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Re: silicone and what you read
Adam Weingarten wrote:
> I'm constructing a wet/dry filter and I was curious if the GE brand
> Window and Door Sealent is safe to use. It says that it is "mildew
> resistant, water tight, wil not shrink or yellow, perminantly flexiable,
> withstands the most extreme conditions, low oder, and 100% Silicone 2." I
> was planning on using this to glue acrylic to acrylic, and pvc to pvc.
> I'd appriciate any input that anyone has to offer. Thanks.
Don't use silicone unless the manufacturer approves it for use in
aquaria. If you're joining acrylic to acrylic and pvc to pvc then you
should be using solvents to fuse the parts, not silicone.
> ------------------------------
Bob Ashcraft wrote:
> >What I've read is that aquatic plants will use ammonia first if its
> available and ignore nitrite/nitrate as long as sufficient ammonia is
> available. <snip> I don't think the difference between ammonia
> and ammonium is significant. <
>
> Can the assumption then be made that high ammonia levels in a fishless plant
> tank are preferable?
I think all else being equal that aquatic plants will grow better when
using ammonia as a nitrogen source. But you would only get high ammonia
levels in a fishless plant tank by adding rather a lot of ammonia, and if
you do that then probably nitrifying bacteria (which are hard at work even
without a nitrifying filter) will get to a lot of the ammonia before the
plants do.
I think if you want to add ammonia to a plant tank then probably you need
to do it in small quantities and probably by introduction into a
low-oxygen substrate where nitrification would be supressed.
Roger Miller