Potassium Test Kit

[Nikki Casali]

Can anyone recommend an online website where I can obtain LaMotte's
Potassium Test Kit #3138? Forget the UK. I'm interested in outlets in
the US so that my brother in SF can possibly obtain it.

Nikki

[Richard Sexton]

In article >,
Nikki Casali > wrote:
>Can anyone recommend an online website where I can obtain LaMotte's
>Potassium Test Kit #3138? Forget the UK. I'm interested in outlets in
>the US so that my brother in SF can possibly obtain it.

ebay?

frankly it's easier to ass potassium nitrate and test for nitrates;
if you have any, you have potassium. in a tank with regualr water changes
and enough dosing of kno3 to keep plants green you'll neevr run out of
potassium

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[steve]

Richard Sexton wrote:

> frankly it's easier to add potassium nitrate and test for nitrates;
> if you have any, you have potassium. in a tank with regualr water
changes
> and enough dosing of kno3 to keep plants green you'll neevr run out
of
> potassium


This advice has caused me concern in the past, and seems contradictory
to the "accepted" NPK ratio. If KNO3 is roughly 50/50 Nitrate to
Potassium, how do we get a 1:2 ratio N to K without adding additional
K? Especially since we are adding additional N with fish food?

steve

[Richard Sexton]

In article . com>,
steve > wrote:
>
>Richard Sexton wrote:
>
>> frankly it's easier to add potassium nitrate and test for nitrates;
>> if you have any, you have potassium. in a tank with regualr water
>changes
>> and enough dosing of kno3 to keep plants green you'll neevr run out
>of
>> potassium
>
>
>This advice has caused me concern in the past, and seems contradictory
>to the "accepted" NPK ratio. If KNO3 is roughly 50/50 Nitrate to
>Potassium, how do we get a 1:2 ratio N to K without adding additional
>K? Especially since we are adding additional N with fish food?

(you're adding phosphate with food, not nitrate)

Accepted by who? If you're adding kno3 all the time your
plants will not be K-limited.

Potassium deficiency is pretty easy to spot:

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/nutrient-deficiency.html




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[Nikki Casali]

Richard Sexton wrote:

> In article >,
> Nikki Casali > wrote:
>
>>Can anyone recommend an online website where I can obtain LaMotte's
>>Potassium Test Kit #3138? Forget the UK. I'm interested in outlets in
>>the US so that my brother in SF can possibly obtain it.
>
>
> ebay?
>
> frankly it's easier to ass potassium nitrate and test for nitrates;
> if you have any, you have potassium. in a tank with regualr water changes
> and enough dosing of kno3 to keep plants green you'll neevr run out of
> potassium
>

I can't get NO3 to lower than about 8ppm on a very good day. I've never
added N directly to any of my tanks. On the other hand, PO4 seems to be
sucked away as if there's no tomorrow. I have to add PO4 every few days.
I'm not sure what's going on with K, but I do add K2O, haphazardly. I
need something to initially gauge what's going on with it so that I can
create a dosing regime.

What is the ratio of P to K uptake? That could possibly work if I take
into account that food has a certain amount of P.

Nikki

[steve]

Richard Sexton wrote:
> In article . com>,
> steve > wrote:
> >
> >Richard Sexton wrote:
> >
> >> frankly it's easier to add potassium nitrate and test for
nitrates;
> >> if you have any, you have potassium. in a tank with regualr water
> >changes
> >> and enough dosing of kno3 to keep plants green you'll neevr run
out
> >of
> >> potassium
> >
> >
> >This advice has caused me concern in the past, and seems
contradictory
> >to the "accepted" NPK ratio. If KNO3 is roughly 50/50 Nitrate to
> >Potassium, how do we get a 1:2 ratio N to K without adding
additional
> >K? Especially since we are adding additional N with fish food?
>

> (you're adding phosphate with food, not nitrate)


Nitrate levels will not rise in a tropical fish tank as a direct result
of feeding fish? This seems contradictory to common knowledge.

steve

[Richard Sexton]

>> (you're adding phosphate with food, not nitrate)
>
>
>Nitrate levels will not rise in a tropical fish tank as a direct result
>of feeding fish? This seems contradictory to common knowledge.

All fishfood contains phosphates. Fishfood does not contain nitrates;
fish eat the food (or it rots) which produces ammonia which under some
conditions yeilds nitrates.

