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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #751
> How to explain? These are supposed to be slow release tablets. Maybe I
> would have seen a rise if I had let it sit longer. Also, you might note
> from my original post that the bottle says that about 1/3 of the
> Nitrogen is Urea Nitrogen and 2/3 of the Nitrogen is "Water Insoluble
> Nitrogen." So maybe 2/3 of the Nitrogen never dissolves to raise
> nitrates. I'm no chemist so perhaps I am wrong to think that a Nitrate
> test kit with measure the form of Nitrogen being released.
>
I don't think that either nitrate or nitrite test kits can detect urea which is the
source of nitrogen in most plant foods. This form (urea) needs to be broken down by
bacteria before it is available to the plants. There are plant foods out there which
have nitrate based chemicals in them if your plants need a quick fix.
> Are there any different ph target buffers that wouldn't
> produce the same cloudy effect?
>
>
If you are trying to avoid phosphoric acid Seachem has an "Acid Buffer" that they
claim doesn't contain any. Their "Regulator" products all contain phosphoric acid.
I have been experimenting with HCl, Five drops per gallon of muriatic acid brought my
ph from 7.6 to 6.3. There is a strong tendency for rebound with all of these acids
I've tried.
Regards,
Harvey Schneider
<harvsch at earthlink_net>