# Ammonia or Potassium Nitrate



## guyrichy (Apr 30, 2006)

Hi,

Im relatively new here. I was just wondering if ammonia could be a substitute or make me require less of potassium nitrate KNO3. The reason is I discovered that water in LA has a lot of chloramine and this really spikes the ammonia levels in the aquarium every time i do a water change. After a week levels were 5 ppm which is pretty high. Fortunately I didnt put any fish in, and I dont plan to for a while. I was wondering since ammonia is NH3, and plants like to fix it, would I need to put in less KNO3 because the plants could fixate enough nitrogen from the ammonia. The reason I ask is after about a week I had a brown algal bloom. Also I must note that I have A LOT of plants in there. about 14 species after I put in what i got today in the mail. And its only a 10 gallon. I really overstocked it. I have java moss, riccia, 2 species of limnophila( which are really taking off), 2 hygro species, a bit of hairgrass(not doing that well), a few shoots of dwarf sag, moneywort, parrot feather(also taking off and pearling), rotala r., and a few more that dont come to mind right now. 

So that is my question, whether I should wait until ammonia levels drop until I start fertilizing nitrates or is it better to rid of ammonia by chemical means? I will continue to dose other macros, and micros via greg watson KH2PO4 and CSM+B. 

:blabla: Thanks for your time and help
Richard

:fencing: 
haha


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## NE (Dec 10, 2004)

As Ammonia is quite toxic and a known reason for algae growth, I would recommend you to wait with the fish until the nitrogen cycle is established.

All your plants will help you a lot to get rid of the ammonia but I think there could be a risk for the fish stock if they start to rise the ammonia level as well.

For the adding of Kno3 i don't think that matters that much if you have both NH3 and NO3 in the water except for the algae risk, I don't think it will neither help or make it worse for your algae growth.

I'm not a big fan of adding a lot of other chemicals which i dont know the full content of into the tank, so for me that would not be an alternative, But if you have another tank or a friend with a tank you could boost the nitrification cycle by squishing the used filter into your tank.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

I'm a bit puzzled... Are you using a product to break apart the chloramine? How else is it separating into chlorine and ammonia?

If you are using a product and it only separates and eliminates the chlorine while leaving the ammonia, you need to change product. A product such as Seachem's Prime eliminates both.

Ammonia, while it is consumed by the plants, can also be a trigger for algae. Given that, I'd avoid trying to play around with it. Use a product like Prime to neutralize the chloramine in your tap and then dose using KNO3.

Are you sure that's where the ammonia is coming from? It could be a nitrogen cycle but I never have one of those when setting up a densely planted tank.


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## guyrichy (Apr 30, 2006)

i forgot to mention that I am using API tap water conditioner that neutralizes chlorine and breaks the chloramine bond. But i dont think it does anything else. 

I heard about ammonia and ammonium. I was thinking that plants can absorb the ammonium somehow and more ammonia would be converted to ammonium so that eventually all the ammonia would be gone. 

Im not sure if my API test kit is measuring ammonia or ammonium but it says ammonia on the test bottle. 

I also have Aquasafe made by tetra that has sodium hydroxymethane sulfinate which i heard helps convert ammonia to ammonium. But on the bottle it says it only reduces the ammonia components. So I added some also. Im not sure if this chemical is the same as in Prime but im guessing it is. 

So my question is whether I should get Prime, or continue using Aquasafe, or just let the plants somehow take in the ammonia. I have no fish so if ammonia is alright than ill leave it in there for it to go away on its own.


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## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

The AquaSafe should be just fine. I use it exclusively for topping off my tank levels. Without the KNO3, I'd be concerned that there might be too little K in your water. Your previous posts do not mention anything other than KH2PO4, which will help add more K, but perhaps not enough. Personally, I'd avoid the NH3/NH4 at all costs. It may add more N to your tank, but the downsides (more algae and poor fish health) are pretty steep.

-Dustin


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