Potassium chloride question

[slapshot]

So I'm at Home Depot looking for Magnesium Chloride and I see 50lbs bags of Potassium Chloride. Can this be used to raise potassium? It is used in water softeners, so it has to be ok for human health. Anyone ever try it?

 

[bertoni]

It might be fine, but it'd take a lot of expensive testing to be sure. No one has reported here on using a product like that, either, as far as I can recall.

 

[slapshot]

No one, but I think it is new. I have not seen it here before. It would be remarkably cheaper, but I know; that doesn't mean better or worse.

 

[rayjay]

How many people have need to raise potassium?

 

[slapshot]

Anyone that is keeping SPS should.

 

[tmz]

Don't need to dose potassium for sps or anything else. . I wouldn't dose it unless you can accurately test for it and find it low , most aquariums are just fine in terms of K levels from food and slat mix.

If you choose to dose it , I'd go for a food grade. It can be had realtively cheaply from online health food stores like i.herb.com.

 

[slapshot]

Hmmm, I'm always told you need it high to keep blue SPS blue?

 

[bertoni]

People say a lot of things about coral coloration. It's not clear that dosing potassium is likely to be useful to maintain a reasonable level in the tank. On the other hand, dosing any supplement can affect coral coloration, in theory, by adding toxic elements that induce stress, or so it's claimed.

My personal belief is that water changes will keep the potassium level up in most any reef tank. There might be some issue with some of the zeolites used in some products, but that's not clear, either.

 

[rayjay]

Actually, I believed you the first time.:spin2:

 

[tmz]

My corals a very blue with out dosing it. Where did you read you needed potassium for blue color other than folks selling it?

Here's one example,fwiw:

This one is about five years old starting from a 3/4 inch frag. It's about five inches in width:

 

[mariusmeyer]

Potassium Chloride is actually used as an alternative to salt, especially for people who have high blood pressure problems. So its is safe. People with freshwater planted tanks use it as well in their dosing regimes and therefor you should be able find online calculators to tell you how much to dose etc.

 

[tmz]

Yes, it is used as an alternative to salt. There are different grades though. Some is used for lethal injections; some for fertilizers. Purity issues on a 50lb bag from home improvement warehouse store ( Home Depot) is not what I'd sprinkle on my food or into my aquarium without careful analysis..

 

[slapshot]

Ok, that is good news. It's all over the Zeovit forms and here also as a cure for mon blue, pale colors and a reason for STN. Just been doing some research on improving colors and it keeps popping up.