Hal wrote:
What is the difference in using a mix of bulk potassium nitrate,
potassium phosphate, potassium sulfate? Sounds like potassium comes
with everything and I wonder why, and if it works better?

Stephen Henning wrote:
Also consider:
ammonium nitrate
ammonium phosphate
ammonium sulfate

Altum wrote:
Umm... I was talking about fertilizing water in a pond where there are
live fish. You don't add ammonium to the water.
How can something that contains ammonia not be toxic to fish??? Ack.
Even tiny amounts of ammonia in the water can stress fish and affect
their health and growth, whether or not you see an immediate toxic effect.

Ammonium compounds and Ammonia are two different things just as Salt
(sodium chloride), Sodium and Chlorine are very different things.
Ammonia is NH3 a very caustic gas that produces NH4OH a caustic alkali.
Ammonium compounds are salts frequently used as fertilzers.

Looking at water lily fertilizers we find that many contain ammonium
compounds. For example:

CrystalClear Aquatic Plant Fertilizer: 5.5% nitrogen from Ammonium
Phosphate.

Tetra FloraPride Aquatic Plant Fertilizer: Ammonium Heptamolybdate.

Most water lily fertilizers are designed to not contaminate the pond
with nitrates and phosphates. And the bacterial breakdown of urea
creates ammonia, so most fertilizers do actually use ammonium compounds.
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Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA