I got into a discussion with someone on another forum about whether plants use ammonia(NH3). While researching into this I ran into some information that was new to me, and couldn't beleive I wasn't aware of this until now and just wanted to make sure it was accurate. We all know that ammonia is bad for fish, but at lower ph's it's converted to the less toxic ammonium(NH4). This is refered to as total ammonia nitrogen (TAN). I've heard that phrase thrown around before, but never looked into it. What I wasn't fully aware of is exactly how much of that ammonia is converted to ammonium, which is useable by plants.
check this out http://www.petgoldfish.net/ammonia-calculator.html
So according to this my axolotl tank that is currently uncycled, with a ph of 6.4, and kept at around 18 degrees C, I only have .0008 ppm's of ammonia(NH3) in my tank when my test kit reads I have 1.0 ppm of total ammonia. NH3 is fatal to fish at .6 ppm's but who really wants to push the limit? I can't actually find how much ammonium is safe for fish, but from what I've read it seems to be much safer. This isn't exactly as good news for those of you who keep cichlid's, but I thought it might be interesting for those of you who keep coldwater fish.
check this out http://www.petgoldfish.net/ammonia-calculator.html
So according to this my axolotl tank that is currently uncycled, with a ph of 6.4, and kept at around 18 degrees C, I only have .0008 ppm's of ammonia(NH3) in my tank when my test kit reads I have 1.0 ppm of total ammonia. NH3 is fatal to fish at .6 ppm's but who really wants to push the limit? I can't actually find how much ammonium is safe for fish, but from what I've read it seems to be much safer. This isn't exactly as good news for those of you who keep cichlid's, but I thought it might be interesting for those of you who keep coldwater fish.
