Re: [Killietalk] Nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia

[Wright Huntley <whuntley at verizon_net>]

>
Barry Cooper <bjc3 at centurytel_net> wrote:

> Boiling and rinsing peat could remove nitrogenous compounds, some of
> which may be fertilizer added to peat pellets, if you use those. I am
>  not sure of these ammonia binding sites that are competed for by Ca
> and Mg ions. What is the evidence for that?

Like zeolite, the water softening properties of peat are well known. The
usual cation exchange process involves displacing monovalent ions, like
sodium and ammonium with divalent ions like Ca, Fe and Mg. No real
evidence, I just figured the processes were somewhat the same.

>
>>
>> Hydration and hydrolysis and ionization and free reactive molecules
>>  would answer your questions Wright, along with life form specific
>> susceptibilities. So we need ionization constants, dissociation
>> constants along with susceptibility to explain all this water
>> chemistry.
>
>
> What would help we non-chemists is a guideline as to when nitrates
> become toxic to killies at what temperature. That is what I haven't
> been able to find. My own experience has been that nitrates are
> harmless in surprisingly strong doses, as I have ODed planted tanks
> with KNO3 any number of times without seeing any fish stress. Maybe I
>  failed to notice a reduction in eggs or fertility. I'm not sure.
>
> Nitrates are non-toxic enough that nitrate toxicity is not even
> discussed in one modern Fish Medicine text that I have.

That has been my experience, too, with my more-limited literature
examinations. I only asked because someone on this list claimed that
nitrates are very toxic. That wasn't in agreement with my preconceived
notions (or experience), so I just wanted to know if I was in error, and 
by how much.

>
> Forget about nitrates. They will not cause a problem if you are doing
>  normal water changes, which you should be doing for a number of
> reasons.

I'd still like to know what levels of nitrites can do irreversible damage.

Another curious factoid. The dry weight of aquatic plants has remarkably
low nitrogen compounds, as compared to carbon, for example. They seem to
be mostly starches and sugars, and not big in proteins. Certainly water
changes will remove nitrogenous stuff in solution, but how does trimming
plants do much good? Don't plants mostly use nitrogen as a factor in
energy transfer, but not as a stored constituent?

Curious minds, etc....

Wright

--
Wright Huntley - Rt. 001 Box K36, Bishop CA 93514 - whuntley at verizon_net
                      760 872-3995

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