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#1
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Nitrate question
What is the limit amount of Nitrates for plants without harming fish? I know
some fish want pristine waters. Before I had cichlids and they could tolerate a higher amount of nitrates but if it went too high, they would get scratchy. Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks, Paulette |
#2
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"Mermaid" schrieb im Newsbeitrag ... What is the limit amount of Nitrates for plants without harming fish? I know some fish want pristine waters. Before I had cichlids and they could tolerate a higher amount of nitrates but if it went too high, they would get scratchy. Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks, Paulette Good question, According to German standard literature, 200 - 300 mg/l are lethal for fish. You should try to have less than 50 mg/l, preferably less than 30 mg/l in your tank. You wrote "nitrates for plants", so you probably mean that higher amounts of nitrates are good for plants. This might not be true. The same literature states that excess nitrate concentrations will decelerate the growth rate of both fish and plants. Juergen |
#3
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On 2005-04-26, Jürgen Beisser wrote:
According to German standard literature, 200 - 300 mg/l are lethal for fish. You should try to have less than 50 mg/l, preferably less than 30 mg/l in your tank. You wrote "nitrates for plants", so you probably mean that higher amounts of nitrates are good for plants. This might not be true. The same literature states that excess nitrate concentrations will decelerate the growth rate of both fish and plants. I've heard and read 5ppm (mg/L) is about as much nitrates plants can use. Any more than that is excessive. http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jr...ry%20pmdd.html -- "I have to decide between two equally frightening options. If I wanted to do that, I'd vote." --Duckman |
#4
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js1 wrote:
I've heard and read 5ppm (mg/L) is about as much nitrates plants can use. Any more than that is excessive. My experience agrees with this. Plant growth in my tanks will show improvement up to about 5ppm but numbers higher than this show no difference. I have also noticed that numbers higher than around 30 to 40 coincide with a decrease in plant growth so I would say the optimum range for growing plants would be between 5 and 30. Of course I cringe at the idea of actually maintaning a tank at a constant 30ppm - I would always suggest keeping it as close to the 5ppm mark as possible. -Daniel |
#5
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Mermaid wrote:
What is the limit amount of Nitrates for plants without harming fish? I know some fish want pristine waters. Before I had cichlids and they could tolerate a higher amount of nitrates but if it went too high, they would get scratchy. Sorry for the newbie questions. Thanks, Paulette You're not going to irritate your fish with pure nitrates. Fish can live in 200 ppm (Richard Sexton overdosed a tank by mistake and learned this) without batting an eye. All you need for plants is 5-10 ppm anyay. There were probably other irritants building up in the water like DOC that were upsetting your cichlids. -- Elaine T __ http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__ rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com |
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