dfreas wrote:
As a side note I've had tanks that continually tested 0ppm for nitrates
but had enormous amounts of plant growth. They were heavily populated
south american cichlid tanks with about three inches of hornwort
covering the top of the tank. Ammonia got eaten up as soon as it was
produced and those guys produced a lot of it. So I don't expect there
is a perfect number for nitrates out there - I always keep adding
plants until it reads zero consistently and I've never had a problem
with nitrogen defficiency.

-Daniel

I've never had a problem before either, but 1 betta in a 2 gal isn't
very heavily populated as far as ammonia production goes. I usually
keep a lot of fish in my tanks and my experience has been much like yours.

I'm also going by Tom Barr and Richard Sexton's observations that BGA is
a nitrogen fixer. It makes a lot of sense to me that if other nutrients
are good and nitrogen is relatively low, conditions are ideal for BGA.

--
__ Elaine T __
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