Raising Potassium?

Kurt

Potassium bicarbonate would be my choice. There are also pure grades of Potassium Chloride.

Zeovit users add K to darken and colorize corals when the turn light in color.

Some K stuff in plants

http://www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/fileadmin/bericht/bot1/report_en.html

Randy

Plants and corals readily absorb the K dissolved in the water. However, the question is how much is needed in solution to do his task. It is not like there is not enough in water @ 200 - 400ppm, unless the diffusion graident is not high enough at low levels :confused:
 
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Boomer, I have found Potassium Bicarbonate online for a reasonable price...Why is this your first choice over Potassium Chloride and how would I figure out how much to add??
 
And what about using Potassium chloride as used in humans (for potassium losses, completely pure 100%)?.
Do you think it would be reasonable?
Which dosing scheme in ClK meq/liters of tank water?
 
100 g KHCO3= 1 mole KCO3 = 39 grams of K, so 2 grams, about 1/2 tsps/ 50 gal = 80 ppm increase but will also increase the Alk .4 meq / l.

Randy needs to check this first




I think the issue here is to bump it up with Potassium chloride to 400 ppm if it is low and then use the potassium bicarbonate to maintain it. Trying to raise it 50- 100 pmm with potassium bicarbonate will raise the alk to much. The potassium bicarbonate then would be used to sup the Alk with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) giving the K addition with out the addition of the Sodium from the sodium bicarbonate or using potassium chloride, which gives the continuous addition of chloride.

You will not know what the K demand is without a test kit, which is mine and Randy's issue really.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8138337#post8138337 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Boomer
100 g KHCO3= 1 mole KCO3 = 39 grams of K, so 2 grams, about 1/2 tsps/ 50 gal = 80 ppm increase but will also increase the Alk .4 meq / l.

Randy needs to check this first




I think the issue here is to bump it up with Potassium chloride to 400 ppm if it is low and then use the potassium bicarbonate to maintain it. Trying to raise it 50- 100 pmm with potassium bicarbonate will raise the alk to much. The potassium bicarbonate then would be used to sup the Alk with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) giving the K addition with out the addition of the Sodium from the sodium bicarbonate or using potassium chloride, which gives the continuous addition of chloride.

You will not know what the K demand is without a test kit, which is mine and Randy's issue really.

Ok that makes sense about the bicarbonate then....I would much rather have it raise alk rather than chlorides over time, given that chlorides will build over time.

Also, given it is probably not a good idea to raise the K+ that fast, I could probably just slow my alk dosing down and just use that for the short term to keep alk up and slowly raise the K+.

As for the test kit....here is the one available from KZ http://www.zeovitusa.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=ZUSA&Category_Code=KaliumTest

BTW, a friend of mine tested my salt (Seachem Reefsalt) and got aprox 320ppm K+. This is obviously a bit low just to start so I think it may not be a bad idea to just dose enough to get it up to ~400ppm. I think its safe to assume that I am atleast 80ppm low right now.
 
One of my guys on another fourm also has the test kit. This kit was 250 and lab test was 258 for K in an IO test
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8138488#post8138488 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Boomer
One of my guys on another fourm also has the test kit. This kit was 250 and lab test was 258 for K in an IO test

That is not surprising to see a slight difference....I hear the KZ test kit is pretty hard to read. However, I think a variance of 3.2% is pretty good for a home test :). If anything those numbers give me confidence that the test kit is good to go!

Do you agree?
 
While at the store I checked out the salt substitute called "NoSalt" and it indeed did have Potassium Chloride, however it also had the following ingredients which concerned me and Im not so sure I want in my tank : potassium bitartrate, adipic acid, fumaric acid, silicon dioxide, mineral oil.

I guess I'd probably avoid the salt substitute since we cannot readily know how much of what is there. Those ingredients may not be bad at low levels, but they might be 50% of the product.

If anything those numbers give me confidence that the test kit is good to go!

Do you agree?


I'm sure Boomer is not saying there is a problem based on those numbers. IMO, that is certainly as close as could be hoped for.

Ok that makes sense about the bicarbonate then....I would much rather have it raise alk rather than chlorides over time, given that chlorides will build over time.


No, the math is wrong. 2 grams of potassium bicarbonate will hold about a gram of potassium (guestimate). Then 1 g in 50 gallons (185 L) only boosts potassium by 1,000 mg/185 L = 5 ppm.
 
I see where I screwed up now :lol:

2 grams would yield 39% / gram K or .78 g

100 grams of KHCO3 = 39 grams K

39,000 / 185 = 210 ppm K, which would really boost the Alk

Kurt

Those numbers are fine for the kit
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8139805#post8139805 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Randy Holmes-Farley
While at the store I checked out the salt substitute called "NoSalt" and it indeed did have Potassium Chloride, however it also had the following ingredients which concerned me and Im not so sure I want in my tank : potassium bitartrate, adipic acid, fumaric acid, silicon dioxide, mineral oil.

I guess I'd probably avoid the salt substitute since we cannot readily know how much of what is there. Those ingredients may not be bad at low levels, but they might be 50% of the product.

If anything those numbers give me confidence that the test kit is good to go!

Do you agree?


I'm sure Boomer is not saying there is a problem based on those numbers. IMO, that is certainly as close as could be hoped for.

