lauraleellbp

You are understanding what I am saying correctly.

Ammonia = plant food. ADA's major emphasis is on planted tanks. Fish tend to be secondary. Some ADA tanks are entirely fish-less. ADA AS must be cycled properly in order to be safe for livestock, and if disturbed, may release toxic amounts of ammonia and nitrite into the water column. This is actually true of most substrates, but especially AS.

Given time and stability, N-bacteria populations will regulate themselves according to the amount of ammonia in a tank. Otherwise, our water columns would always yield ammonia readings from the ongoing ammonia being produced by the fish.

Organic decomposition = ammonia = plant food. ADA AS is a great plant substrate b/c it's so high in organic content.

Once decomposition in a soil substrate has stopped then that soil's nutrient content is very depleted (depending on the soil's CEC).

Do you thoroughly understand the nitrogen cycle? N- bacteria convert ammonia into nitrite, and then nitrite into nitrate. Plants are able to use the nitrogen in any and all 3 of these compounds. The first 2 are the most toxic to fish, nitrates are the least toxic. Without any source of nitrogen in the tank, the plants would die.

In low tech tanks, the ammonia from the fish is often enough to feed the plants, and between the direct removal by plants and conversion by N-bacteria into nitrates, the water column in a healthy tank should always read 0ppm ammonia. In high tech tanks, plant growth will quickly outstrip the amount of fish waste, and therefore nitrogen must be added through ferts. Because of the nitrogen content in ADA AS, plants have yet another source of nitrogen besides what is in the water column.

If you had no desire to keep livestock in a planted tank, then dosing liquid ammonia would be a great idea, as long as you didn't overdo it. Plants actually have to expend more energy to utilize nitrAtes over ammonia.