brewmaster15
06-02-2009, 08:17 AM
Hi all,
Its gardening season here and I was doing a project in garden when I had a thought on biofilters....Basically I was "speed Composting" ( my own term..so don't try and look it up!) a bale of hay... You do this by soaking a bale of hay with water and using ammonia on it ...The ammionia acts a nitrogen source for the bacteria and the hay is broken down as part of the process......The process is easy to monitor as it generates lots of heat... The idea here is kill any weed seeds in the hay before using it..
Parts of this should sound familar as what goes on in our fish tanks...
This time when I started the composting I had no clear ammonia to soak the bale with so I tried something different... Miracle Gro....I figured it was a decent source of nitrogen and it was...worked like a charm..
So..My thoughts are why not use miracle gro to cycle a tank or to maintain one when theres no fish? Any one ever try it?
Miracle Gro All purpose fertilizer contains..
15 % Total Nitrogen( of that 5.8% is Ammoniacle Nitrogen and 9.2% is urea Nitrogen)
It also has non- ammonia ingredients but I can't see them harming the biofilter...The tank may just need the lights out to prevent an algael bloom from the phosphate.
Contains...
Availible Phosphate....30%
Soluable Potash........15%
Boron... 0.02%
Copper.... 0.07% (water soluable)
Iron.......... 0.15% (chelated)
Manganese... 0.05%(Chelated)
Molybdenum ...0.0005%
Zn................0.06% ( water Soluble)
Haven't tried it yet..but seems like a viable alternative to clear ammonia when it can not be found?
Thoughts any one?
-al
Its gardening season here and I was doing a project in garden when I had a thought on biofilters....Basically I was "speed Composting" ( my own term..so don't try and look it up!) a bale of hay... You do this by soaking a bale of hay with water and using ammonia on it ...The ammionia acts a nitrogen source for the bacteria and the hay is broken down as part of the process......The process is easy to monitor as it generates lots of heat... The idea here is kill any weed seeds in the hay before using it..
Parts of this should sound familar as what goes on in our fish tanks...
This time when I started the composting I had no clear ammonia to soak the bale with so I tried something different... Miracle Gro....I figured it was a decent source of nitrogen and it was...worked like a charm..
So..My thoughts are why not use miracle gro to cycle a tank or to maintain one when theres no fish? Any one ever try it?
Miracle Gro All purpose fertilizer contains..
15 % Total Nitrogen( of that 5.8% is Ammoniacle Nitrogen and 9.2% is urea Nitrogen)
It also has non- ammonia ingredients but I can't see them harming the biofilter...The tank may just need the lights out to prevent an algael bloom from the phosphate.
Contains...
Availible Phosphate....30%
Soluable Potash........15%
Boron... 0.02%
Copper.... 0.07% (water soluable)
Iron.......... 0.15% (chelated)
Manganese... 0.05%(Chelated)
Molybdenum ...0.0005%
Zn................0.06% ( water Soluble)
Haven't tried it yet..but seems like a viable alternative to clear ammonia when it can not be found?
Thoughts any one?
-al