# Nitrogen fertilizer without carbamide?



## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hey folks,

does anybody know a nitrogen source fertilizer, which doesn't use e.g. carbamide and therefore doesn't raise the ammonium level in my tank? I have the suspicion that some algae problems could be traced back to this form of nitrogen supply and therefore I would really prefer something other than e.g. the Seachem product.

I am talking about a fertilizer like this:

http://www.aqua-rebell.com/makro-basic/makro-basic-nitrat.html

Only problem with this brand --> not available in the States...:Cry:

Thanks and all the best,
Tony


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

What brand are you currently using?

A lot of people mix their own using dry powder form of KNO3.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Ditto: 
Buy some KNO3 and mix whatever dilution you like, or dose it dry. I have been using it for years, and it does not add ammonia to the tank. 

Sources of ammonia:
If the water has chloramine, and your dechlor breaks the chlorine-ammonia bond that releases ammonia. The right dechor will then lock up the ammonia. Prime, Chloramine Buster and others will do this. Some others will not. Read the label. The right ones will specify that they lock up the ammonia. They may even tell you to use a bit more for high ammonia problems in the tank, and tell you how much product to deal with what level of ammonia. 

Test kit/dechlor incompatibility: May show ammonia when it is there, but locked up. or there may be other problems between the test and the dechlor. Wait 24 hours after using dechlor to test for ammonia. 

Excess food. The nitrifying bacteria get used to handling a certain level of ammonia and their population is balanced with the normal amount of ammonia entering the tank. When you add too much food there is a spike in ammonia. 

Fertilizer (as you suggest). Some ferts do contain ammonia or convert to ammonia when the N (in certain forms) is released into the water. I have not heard about this problem with the Seachem Flourish Nitrogen, though. I have heard more about slow release fertilizers doing this. 

Added fish. While the fish certainly produce ammonia, it is also the fish food that contributes to the problem. The bacteria and plants can deal with a steady supply of ammonia, but a sudden spike like a dead fish, or increased population can cause problems. The bacteria finally get going on the ammonia (the ammonia removing ones grow fairly fast) and produce a nitrite spike. The nitrite removing bacteria grow more slowly, so a spike in ammonia might be so short that you may not notice. The nitrite spike can last longer. If this is the sort of problem you are dealing with, then water changes, and perhaps reduced feeding will help.


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

Diana K said:


> Sources of ammonia:
> If the water has chloramine, and your dechlor breaks the chlorine-ammonia bond that releases ammonia. The right dechor will then lock up the ammonia. Prime, Chloramine Buster and others will do this. Some others will not. Read the label. The right ones will specify that they lock up the ammonia. They may even tell you to use a bit more for high ammonia problems in the tank, and tell you how much product to deal with what level of ammonia.


Prime locks it up to keep the fish safe, however algae, plants, and bio-filter still have access to it. After 24 hours the prime breaks down and releases it, but by then the bio-filter has reduced anything remaining to nitrate. Test your raw tap water. If it's exceptionally high, make sure to do your water changes right after lights go out. This way the bio-filter gets a long time to reduce it before the algae can make us of it.


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## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hey everybody,

thanks for your replies, that is awesome. Well, short facts: I am from Germany, have been part of the aquascaping scene there for years now and moved to Vermont three years ago. I brought with me my old fertilizers from my tanks in Germany. I had been using the Aqua Rebell series successfully and so wanted to continue with that. The Special N (Nitrogen fertilizer) in this series features multiple sources of nitrogen, also the more readily available ammonium source, which (I believe) is sourced from carbamide. That works great as fertilizer on a daily basis in small doses but I can't dose higher amounts to supply my weekly water for the wanter change with a reasonable amount of nitrogen. Our tap water comes straight from the mountain and has 0,4 ppm nitrogen in it measured with lab equipment. So I am now looking for a good source of nitrogen to bring my level up to 15 - 20ppm.

Where do you folks order KNO3 as powder? I have never mixed my own fertilizer and have no clue in how to get started on that. Any comments or ideas? As I said, I live in central Vermont.

Hey, I might have to increase my level of Magnesium as well. How would you go about that?

Thanks everybody,
Tony


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Magnesium is really easy. Sold almost everywhere as Epsom Salt. Look for it in the drug store section of almost any store.

KNO3 can be found in agricultural supply types of places, but in 50 lb bags. 
It is sometimes the active ingredient in stump removers, but read the label, there are other things that also help decompose stumps. 
Probably the easiest way is to get it from a source like this:
http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

This online calculator is really handy for mixing your own solutions. 
http://calc.petalphile.com/

I'm familiar with the Special N fertilizer and have made my own DIY batch and was impressed with the results even with just the small daily dose it made a big difference.

