you add are pretty small compared with the calcium in even
fairly soft water.  The same applies to the rise in bicarbonate concentration
that will result.
 
> Secondly, I've come across this stuff called Sulfate of Potash for $6 
> a kilo at my local K-mart. Is this the same stuff as potassium sulfate 
> and will this stuff work?

	Yes on both counts; they are using an archaic name for it.  K-mart
has spread to Australia, then?  Maybe it started there.  :)
Make sure there isn't anything else in it - there shouldn't be.

> 
> Also, have any of you out there being using PMDD with no CO2 injection
> sucessfully?

	Yes, in a 35 L tank with guppies and a pH of about 7.8.  The
lighting is poor, but the plants grow and I can't see any algae in there.

> 
> From: JOlson8590 at aol_com
> Subject: High Nitrates
> 
> 
> (2) Say your fish load in a tank emits only 5 ppm of nitrates a day. (a
> rather small amount - fish are responsible for almost all of the Ammonia,
> Nitrite, and Nitrate in Coral Reef environments.  Fish give off a LOT of
> waste materials which your filters busily convert to Nitrates.) 
>
	I don't think 5 ppm/day is a small amount.  Fish food will have
only a few % of nitrogen in it, and to add that much nitrate to my 150L
tank, I would have to feed several grams of food.  Until I added nitrate
to my tank, I always had undetectable nitrate in there, because the plants
grabbed all the nitrogen available.  My tap water nitrate is also undetectable;
this is _not_ the case everywhere!
 

-- 
Paul Sears        Ottawa, Canada

Finger ap626 at freenet_carleton.ca for PGP public key.