Fertiliser containing Ammonium

[conorod]

I was recently recommended by my LFS to try Tropica Specialised Nutrition fertiliser (still a little unsure if I need this as I do not add CO2 & I had thought the fish would provide enough N/P, but then my tank is not heavily stocked).
However when I read the label I saw that it contains ammonium - should I be concerned at all about an ammonia spike when adding this? Should I be keeping an eye ammonia/nitrate levels?

 

[seangee]

Unless you have really demanding plants there is no need to add N in any form, you are correct that the fish will provide enough. 2 popular ferts for micronutrients are Seachem flourish comprehensive supplement and TNC lite (make sure it is the light as the complete also contains N).

Personally I do not subscribe to the (erroneous) belief that there is no such thing as too much filtration. I keep mine at just enough which means the plants get the ammonia produced by the fish first and I avoid nitrate build up - nitrate is the end product of filtration, when plants use ammonia they do not produce nitrate.

 

[Colin_T]

You don't want to be adding ammonia or phosphorus to an aquarium. Those ingredients are designed for terrestrial plants and cause problems to fish and other life forms living in water. They also encourage algae.

If you want to use that type of fertiliser, grow the plants in plastic containers that have no holes in and bury the fertiliser under some clay. The clay will stop the nutrients leaching into the water.

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We use to grow plants in 1 or 2 litre plastic icecream containers. You put an inch of gravel in the bottom of the container, then spread a thin layer of granulated garden fertiliser over the gravel. Put a 1/4inch (6mm) thick layer of red/ orange clay over the fertiliser. Dry the clay first and crush it into a powder. Then cover that with more gravel.

You put the plants in the gravel and as they grow, their roots hit the clay and fertiliser and they take off and go nuts. The clay stops the fertiliser leaching into the water.

You can smear silicon on the outside of the buckets and stick gravel or sand to them so it is less conspicuous. Or you can let algae grow on them and the containers turn green.