[Prev][Next][Index]
Re: Ammonium or nitrate uptake?
-
To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
-
Subject: Re: Ammonium or nitrate uptake?
-
From: hermel at ibm_de
-
Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 09:56:32 +0100 (NFT)
-
In-Reply-To: <199702201951.OAA06340 at looney_actwin.com> from "Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com" at Feb 20, 97 02:51:28 pm
>
> From: krandall at world_std.com
> Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 07:53:36 -0500
> Subject: Ammonium or nitrate uptake?
>
> You're right, if you have measureable amounts of ammonium _or_ more than
> trace amounts of nitrate, your tank is not nitrogen limited, and adding
> nitrate will do no good. The fact, however, that you _have_ measureable
> amounts of ammonia(um) is a sign of trouble. In a fully cycled tank with a
> healthy biological filter, even without plants, there should be no
> measureable ammonia(um) or nitrite. In a "fish" tank, you will see rising
> nitrate levels until water changes reduce it. In a planted tank with
> strong growth, the plants often use _all_ the available nitrogen, and you
> never see the nitrate level rise either.
>
> Karen Randall
> Aquatic Gardeners Association
>
Thanks for your answer, Karen. In the meantime we came to the conclusion that
the ammonium testkit must give a false reading because the nitrates that I
add with the KNO3 are used up by the plants. After 2-3 days, a 5ppm NO3
reading has dropped to zero. And I have some cyanobacteria problems which
also points to a NO3 limitation. I never had any nitrite readings so far.
Strange though that my ammonium testkit says
in the instructions that 0.2 ppm ammonium is a normal reading. I have a
reading of 0.3 ppm. The tank is half a year old, has only a few fish, strong
lighting and quite a lot of plants. Maybe the testkit it too sensitive or
measures something different. It's a JBL testkit. I don't know if it's
available in the US.
Thanks for your help. Andi from Munich, Germany.