Nick Zarlinga
"If we ignore nature.....maybe it'll go away."
----- Original Message -----
From: "Irate Mormon" <archimed_at_netdoor.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2003 6:23 PM
Subject: RE: NANFA-- water quality lessons
> Steffen, thanks for the treatise on the nitrogen cycle, but that is not
> what
> I was asking. I want to explain the difference of "nitrate nitrogen"
> and
> "nitrate" and what test kits test for. Likewise, the difference between
> "ortho-phosphate" and "phosphate" There are several different species
> of
> these compounds but which are the important ones from an aquarists point
> of
> view? I agree, for all intents and purposes there should be no ammonia
> or
> nitrite (although there has to be some in minute quantities) and like
> wise
> for nitrate and phosphates. The question is, what is useable to algae,
> etc.
> Thanks for taking the time.
>
> Maybe somebody already answered this, but I think all common
> reagent-based test kits are reacting to nitrate, NO3. Now, some kits
> are calibrated to report the amount of actual nitrate in ppm, while some
> report nitrate nitrogen - that is, an adjustment is made for the weight
> of the nitrate ion vs. just the nitrogen component. Without dragging
> out a periodic table, I think the adjustment factor is on the order of
> 4.4 or something like that.
>
> As to phosphate vs. orthophosphate, I haven't a clue. I slept through
> most of my organic chemistry classes |-/
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