Potassium is the Common Denominator

[PrettyFishies]

So I diecided to go the dry fert method after using a couple of calculators to see that my Flourish products would not be economical.

I ordered Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulfate and Mono Potassium Phosphate.

All of these ferts have Potassium, yet I'm only using the Pot Sulf as a Potassium solution. Is there some chemical reaction that negates the K in the other two ferts?

 

[Purrbox]

If you have to dose a lot of Nitrates, then you may get enough Potassium for your tank with KNO3 dosing alone. The K2SO4 allows you to fill the gap and ensure that your plants are getting enough Potassium without dosing Nitrates when you don't need them. As I understand it there's something about the chemical make up of KH2PO4 which means that it really isn't supplying Potassium to the tank, at least not in a usable form.

 

[newfound77951]

Plus you can't overdose potassium (unless you go really nuts), so you don't have to worry about that. Like Purrbox said, depending on your tank's bioload, dosing KNO3 might be enough, but my tank has high bioload and I almost never have to dose N, so I have to add K.

 

[PrettyFishies]

What's the best nitrate kit available?

 

[Purrbox]

Hobby grade Nitrate liquid test kits are all about the same. If you want to go one step better you can spring for a LaMotte Nitrate test kit.

 

[PrettyFishies]

Just wanted to follow-up - I bought the Lamotte kit and used it last week to find my Nitrates were at 44ppm. I tested again after yesterdays water change and EASILY saw that they were 17.6ppm (4.0 x 4.4).

This test kit is so easy to read. Pricey, although I used poker winnings to pay for it.