Ammonia Overdose?

[TomK2]

Its not that mysterious! For a 10% solution, 0.34 ml is one ppm for 10 gals. One ml is 1 ppm for 30 gals. And so on. here's the math:

All Glass “10 gal” tank, fill to bottom of black trim:
Internal Dimensions: 11inches by 9.75inches by 19.5 inches =
27.94cm x 24.765cm x 49.53 cm = 34271.5 cc = 34.27 liters
or L in x W in x H in x 2.54 cubed (16.387)

Ace Hardware Ammonium10% sol =100grams per liter (or kilogram) = 0.1 grams per ml = 100 mg per ml (remember, an ml of water and a gram of water are the same)
1 ppm is 1 mg per liter (1gram per 1,000,000cc = 1gram per1000Liters =1mg per 1 Liter)
34.27liters x 1 mg/L is 34.27mg in the whole tank filled to bottom of black trim.
34.27mg / 100mg/ml = .34 ml in the tank for 1 ppm.


So yeah, 3 or four drops per gallon is more like 10 to 15 ppm?

 

[joannde]

JRagg - OUCH ! that must STING like mad !

I think the referene to "pure" ammonia does not mean 100% ammonia, but rather ammonia to which there are no additives (surfacants, soaps, scents, etc).

But you make a good point - it should say that in the article

 

[TomK2]

Oh, I always figured 10 drops per ml? Ther lies a problem, drops are not standardized! But, after doing the math, I did dose the 10 gal tank with 0.34 ml (used a 1 ml syringe) and got 1 ppm, so it holds up.

Thus, a 10 gal tank needs about three drops in total, not three drops per gallon? And 15 ml of a 10% ammonia solution in a standard 10 gal tank is over 40ppm! (15ml X 100 mg/ml = 1500 mg in 34 liters which comes out to 43 ppm or more)

Note that your 10 gal tank does not hold 10 gal of water - Its true!

 

[JRagg]

Well im over it now. I torched my hands. They were definitely very dry from all the "high pH" water.

I think your last calc is spot on Tom. That hits right where I should have been after my water changes too. I didn't use a dropper, I used mL's to dose. I know those test tubes from AP are 5mL so I just filled three of them to the line (15 mL). Now that I find out it should have been 1.5 mL I'm thinking I should get a dropper. From now on so that I can dose 1-2 ppm I will be putting in roughly .3-.7 mL which using the "standard drops per mL" rule (which like you said Tom, is not always right. I think it's based on a standard dropper) would leave me with like 6-12 drops or so (will probably just stick with 6 drops and test to see what I get). Oh well, no harm no foul. No plants in my tank are dead (I hope) and I basically started whatever cycle I had all over since that pH would have likely killed any bacteria I had.

Live and learn.