Am I a shrimp killer?

[dw1305]

Hi all,

How will plants assist with nitrite? I thought they only lowered nitrate, and it was the bacteria which converted nitrite to nitrate? Or is my understanding of water chemistry about to get blown apart?!

Plants take up both ammonia and nitrite as well as nitrate. The ammonium ion NH4+ is still fairly toxic, so the plant has to incorporate any NH3 (as its ion) into less toxic compounds fairly rapidly inside the leaf. NO3 is non-toxic so it doesn't place the same imperative on the plant. <http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=...AxkLVHn_7ry9OnyJtPobYMRfk#v=onepage&q&f=false>

Tom Barr talks about this in a discussion at <http://www.barrreport.com/showthread.php/4329-Uptake-of-ammonium-and-biological-filtration>.

As a general rule the combination of plants and microbial filtration is much, much more effective than microbial filtration on its own. It is difficult to quantify the effects of plants alone in the aquarium, because plant leaves and roots provide a huge surface area for bacterial colonisation.

cheers Darrel

 

[LancsRick]

Thanks for all the help guys. Doing a slot dose over the course of the evening to raise the tank up to GH and KH 4 with a MgSO4 solution and bicarb of soda. I'll look into getting some Seachem Equilibrium as a longer term fix, although I want to get something with a calcium element really so that my snails have what they need.

Think I may get some proper shrimp food too so that any deficiencies in water parameters aren't as catastrophic next time.

Any ideas why I've got away with this so long, and indeed, why my shrimp in the other tanks are happy as can be and moulting? Seriously confused!

Cheers.

 

[LancsRick]

Just found out my GH test kit is in fact completely shot, so I've no idea now where I stand!!!! I'll get a fresh one tomorrow and see what it says. Highly irritated now 🙁.

EDIT: So having lost all faith in my test kit, I have returned to what I originally went off when setting up my tanks, which was the local water report (latest version). At present they're saying 21.1Ca mg/l and 2.53 mg/l Mg, which by my reckoning puts the dGH at 3.

I'm going to bed, too confused. Need to get a working test kit and go from there.