NitrItes/ NitrAtes - define the diffrerence plz

i am hopeless in workig out which one comes first and which is worse than the other, and which one the plants help remove,

Plz help!

 

NitrIte is toxic (it decreases the blood's ability to carry oxygen).
NitrAte isn't as toxic in low levels (<40ppm) and can be removed either by plants or water changes.

I just found this article on the nitrogen cycle and I think it explains it really well.
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/cycling2.htm

-Chelle

 

thanks t-chelle

 

i looked at the site and i dont understand the ppm bit, i use viles to test mine, and it uses numbers, but i never heard of ppm, any help please?

 

PPM is parts per million. It's also the same as mL/L.

-Chelle

 

parts per million of what?

sorry i must be being really dense!

 

It's just a measure of concentration. If you have, for example, a reading of 20ppm of nitrAte, then for every million units of water, there would be 20 units of nitrAte.

Or, if you have a 1 liter bottle of water. Remove 5 mL of water and replace it with 5 mL of pure ammonia. Your reading would be 5ppm (or mL/L) of ammonia.

-Chelle

 

ok, thats making sense, thank you soooo much!