# Aquarium Plant Fertilizers - Sources of Nitrogen



## jaypeecee (1 Dec 2020)

Hi Everyone,

Ever since reading Diana Walstad's _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ book on the topic of most plants preferring ammonium over nitrate, I have been digging deeper into this. And, I have found some interesting stuff that I'd like to share. In particular, I have been drawn to the use of Urea. My understanding is that aquarium plants absorb Urea and break it down into ammonium and carbon dioxide. I believe plants use an enzyme called urease to do this. So, presumably this ammonium (inside the plant structure) doesn't pose a risk to tank livestock such as fish?

I discovered a fertilizer known as _Eudrakon N_ as follows:

Eudrakon N Nitrogen Fertilizer Solution

However, the blurb for this product does state that "Urea...can be directly absorbed by plants on the one hand or also hydrolyzed by the bacteria in the tank into ammonium and CO₂". This being the case, choosing the optimum dose of _Eudrakon N_ would be important to maintain ammonium at a safe level for fish and inverts. And this would apply to other urea-containing fertilizers.

In a sense, this thread is an extension of the following thread that I unintentionally hijacked:

Olympus is Calling.

Thanks again to @Zeus. 

I have more to add but that should hopefully get the ball rolling!

JPC


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## jaypeecee (3 Dec 2020)

jaypeecee said:


> My understanding is that aquarium plants absorb Urea* and break it down into ammonium and carbon dioxide. I believe plants use an enzyme called urease to do this. So, presumably this ammonium (inside the plant structure) doesn't pose a risk to tank livestock such as fish?


Hi @dw1305 & Everyone,

Have I got my facts right here? Any feedback would be appreciated.

* from the water column

JPC


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## dw1305 (4 Dec 2020)

Hi all,


jaypeecee said:


> Have I got my facts right here?


Yes, I think so. The chemical reaction, which urease catalyses, is:

CO(NH2)2 + H2O → CO2 + 2NH3



jaypeecee said:


> So, presumably this ammonium (inside the plant structure) doesn't pose a risk to tank livestock such as fish?


Yes again, I must admit I've looked on ammonia and urea as having much the same risk involved, which I should have known isn't really right (<"from your link">).

I thought that the liquid fertiliser manufacturers were using urea (CO(NH2)2) as a nitrogen source because it is a lot cheaper to buy than ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3), and <"their mixes are so weak"> that you would literally have to pour the whole bottle in to kill your livestock, but I think I did them a disservice, and actually adding urea is a lot safer than adding an ammonia containing salt.

cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (4 Dec 2020)

Hi Darrel,

Well, well! I re-read the following thread late last night and picked out something that Clive said (post #31):

Dosing with Ammonia and Urea

This just about says it all:

"Previous studies have found that urease enzymes can be intracellular, cell surface bound, or extracellular..." which sounds to me like the transformation can occur above, below or within the plant's tissue structure".

JPC


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## dw1305 (4 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 


jaypeecee said:


> sounds to me like the transformation can occur above, below or within the plant's tissue structure".


Plants are a bit different to animals, they are much leakier  structures, so there is less of a clear differentiation between "inside" and "outside". They need to be full of spaces, so that gases can diffuse in and out, and a lot of the internal space is filled up with lacunae "holes" (aerenchyma etc).   

My guess is that even "extracellular" just means that the enzymes are located somewhere within the lacunae of the mesophyll layer, but not bound to cell surface 

This is a cross-section through <"the floating leaf of a _Potamogeton_ sp"> (it is floating because you can see that there are stomata only in the upper (adaxial)  leaf surface).






cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (4 Dec 2020)

dw1305 said:


> adding urea is a lot safer than adding an ammonia containing salt.


Hi @dw1305

Hold that thought (i.e. what you stated immediately above)! In the present context of what we are discussing, you may be correct. But, one thing I've discovered about Urea is that it sometimes can contain a high level of heavy metals. Sufficient dilution may take care of this. We probably need to re-visit this.

JPC


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## jaypeecee (4 Dec 2020)

Hi @dw1305

Wow, Darrel. I'm learning so much right now. What a great picture in your last post. Now I see why you often refer to plants as 'leaky structures'.

JPC


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## dw1305 (4 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 


jaypeecee said:


> But, one thing I've discovered about Urea is that it sometimes can contain a high level of heavy metals.


There is some discussion of impurities in urea in the <"biuret posts">. If the urea is fertiliser grade it should be fine, but I'd steer well clear of any sold as a de-icer.


jaypeecee said:


> Now I see why you often refer to plants as 'leaky structures'.


They are pretty leaky all over, the roots don't have have as many obvious "holes" but they are continually sloughing off cells from the root tip and leaking from root hairs. There is more discussion of this on the <"Radial Oxygen Loss"> (ROL) posts.

You can also see why plants might use less oxygen at night than you might imagine, and it is back to the same spaces. When a plant is "pearling" it means that all of those internal spaces are saturated with oxygen and it is outgassed as oxygen gas into water, (which is also 100% oxygen saturated) and the "pearl" rises to the surface as a bubble. When light levels fall back <"below LCP">, and the plant becomes a net oxygen user a lot of the oxygen it uses comes from those internal spaces, where now CO2 levels rise. 

