Potassium Supplement Question

[RadMax8]

So I was at a LFS today, and I was looking for Seachem's Flourish Potassium. The guy didn't have it, but he recommended something for the reefers from Brightwell Aquatics called "Potassion-P". It contains potassium chloride and potassium sulfate. He said 'Potassium is potassium'.

Is this a safe alternative to use in my planted tank? Thanks in advance!


Definitely not wasting time. Nope.

 

[Brookster123]

I dunno max, only ingredient on seachem is soluble potassium. Wait for a smerter pursen to come along?

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[RadMax8]

Yep, I dun checkt that muself. Where's aqua_chem these days?


Definitely not wasting time. Nope.

 

[libertybelle]

fluorish's product comes from K sulphate. So you can dose K separately from nitrates.

the K chloride wouldn't necessarily be bad (chlorine =/= chloride but I don't know that it would be a good idea in a planted freshwater tank because the chloride might make the tank too 'salty' depending on how much you're dosing.

Feel free to jump in and correct me if anyone knows better but it's definitely worth a raised eyebrow.

 

[Delapool]

Pretty sure I've just bought potassium sulphate dry ferts - I'll have to check.

Build up over time might be an issue? Tap water here is high in salt (although still drinkable) and I've had plants have trouble with one teaspoon per 5 gallon salt before (although that was testing with no attempt at acclimatising).

 

[RadMax8]

Ok, so I reckon I should just stick with the Seachem stuff then. Amazon, here I come.

Oh well, figured it was worth a shot. Didn't cost me anything, I traded for some plants that I'd had laying around for a long time.


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[Delapool]

Did it say the percentage of each? Might be interesting to compare it to seachem flourish - from memory that has chloride(?) in there,

 

[libertybelle]

Flourish probably does have chloride in small amounts as it is a nutrient that living organisms including plants need.

The potential problem is the amount. Perhaps it might be ok if you're only dosing a little (and increase slowly and then keep the dosing very steady) if you have hardy species that can adapt. But even so I worry that that wouldn't be possible because plants use K as a macro and chloride as a micro. Seems like you're bound to get build up.

Again, not an expert, but I probably wouldn't use it in my tank unless someone else had done the groundwork to show that it's fine in freshwater.

 

[RadMax8]

Did it say the percentage of each? Might be interesting to compare it to seachem flourish - from memory that has chloride(?) in there,

Can't remember off the top of my head. I'm just going to get rid of it and order some Flourish Potassium. Not worth the risk, imo.

Thanks everyone for the advice.


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