# Ammonium Nitrate - toxic or not?



## Andy D (16 Jun 2015)

Hi All, 

I'm sure Mick or others will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Tropica Specialised used ammonium nitrate as its nitrogen source?

Now my understanding of ammonia/ammonium is that both are present and the amount/toxicity of each depends upon pH and temperature.

Therefore what makes it okay to use this without posing a risk to livestock?

(I accept it is okay as thousands of people use it (me included) with no obvious issues apart from nice plant growth ).


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## ian_m (16 Jun 2015)

Yes it is toxic to fish but in the recommended amounts when diluted in the tank is not normally an issue.


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## Jose (17 Jun 2015)

Andy D said:


> Therefore what makes it okay to use this without posing a risk to livestock?



The ridiculously low concentration makes it safe as Ian m says. Also having plants and a mature filter make it even safer. All supposedly. Maybe fish arent happy but you dont notice.


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## George Farmer (17 Jun 2015)

I read once that ammonia nitrate is also a preferred source of nitrogen vs KNO3.


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## ian_m (17 Jun 2015)

George Farmer said:


> I read once that ammonia nitrate is also a preferred source of nitrogen vs KNO3.


It is because KNO3 is 13% nitrogen (18/102) where as NH4NO3 is 35% nitrogen (28/80).


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## dw1305 (17 Jun 2015)

Hi all, 
There is a break-down of the content "Tropica" TPN+ at <"James' Planted Tank - All in one solution">. 





Jose said:


> The ridiculously low concentration makes it safe as Ian m says. Also having plants and a mature filter make it even safer. All supposedly. Maybe fish arent happy but you dont notice.


 I usually add an "all purpose liquid feed" (which is likely to contain NH4NO3, or urea (CO(NH2)2) to the tanks if they need feeding, details in <"What ferts.....".> and <"off the shelf ferts.....">. 

I've always been OK, but I can't really recommend it as a more general approach, because unless you use a low concentration, very heavily planted tanks (ideally with floaters or emergents with access to aerial CO2) and a lot of biological filtration capacity there is the very real risk of killing your livestock.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (17 Jun 2015)

I'd expect "hydration spheres" to differ as well as the usual "amine" effect ...
If you search out ammonia/ammonium exposure studies on fish & inverts, you'll see quite different "tolerances" among species, also short-term exposures can be quite high without triggering obvious stress/death.

To be conservative you might dilute your fertilizer into 1-2 litres of water, then add this into the filter outflow rather than just squirting ferts directly into the tank.


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## Jose (17 Jun 2015)

dw1305 said:


> I've always been OK, but I can't really recommend it as a more general approach, because unless you use a low concentration, very heavily planted tanks (ideally with floaters or emergents with access to aerial CO2) and a lot of biological filtration capacity there is the very real risk of killing your livestock.



Hi Darrel,
Is there a reason why you dose this type of fert?


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## dw1305 (17 Jun 2015)

Hi all





Jose said:


> Hi Darrel, Is there a reason why you dose this type of fert?


 It's cheap, it gives a pretty instant response and I'm a lazy fish-keeper.

More seriously I know that the sorts of tanks and filtration I have can potentially deal with really large bio-loads, I also know my water is very low in any salts (conductivity ~100 microS) and usually below pH7. This means that it isn't such a large risk for me.

I wouldn't recommend it, because obviously there is some risk involved.

If you had a lightly planted tank without floaters, low rates of flow and just a canister, or internal, filter without a venturi etc., hard water and used tap water for your water changes, it would be easy to tip over the balance into direct ammonia toxicity, or even more likely, low oxygen levels leading to fish death etc.

This last scenario is the situation that a lot of non-planted tank fish have, where, if the filter fails, fish death occurs pretty rapidly as ammonia levels rise and you go into a positive feed-back loop of  ever lower oxygen levels and higher ammonia levels etc.

Plants mean that if you fail to turn your filter back on, or if it stops working, you get a lot more time to rectify things. When I used internal filters more I used to occasionally find that I'd left them off  for the whole week between cleaning without any problems.

cheers Darrel


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## Andy D (17 Jun 2015)

Thanks!


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## zozo (17 Jun 2015)

I started out with Profito and some clay balls in the substrate.. The first 5 weeks worked great, then the HC started to get a bit yellow. Now i'm still using profito and mix a bit with Tropica PGsf  And the HC is happy again. Only have to be carefull with the staghorn its still in there a bit. But till now it seems to be going the right way.. Plants grow very fast on it..

I also noticed that since i use the TPG the amonia test rather goes to a 0.25 mg/l color..


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