You can an example of this when @Geoffrey Rea <"wrote">


Geoffrey Rea said:


> ............Have actually found a caveat to this @alto
> 
> Borrowed a dissolved o2 meter from a friend at uni and found that on a mature high tech setup I was running, the air stones running at night were bringing night time o2 levels below what was available if solely relying on what was produced through photosynthesis alone during the photoperiod.........



cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (4 Dec 2020)

Hi @dw1305

With reference to heavy metals in urea...



dw1305 said:


> If the urea is fertiliser grade it should be fine...



Please take a look at the attached _draft_ standard, paragraph 4.3.

JPC


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## dw1305 (5 Dec 2020)

Hi all, 


jaypeecee said:


> Please take a look at the attached _draft_ standard


That one is from Uganda, but I don't know how it would relate to the EU standard.

cheers Darrel


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## jaypeecee (8 Dec 2020)

dw1305 said:


> That one is from Uganda, but I don't know how it would relate to the EU standard.


Hi @dw1305 

In my field of work, many of the EU Standards _were_ ISO Standards. So, we have things like ISO9001 relating to Quality Management, for example. And this Uganda standard cites ISO 17318 in Paragraph 4.3, Table 2. Also, take a look at:






						ISO 17318:2015
					

Fertilizers and soil conditioners — Determination of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury contents




					www.iso.org
				




JPC


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## jaypeecee (6 Jan 2021)

Hi Folks,

I recently mentioned this elsewhere on UKAPS but I should be getting a small quantity of high purity urea fairly soon. Looking forward to doing some experiments with this both as a source of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. I will update this thread in due course.

JPC


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## jaypeecee (10 Feb 2021)

Hi Everyone,

Just to let anyone interested know that I started using urea on 30 January (2021). This is in a plant-only tank. The plants are Java Fern, Congo Fern and Frogbit. I am using pharmaceutical grade urea as agricultural urea appears to contain a lot of impurities including biuret, formaldehyde and heavy metals. Urea is the only source of nitrogen in the tank. Phosphorus, potassium, iron and trace elements are provided by the _Flourish_ range of Seachem products. Calcium and magnesium are obtained from Tropic Marin _Re-Mineral Tropic_. Carbon for the plants is provided by atmospheric CO2 (for the Frogbit) and urea (for the Ferns). I am using rainwater. Water temperature is 26/27C. Water pH is from 6.8 to 7.9 (measured using an ETI8000 pH meter). I am having difficulty stabilizing pH but hope to try boric acid. I want to avoid using organic acids such as acetic or citric in order to ensure that the only source of carbon is as stated previously. That's why I have just chosen boric acid, which I hope to obtain soon. Lighting is provided by a cheap-and-cheerful _AquaOne_ 30 nano cube light.

I'll add a photo of the setup - possibly a bit later this evening.

Any, and all, comments welcome.

JPC


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## jaypeecee (10 Feb 2021)

Hi Everyone,

Here's the tank...

JPC


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## sparkyweasel (10 Feb 2021)

Very interesting. 
If I may, I would suggest adding a submerged plant that is not a fern, just in case they react differently.
Looking forward to seeing how it goes.


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## jaypeecee (10 Feb 2021)

sparkyweasel said:


> If I may, I would suggest adding a submerged plant that is not a fern, just in case they react differently.


Hi @sparkyweasel

Thanks for the feedback. My problem at the moment would be finding a suitable plant as the tank is a mere 12 litres. And, I'd need to get it online as I'm at home 24/7. What would you suggest? I now have Amazon Frogbit on the surface but that's another story.

BTW, it's good to be in touch with you.

JPC


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## sparkyweasel (10 Feb 2021)

Perhaps one of the smaller _Cryptocorynes _then, Dwarf Hairgrass or Pygmy Chain Swords? The last might be best as they spread faster so you might be more easily able to judge how well they grow.

Thanks, and you. 
I haven't been very active on here recently, but I'm keeping an eye on the more interesting threads.


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## sparkyweasel (10 Feb 2021)

I've just checked where it was I got some from  recently.
Tennellum
They were nice and healthy, and cheap.


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## Oldguy (10 Feb 2021)

jaypeecee said:


> Please take a look at the attached _draft_ standard, paragraph 4.3.


Why in the above draft standard is urea called calcium ammonium nitrate?


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## jolt100 (11 Feb 2021)

Oldguy said:


> Why in the above draft standard is urea called calcium ammonium nitrate?


CAN is not the same as Urea,  perhaps it's a mistake in the draft? But it could be they call all nitrogen fertilisers "urea"? The CAS numbers of the two products are completely different but the Ugandan draft doesn't quote anything. 
The Iso standard quoted is only a method of test not a product standard.  Much better to look at commercial  specifications available in Europe: eg from Source Chemicals.... 
Molecular Weight: 60.06 g/mol
Melting Point: 132.7 °C
Solubility in water (% weight): 480 g/l at 20 C - completely soluble
Total Nitrogen (%m/m): <46%
Biuret (%m/m): <1%
Moisture (%m/m): <0.3%
Formaldehyde (mg/Kg): <10
Ammonia: <100mg/Kg
pH (10% Solution): <10

If you Google urea there's plenty of sources with specs.

