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Aquarium Plant Fertilizers - Sources of Nitrogen

Hi all,
jolt100 said:
Much better to look at commercial specifications available in Europe: eg from Source Chemicals....
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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
 
I suspect that they copy&pasted the whole section on labelling and forgot to change the name.
 
@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 @jolt100

jolt100 said:
Ugandan draft doesn't quote anything.
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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:


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.
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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
 
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.
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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
 
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 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
 
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.
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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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