The biggest misconception in all of aquaria - ammonia

[tonyjuliano]

On 6/20/2021 at 4:54 PM, CT_ said:

Are we talking about ammonia specifically?  or nitrogen in general (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate)?

Specifically ammonia, the first stage of the nitrogen cycle.

[CT_]

On 6/20/2021 at 3:38 PM, tonyjuliano said:

Specifically ammonia, the first stage of the nitrogen cycle.

So, if the fish eat half their food the majority still comes from the fish?

[GardenStateGoldfish]

I am sorry I am doing homework and didn't get to read all the replies, but Ammonia is a huge misconception also in the lack of understanding of ammonia and ammonium and the ratio that is created based on temperature and PH. a 1 ppm reading of ammonia on a liquid API test kit is almost never 1 ppm ammonia, most of the time it is a mix of ammonia and ammonium, ammonium is non toxic and makes up a large chunk of the reading unless your in a warm high PH tank. PH below 7 is majority ammonium which is non-toxic to fish and plants.