Cheers 
John


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## dw1305 (11 Feb 2021)

Hi all, 


jolt100 said:


> Much better to look at commercial specifications available in Europe: eg from Source Chemicals....


There is some discussion of this in <"Pot scape">. Personally I wouldn't use the urea intended for "de-icing", but any fertiliser grade you should be absolutely fine. 

You get a lot of <"bang for your buck"> using urea, so you don't have to add much and any impurities will be in ppb (micro g/ L)  levels in the tank. 

cheers Darrel


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## GHNelson (11 Feb 2021)

Recipe here with Urea > Spezial N - Nitrogen Fertilizer
hoggie


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## dw1305 (11 Feb 2021)

Hi all, 


GHNelson said:


> Recipe here with Urea > Spezial N - Nitrogen Fertilizer
> hoggie


It is an interesting thread, although it goes a bit wonky <"after page 12">. 

cheers Darrel


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## sparkyweasel (11 Feb 2021)

I suspect that they copy&pasted the whole section on labelling and forgot to change the name.


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## rebel (11 Feb 2021)

@jaypeecee It's worthwhile adding some fast and medium growing plants also. Java fern can handle alot of abuse etc. I have personal experience with java fern which did ok with 'organic' urea addition but this caused a massive green thread algae explosion in that container.


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## Hufsa (11 Feb 2021)

Yeah this is kind of my thoughts as well, java fern will take like 3 months to show any changes


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## jaypeecee (11 Feb 2021)

Hi @jolt100



jolt100 said:


> Ugandan draft doesn't quote anything.



I think I can see what's happened here and no wonder it's caused confusion. Here is a revised link to the draft Ugandan standard:



			https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2017/TBT/UGA/17_3726_00_e.pdf
		


If you take a look at clause 4.3, Table 2, you'll then see the figures that gave me some concern.



dw1305 said:


> You get a lot of <"bang for your buck"> using urea, so you don't have to add much and any impurities will be in ppb (micro g/ L) levels in the tank.



Hi @dw1305 

I'm not sure that the figures will be in the ppb. I did a quick calculation of some of the heavy metals and I concluded that they were a toxicity risk to some aquarium livestock. And, it's worth bearing in mind that these heavy metals will probably accumulate over time even after a good few water changes.

JPC


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## jaypeecee (11 Feb 2021)

rebel said:


> @jaypeecee It's worthwhile adding some fast and medium growing plants also. Java fern can handle alot of abuse etc. I have personal experience with java fern which did ok with 'organic' urea addition but this caused a massive green thread algae explosion in that container.


Hi @rebel 

Yes, point taken entirely. I think I'm going to move the whole setup to a larger tank as the one I'm using is a mere 12 litres and even the Java Ferns are outgrowing it already! Luckily, Karl (@Zeus.) has kindly offered to donate some plants. 

JPC


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## jaypeecee (11 Feb 2021)

Hi Folks,

I'd like to draw everyone's attention to this excellent thread from almost exactly thirteen years ago:






						Dosing with Ammonia and Urea
					

Decided to open a new thread on this very interesting subject rather than carry it on in the Good Algae Article thread - http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=905  Here's what been said so far:   As George alluded to, some vendors use ammonia salts as their source of N, which I find completely...



					www.ukaps.org
				




It's one of the most interesting threads I've ever read on UKAPS.

You may not get to bed tonight!

JPC


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## jaypeecee (4 Mar 2021)

rebel said:


> I have personal experience with java fern which did ok with 'organic' urea addition but this caused a massive green thread algae explosion in that container.


Hi @rebel 

Ah, _very_ interesting. Guess what? It wasn't green thread algae in my case but the dreaded _Blue-Green Menace_: Cyanobacteria. At the outset of my experiment, I think I may have had a tiny bit of Cyano nestled almost inconspicuously in a corner of the tank. But, after a few doses of urea solution, the Cyano found a host on the undersides of my floating Frogbit. Despite painstakingly removing every trace of Cyano, I had to admit defeat. In the end, I chose to discard all of the Frogbit. Then, followed a thorough sterilization of the tank (plus contents) using a strong solution of potassium permanganate (ORP = +530 mV) for ~ 20 minutes. For the last ten days, the tank has been back in business. BTW, I had been dosing urea to 0.5ppm tank concentration. This is the dose that @JamesC had been using in his thread that I referenced immediately above.

Right now, I am not using urea. It was such an attractive solution to providing not only nitrogen but carbon in the preferred form of CO2. It seemed like the 'answer to a maiden's prayer'. I am now using _TNC Complete_ in this tank administered every other day and all is well - for the moment.

I should add that I'm not finished with urea. I suspect that it's a ready-made solution (pun intended) looking for the right tank.

JPC


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