Ammonia for Plants

To: Aquatic plants list <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Subject: Ammonia for Plants
From: Cynthia Powers <cyn at metronet_com>
Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:59:48 -0600 (CST)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tim Mullins <tmullins at telerama_lm.com>
To: Aquatic Plants <Aquatic-Plants at ActWin_com>
Subject: Ammonia for Plants


I recently discovered my tank has been N limited. My NH4, NO2, and NO3 
have always been unmeasurable ,and, when I added some ammonia, things 
really greened up.  So, some thoughts and questions:

- I'm using ammonia rather than some NO3 compound because the "Optimal 
Aquarium" suggests some plants (like Cryptos) can't use NO3. True?

- I'm using household ammonia, 4% NH4-OH, a strong hydroxide. Is this ok 
in my 6.8pH,  carbonate hardness buffered, CO2 injected water? (Most 
ammonia should go to ammonium, pH stays constant during dose).

- 4% HH4-OH is about 2% NH4. So, 20g/ltr is 20mg/ml. A half mg daily dose 
into a 160 ltr water column is about .063 mg/ltr concentration max 
(ammonia is undetectable at days end). That's ok for fish, true?

- I was cautioned against using NH4-NO3 with fish. Does this stuff have a 
negative beyond ammonia introduction?

Many Thanks for any thoughts,
Tim - Pittsburgh