Question about kinds of nitrates in tank

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cubequeen

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Apr 28, 2007
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Karen
I'm having trouble getting my plants to grow despite dosing with everything except any nitrate and know at one time when I was accidentally over-dosing with potassium nitrate I was having prolific plant growth. As I say, it was an accident and I have been reluctant to add any potassium nitrate to my tank as the nitrates are already sort-of high.

So-o-o-o-o, I started wondering. Is the nitrate that builds up in the tank through the normal nitrogen cycle different from dosing with potassium nitrate? If potassium nitrate is POTASSIUM nitrate, what kind of nitrate is produced by the nitrogen cycle? Is it ammonia nitrate or ammonium nitrate since it derives from the ammonia from fish waste, etc.? If so, would it be advisable to do water changes to reduce the ammonium nitrate or whatever it is for the sake of the fish, yet dose with potassium nitrate for the sake of the plants, even though this practice would keep "nitrate" high as detected by nitrate tests? In other words, is potassium nitrate less toxic than the nitrate from fish waste?
 

SnakeIce

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May 4, 2002
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Nitrate from the nitrogen cycle may not have much potassium associated with it. If your tank is low on potassium the nitrates won't get used as fast because the low potassium is limiting uptake. The nitrate is the same from either source.
 
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