Ok that makes sense about the bicarbonate then....I would much rather have it raise alk rather than chlorides over time, given that chlorides will build over time.


No, the math is wrong. 2 grams of potassium bicarbonate will hold about a gram of potassium (guestimate). Then 1 g in 50 gallons (185 L) only boosts potassium by 1,000 mg/185 L = 5 ppm.

Thx Randy!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8140116#post8140116 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Boomer
I see where I screwed up now :lol:

2 grams would yield 39% / gram K or .78 g

100 grams of KHCO3 = 39 grams K

39,000 / 185 = 210 ppm K, which would really boost the Alk

Kurt

Those numbers are fine for the kit



So if thats the case, and I need to raise the K+ in my tank about 80ppm, I would have to add 15g of KHC03 right?

How much would that raise the alk???
 
Yes, 80 ppm needs 15 g.

Adding KHC03 is almost like adding baking soda only 1 mole of baking soda is 84 grams / mole compared to KHC03 which is 100 g / m. Baking soda is 73 % HCO3- and KHC03 is 61 % HCO3-. So you would need about 15 % more to raise the Alk the same amount as BS. So , that is ~1 -1.2 meq / l for 15 grams in 50 gal of water.
 
Hi Reef Central Community,

My name is Peter and I am from Germany - actually Munich (where the Octoberfest will start soon:bum: ).
I hope my englisch is good enough to communicate with you.

My question is and I have to underline that I am a Zeofit User and with great interest I observed you Thread about Potassium.

I have the KZ test and figured out that I far away from the 380mg. In fact a difference of almost 130 mg.

I still add the KZ supplements but it's not changing into the right direction.

Therefore I am interested into the Kaliumbicarbonate.

Honestly I am not the greates chemist, but I figured out that Kaliumbicarbonte contains also other ingredients which concern me a bit. Enclosed I have attached a link to a German Online Shop.
http://www.omikron-online.de/cyberchem/preise/prs-html/analysen/0293-spz.htm

You might can read something out, but for example...
NH4 is part of that mixture and also cupper and many other ingredients we don't want to add.
Again I have no clue about chemicals, but would be interesting how you see my findings

Hope to hear from you.

Peter
 
Peter thank for the info.
"Parameter Desired value (R Ph.Eur.4.00) Specification (OMI100293)
Appearance of the solution clearly, colorless clearly, colorless
Drying loss (4h, over silicagel) --- < 0,1 %
Ammonium (NH4) max. 20 ppm < 20 ppm
Heavy metals (as Pb) max. 10 ppm < 5 ppm
pH value (5% in water, 20°C) <=8,6 8.0 - 8.6
Carbonate (as K2CO3) accordingly < 2.5 %
Chloride (Cl) max. 150 ppm < 50 ppm
Sulfate (SO4) max. 150 ppm < 100 ppm
Arsenic (As) --- < 1 mg/kg
Calcium (approx.) max. 100 ppm < 50 ppm
Iron (Fe) max. 20 ppm < 10 ppm
Sodium (well) max. 0.5% < 0,03%
Copper (cu) --- < 20 mg/kg
Lead (Pb) --- < 10 mg/kg
Zinc (Zn) --- < 20 mg/kg
Organic volatile impurities --- Office corresponds
Content (acidimetrisch) 99,5 - 101,0% corresponds
Maybe Boomer or Randy can have a look and comment about the other chemicals.
 
Although I havent figured out the importance of this I'm doing it anyways. If you use Potassiumbicarbonate instead of baking soda (uncooked)in Randy's two part, you will get very close to the same effect as far as increasing alk. I tried this last night with just five gallons of waste water and came up with the same results either way with a salifert test kit.

Hope this helps
Don
 
Several big questions I see here: 1) how low must the potassium be before it can be considered detrimentally low?, and 2) is the only hobbyist test kit available [Zeo K] reliable, and 3) why do salt studies show such varying statistics for K levels?.

From what I can tell, we don't know what amount is deficient, if we are deficient, or if our salt is deficient. We have to be careful of classic tail-chasing here as we've seen so many times before with other issues.

I've been looking up studies of commercial salts lately, and I am very confused by how different the results are for potassium in one study to the next. Some show all salts being very close to NSW levels, and yet others show them 100-150ppm deficient in all brands. In fact, a guy in another thread claims he used Seachem salt to correct his K level over time, yet Seachem salt is mentioned in this thread as having tested low!

I'm having the moniti cap washout problems as well. My tank is 50g total system volume, bare-bottom, no fish, and I run a Deltec APF600 (ie, big-time overskim). I add only B-Ionic and RODI water to the tank... no feeding. I'm not ready to dump $80+shipping on a test kit and corrective additive for K just yet, but I am eye-balling it as a culprit.

Also, I wouldn't mind a Salifert K kit. ;)
 
Several big questions I see here: 1) how low must the potassium be before it can be considered detrimentally low?, and 2) is the only hobbyist test kit available [Zeo K] reliable, and 3) why do salt studies show such varying statistics for K levels?.

As I stated above, at least one guy had his kit checked against a very expensive piece of lab equipment and it was off 8 ppm.

We do not know how low but one should try to keep levels at or near NSW

As far as salt studies go this may be all due to batch variations.

Most of this K thing is from the ZEOvit guys, that use zeolites which may/do suck out K. They also add K to create color shifts, see my posts above.
 
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