# NH4 vs. NO3 caveat



## glueyporchtreatment (7 Jul 2011)

I'm new to this forum, but I think it's safe to say that the prevailing attitude towards algae growth as it relates to nitrogen is that NH4 causes algae while NO3 does not. I have personally found this to be untrue and I wish to start another discussion of algae regarding NH4 and NO3 in tanks with aquasoil.

If ammonia was the only form of nitrogen that could cause algae, then a new tank with ADA amazonia would quickly be covered in algae. The initial NH4 readings are generally in the area of 8ppm and it usually takes a month of cycling and frequent water changes to eliminate detectable levels of ammonia in my tanks. Yet despite prevailing perceptions, I've never had more than negligible amounts of algae during the first month of set up with an aquasoil tank. I tend to use very high light (about 3+ wpg of T5 HO) without pushing the CO2 very much. 

Am I missing something? Many people here are claiming that NH4 is the only nitrogen based cause of algae because they maintain high NO3 levels without algae. By the same logic, can I claim that NH4 is not a cause of algae, while NO3 is because, everything else being equal, I've found that high NO3 levels cause algae, while NH4 seems totally unrelated? What about the fact that a venerable company like Tropica includes ammonia nitrate in one of their fertilizers? Moreover, what do you who disagree make of the fact that freshwater and marine ecologists consistently point to high nitrogen and phosphate levels as primary causes of algae?

I'm sorry if this is a redundant post, but I'm new here and haven't seen algae discussed in the context of uncycled ADA amazonia tanks.


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## dw1305 (7 Jul 2011)

Hi all,


> I'm sorry if this is a redundant post, but I'm new here and haven't seen algae discussed in the context of uncycled ADA amazonia tanks."





> Moreover, what do you who disagree make of the fact that freshwater and marine ecologists consistently point to high nitrogen and phosphate levels as primary causes of algae?"


I can't help with ADA Amazonia as I've never used it, and I would be extremely surprised if I ever do in the future, but we do go down the "nutrient cause algae" route quite often and this certainly isn't a redundant post. 

Probably the best bet would be too read through these couple of posts. 

<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8834>
<http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=8592>

cheers Darrel


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## glueyporchtreatment (7 Jul 2011)

Thanks for the links Darrel. It's a shame that you've never been able to apply your vast knowledge to a 'high tech' tank. I believe in one of your posts you mentioned that if you were to do a plant only tank with high light and pressurized CO2 that you'd use ammonium nitrate as your nitrogen source. Why is this and why do you not adhere to the idea that ammonia is the primary nutrient based cause of algae?


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