Is it safe to start planting with 0.25 Ammonia reading …

[Ossie]

Hello,
I have been cycling my tank blindly for four weeks and my ammonia reading is 0.25 I am keen to start planting.
May I ask is it safe to do so …

 

[erwin123]

Welcome to UKAPS The best way to cycle the tank is to get it planted . Fast growers will really be benefical

Because you have listed Tropica Soil and Tropica root tabs in your equipment list - just a gentle warning that the stuff releases ammonia - getting to 0ppm Ammonia may take a longer time. You'll need patience and maybe some hardy plants like Paraguay suggested (not magic water that promises to cycle your tank faster 😎 ) Since you have a HOB filter, you could even dump a garden plant or two in it. My HOB filter is used as a planter.

From your other thread. I've highlighted the words in red in Paraguay's post just in case you missed them...

 

[plantnoobdude]

May I ask is it safe to do so …

Yes, plant will grow extra fast with the nh4, as they uptake all forms of fixed nitrogen. Cheers,

 

[Ossie]

Thank you …

 

[_Maq_]

Unfortunately, nobody has asked you about your pH.🙁
pH is decisive in that it determines how much of your 0.25 ppm is harmless ammonium (NH4+) and toxic ammonia (NH3).
Folks, any reading of ammonium/ammonia is worthless unless accompanied by pH value.

 

[erwin123]

Unfortunately, nobody has asked you about your pH.🙁
pH is decisive in that it determines how much of your 0.25 ppm is harmless ammonium (NH4+) and toxic ammonia (NH3).
Folks, any reading of ammonium/ammonia is worthless unless accompanied by pH value.

Ossie is asking whether he can add plants to his aquarium when ammonia is not zero. The answer given by Paraguay, which I agree with and so does plantnoobdude, is that you can add fast-growing and hardy plants immediately.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, nobody has asked you about your pH.🙁
pH is decisive in that it determines how much of your 0.25 ppm is harmless ammonium (NH4+) and toxic ammonia (NH3).

That is why I prefer to use <"Total Ammoniacal Nitrogen (TAN)">, it takes pH out of the equation.

In planted tanks pH is very much a <"movable feast"> as the <"oxygen and CO2 ratio change">.

I think of TAN like <"potential energy">. As an analogy I'm not too bothered if a grain of sand falls on me, but if that sand grain becomes a huge rock ("the NH4+ converts to NH3 as the pH rises") it has the potential to do a lot of damage.

cheers Darrel