Plants Absorb Ammonia?

[unknowntbeast]

Thanks for that post Mikaila! It was a good read.

 

[OldMan47]

In the concentrations that we deal with mg/l is the same number as ppm. For an even better read of the materials Diana Walstad has put together, buy her book. It is a great read the first time and makes an excellent reference when you start trying to set up an NPT. At 2 WPG, you do not need CO2 or added fertilizers if you follow her methods. The plants get what they need which is all it takes to suppress algae growth. She recommends about 2 WPG for at least 12 hours a day and says that allowing some natural light into the tank will help even more. Her approach runs counter to much of the common "wisdom" that you will read elsewhere but it works great.

 

[waterdrop]

It should be added or pointed out for the sake of beginners reading this, I think, that an NPT (Diana's approach) relies very much on the actual soil that is placed in the tank and then capped with gravel. The potting soil is loaded with bacteria and they quickly multiply and develop biofilms all over the soil materials (which, interestingly, is one of the things that keeps the dirt from silting up into the water column and making the tank cloudy.) The activity of this soil and bacteria is one of the major things that helps an NPT to maintain a higher CO2 level in the water than an "unimproved" gravel substrate would (or a "high-tech" substrate such as EcoComplete or Flourite would.) I'm at work now or I would consult my copy of Diana's book but actually I don't remember where or to what extent she covers this aspect. I actually heard more discussion about it elsewhere - anyway, hope I'm representing it correctly, I can't remember the mechanism or details right off.

WD

 

[unknowntbeast]

Well for anyone who is interested, it works. I've got about 15 ribbon plants in my 20 gallon and over 6 days, the ammonia levels have stayed constantly at 0 ppm!