For Mg use magnesium sulfate often sold in drug stores as Epsom Salts as Diana pointed out.


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## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hello and thanks once more,

I will go and get some Epsom salt if my suspicion concerning the magnesium in my tank proofs right. Thanks also for the hint with the KNO3. I will go and try to get a bag of that at the local farm supply store. How much does a 50lbs bag usually cost? I feel silly not having researched the powder source of fertilizers ever. Seems like I spent a fortune on some ready-to-use fertilizers whereas I could have saved all the money for nice glassware or other things... well, one never stops learning.

Hey, I really appreciate your help and am glad that I discovered this platform. I have learned more in the past two days than I had learned in three years... 

All the best,
Tony


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

50 lbs. of KNO3 will last you several lifetimes. You may just want to purchase a pound or two on the internet.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

50 pounds of several ag ferts (KNO3, KH2PO4, K2SO4) were shared among the aquatic plant club I belong to. It took several years for all of us to use that much! 

Unless you are running a greenhouse for aquarium plants, just get a pound of it.


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## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hey everybody,

thanks for the advice. I'll try to get my hands on just a couple pounds. Now, I have started to use the above mentioned calc and somehow I end up getting some strange results. I use liters instead of gallons. 36l and KNO3 as powder, I want 15ppm in my tank. It ends up telling me I would need 880g of KNO3 powder to get there. That is absurd. Where is my mistake?

As I said, I want to be able to get my tap water from 0,4 ppm to 15 ppm every week when I perform a water change with roughly 20l tap water... how much of the powder do I need? Or even better, I would like to make myself a bottle with lets say a half gallon of already diluted KNO3 in a specific concentration. I would then simply dose milliliters every week. How do I go about that?

Sorry, many questions... 

Thanks,
Tony


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

You missed a little m before that g.


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

For your second part:

To make 20L of 15ppm nitrate from your tap water, you can use the calculator for that too.

Your "aquarium" would be the volume of the water being dosed. In this case, your change value of 20 liters. You'll be using DIY to dose KNO3 most likely. You're calculating your solution, using a container of 1892ml (1/2 gallon) and each dose will be 25ml (kids cough drop medicine cup, you could go 5ml with a syringe or whatever you want/have). You want to figure out "what dose to reach a target" of 14.6ppm (15 minus the 0.4 that is already there).



Fert Calc said:


> To reach your target of 14.6 ppm NO3 you will need to add 36.032 g KNO3 to your 1892.0 mL dosing container. Add 25.0 mL of that mix to your 20.0 L aquarium to yield
> Element ppm/degree
> K 9.21
> N 3.30
> NO3 14.60


On a side note: Why are you dosing the water change volume instead of dosing the tank?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Tugg said:


> You missed a little m before that g.


yes, millgrams, not grams. Or 0.880 grams.


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## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hey folks,

thank you so much for your answers, I finally got it. Sorry for not responding but I had lots going on. Today I have 2 lbs of Potassium nitrate and 1gal of destilled water. I will now go ahead and measure 308g to dilute in that 1gal. If I am correct this will allow me to dose a 50l tank with 1ml of that solution and raise the nitrogen level by 1ppm?

Of course I want to dose my tank and not the water from the water change... sorry. 

Best regards,
Tony


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## Tugg (Jul 28, 2013)

That sounds about right. 

EDIT: Sorry... one correction... It will raise you NITRATE not NITROGEN by 1ppm. A bit of a technicality since you only dose nitrate. Some people dose ammonium as well, in which case they convert all nitrogen sources and it would make a diffrence. I would hate for you to get help later and say "I dose my tank to 10ppm of nitrogen" and people be like "WHAAA!!!! Thats way to high!!!" when in fact you ment nitrate.


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## Natural (Nov 23, 2013)

Hello everybody,

I recall that somebody had mentioned they had mixed the above mentioned Spezial N fertilizer with carbamide/urea?

I am looking for a way to mix my own fertilizer with this component and would like to know, where I can find carbamide/urea to order a small amount for myself. Does anyone know?

Thanks and all the best,
Tony


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Natural said:


> Hello everybody,
> 
> I recall that somebody had mentioned they had mixed the above mentioned Spezial N fertilizer with carbamide/urea?
> 
> ...


Ebay is a good place to look for small quantities of chemicals.


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