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[Richard Sexton]

>I can't get NO3 to lower than about 8ppm on a very good day. I've never
>added N directly to any of my tanks. On the other hand, PO4 seems to be
>sucked away as if there's no tomorrow. I have to add PO4 every few days.
>I'm not sure what's going on with K, but I do add K2O, haphazardly. I
>need something to initially gauge what's going on with it so that I can
>create a dosing regime.

Sounds like it could be nitrate leeching from your gravel. Two big water
chnages will get rid of most of that. I aim for 20-30ppm NO3 so I'd
still ad kno3 in your case.

--
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1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[Nikki Casali]

Richard Sexton wrote:
>>I can't get NO3 to lower than about 8ppm on a very good day. I've never
>>added N directly to any of my tanks. On the other hand, PO4 seems to be
>>sucked away as if there's no tomorrow. I have to add PO4 every few days.
>>I'm not sure what's going on with K, but I do add K2O, haphazardly. I
>>need something to initially gauge what's going on with it so that I can
>>create a dosing regime.
>
>
> Sounds like it could be nitrate leeching from your gravel. Two big water
> chnages will get rid of most of that. I aim for 20-30ppm NO3 so I'd
> still ad kno3 in your case.

Well, I began to think it was my NO3 test kit, but a different make of
test kit gives a similar reading. My tap water has 25ppm of NO3. RO
water still has half that amount. I think I'm going to check the test
kits against rain water to calibrate them if possible.

Just had an idea. I'll check against my dehumidifier water.

Nikki

[steve]

Richard Sexton wrote:
> >> (you're adding phosphate with food, not nitrate)
> >
> >
> >Nitrate levels will not rise in a tropical fish tank as a direct
result
> >of feeding fish? This seems contradictory to common knowledge.
>
> All fishfood contains phosphates. Fishfood does not contain nitrates;
> fish eat the food (or it rots) which produces ammonia which under
some
> conditions yeilds nitrates.

Is there a high probability that nitrate levels will increase in a fish
tank in direct proportion to increased fish food input after the plants
(if any are present) have consumed the maximum amount of ammonia they
are capable of processing?

What conditions must be present where adding any amount of fish food to
a fish tank would not cause an increase in nitrates? Are these
conditions probable in a common home aquarium?


steve

[Richard Sexton]

>Just had an idea. I'll check against my dehumidifier water.

Not relally a good idea, dust, which is mostly skin cells,
gets in there and goes through the nitrogen cycled and becomes
nitrate.

Distilled water from a store is your best bet.

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[Nikki Casali]

Richard Sexton wrote:

>>Just had an idea. I'll check against my dehumidifier water.
>
>
> Not relally a good idea, dust, which is mostly skin cells,
> gets in there and goes through the nitrogen cycled and becomes
> nitrate.
>
> Distilled water from a store is your best bet.

Damn, you're right. The dehumidified water contains absurd amounts.
Checked against two test kits: over 20ppm!!

Rain water gives 4.5ppm with my Hanna and <1ppm with Salifert.

Yes, I'll get some distilled.

Nikki

[Richard Sexton]

>Is there a high probability that nitrate levels will increase in a fish
>tank in direct proportion to increased fish food input after the plants
>(if any are present) have consumed the maximum amount of ammonia they
>are capable of processing?

Yes. Almost certainly.

>What conditions must be present where adding any amount of fish food to
>a fish tank would not cause an increase in nitrates? Are these
>conditions probable in a common home aquarium?

Lack of available oxygen will prevent the nitrification cycle
from converting ammonia to nitrate. It happens.


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1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

[Nikki Casali]

Richard Sexton wrote:
>>Just had an idea. I'll check against my dehumidifier water.
>
>
> Not relally a good idea, dust, which is mostly skin cells,
> gets in there and goes through the nitrogen cycled and becomes
> nitrate.
>
> Distilled water from a store is your best bet.
>

Well, I tried distilled water. Reads 9.3ppm with my Hanna test kit. Now,
I've been reading about NO3 test kits giving false positives for RO/DI
water. I dumped in some household salt into the DI water to be tested.
The same DI water plus salt gives 0ppm of NO3, and 9.3ppm without salt.
Interesing. My cheap Salifert doesn't seem to have this problem.

Nikki