too much sulfur w/KSO4??

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fishfrenze

Flower Girl @}---'---
Jul 29, 2003
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Hello,
I've been looking everywhere for KNO3 (saltpeter) to no avail. Most people don't even know what it is! What about adding potassium sulfate? My nitrates are actually pretty good...about 5-6 ppm so I was really looking to add KNO3 for the potassium, which runs low (about 5 ppm). But if I use potassium sulfate, will I be adding too much sulfur? How much is too much sulfur?

Thanks!
Melanie

P.S. I've been looking for stump remover as a source for KNO3, but can't find one that provides the exact ingredients, so I'm leary.
 
Melanie,
We have the lamest Home Depot here, and I have not been able to find Spectracide Stump Remover. I should say that they may not have it, no one has a clue where anything is. Instead, I finally broke down and went to Light Manufacturing and mail ordered the stuff. They're a hydroponics supply place, and have every fertilizer and additive you'll ever want.

However, KCl is what you want for K. Nu-Salt NaCl substitute will give you that.
 
one other question...
looking at Chuck's Planted aquarium pages: for dosing of potassium chloride in my 72 gallon tank, I'd have to add 260 grams (or about 1/2 pound!) to 1000 mL in order to get a solution which each mL added will raise the K level by 0.5 ppm. That seems like alot! Will I even be able to dissolve that much in one L of water or would I make the solution weaker? With this solution, in order to achieve the ideal amount of K, I'd have to do 3 dosings of 10 mL each per week. Does this seem correct? I question this b/c I just read the sticky for dosing fertilizers and someone said they use like 1.5 grams of the KCl per month for their tank...so 260 grams seems like alot. Granted that solution would last for like 8 months, but that's still over 30 grams/month!
 
Hello Melanie,

Though I am very new to all of this plant stuff, I have been doing lots of reading both here, through books, and other online resources. KCl will be fine according to the folks here. It is actually recommended in the fertilizers sticky. I couldn't find any K2SO4 locally but Walmart had everything else...Fleet Enema for phosphates if they aren't sufficient out of the tap, No-Salt (KCl) for potassium which eliminates the need for K2SO4, Spectracide Stump Remover (KNO3) for both potassium and nitrates, and Epsom Salt (MgSO4) for magnesium. I couldn't find a chelated trace mix locally so I bought Flourish from big als. It was much cheaper there...i think around 4 bucks for the 500ml bottle- easily 1/2 to a 1/3 the cost at the LFS. According to the bottle it should supply my 150 gallon for about 6 mo.

Have fun with it all- personally I can't wait to take my water samples and monitor all of the elements that will beneficially suppport my plants' life.

Good Luck - Jamie
 
Although some may try to tell you it's rocket science, it ain't.

Simple routines are oftne the best.

I add 4 things to my tank, if you have very low KH and/or GH you might need to add some to raise these.

But most folks add :

Light-pretty easy, hook to a timer.

CO2 - very easy if you use gas CO2, bi-weekly/weekly brew changes with DIY, every other day etc with Excel dosings.

Beyond this it becomes fairly easy.
By adding _dry_ teaspoon measurements you don't even need to worry about calculations of liquids.
Example:
For a 20 gal with high light + CO2 I add the following:

1/4 teaspoon of K2SO4 after water change
1/4 teaspoon of KNO3 3x a week
Rice grain or two's worth of KH2PO4 3x a week
5mls traces 3x a week

That's it. Nothing tough there.
Have a bigger tank?? Scale this up. Have less light?? Do 2x a week instead of 3x a week etc.

Don't like trimming often/alot? Use slower growers. etc

The Fleet enema drop is roughly = to a rice grain's worth for the PO4.

I'm not sure how much is too much SO4(it will not be elemental S) for fish or plants. A heck of alot FWIW. Cl also can be fairly high.
2500-1500ppm has low effects on Potamogeton species.

What brand of NO3 test kit do you have?

Regards
Tom Barr
 
Great info...I'll have to bookmark it!
Tom,
I don't have a NO3 test kit...I'm lucky enough to have access to a digital NO3 meter in my lab at school. I can't remember off hand what company makes it though. Same goes for the K testing...he has a meter to measure that too.
Melanie
 
If you do a weekly water change(30 - 50%) you don't have to worry about anything building up.
Spectracide Stump Remover can be found at most Lowe's if you don't find it at K-Mart.
Most people shoot of between 5 - 10 on the nitrates. If you're in that area there is no need to dose, but if after adding plants you find it diminishing you'll need to dose KNO3.
You'll go nuts trying to make a stock solution of K2SO4 or KCl.
As Tom says 1/4 tsp. per 20 gal. dry into a HOB filter or mix it up in a glass of tank water after your water change will do the trick.
Len
 
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