SeaChem Potassium vs. GLA's Mono Potassium Phosphate

[ProjectCode619]

SeaChem 250ml Potassium (http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...Potassium.html) vs. GLA's KH2PO4 (http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquari...phosphate.html)

Why do I even want to bother with dosing this? I would like my DHG, HC, Downoi, etc. to be REALLY green and healthy. Don't have any red plants. Using ADA NEW Amazonia, pressurized CO2, medium light and no other dosing.

Primary concern: Which is safer to dose in a shrimp tank containing (PFR, CRS/CBS (ranging from S grades to PRL), OEBT, etc.)?

Secondary concern: How exactly do I dose the KH2PO4? I have browsed around the last hour or so an haven't seen a solid answer. What I found most related is this: "For dosing KH2PO4 you need to mix 7.2 grams or 1.5 teaspoons or 0.50 tablespoons into 250 ml of water. Each ml of this solution will 0.53 ppm of PO4 in 10 gallons of water." How do I know how much ppm do I need exactly for my tank size to no over-dose, under-dose, just right, etc?

[Canuck]

Seachem Potassium is used to dose potassium (obviously), KH2PO4 is used primarily to dose phosphates. Reaching any suggested potassium level with KH2PO4 would result in a phosphate level well beyond what is necessary (at the very least).

Checking the sticky at the top of the forum will provide recommended dose levels.
this link(http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/sh...d.php?t=148187) provides a calculator to give results.

Calculating from your example...So if each ml of your solution results in .53 ppm of PO4 in 10 gallons of water and you want to dose a 50 gallon to .53 ppm you need 5 ml (5 doses of 10 gallons). If you want to dose a 10 gallon to 1 ppm you use 2 mls, etc.

Under-dose, over-dose, just right tends to be a matter of opinion.

[KH2PO4]

Originally Posted by ProjectCode619

SeaChem 250ml Potassium (http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...Potassium.html) vs. GLA's KH2PO4 (http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquari...phosphate.html)

Why do I even want to bother with dosing this? I would like my DHG, HC, Downoi, etc. to be REALLY green and healthy. Don't have any red plants. Using ADA NEW Amazonia, pressurized CO2, medium light and no other dosing.

Primary concern: Which is safer to dose in a shrimp tank containing (PFR, CRS/CBS (ranging from S grades to PRL), OEBT, etc.)?

Secondary concern: How exactly do I dose the KH2PO4? I have browsed around the last hour or so an haven't seen a solid answer. What I found most related is this: "For dosing KH2PO4 you need to mix 7.2 grams or 1.5 teaspoons or 0.50 tablespoons into 250 ml of water. Each ml of this solution will 0.53 ppm of PO4 in 10 gallons of water." How do I know how much ppm do I need exactly for my tank size to no over-dose, under-dose, just right, etc?

A generic way is to open the Activity Monitor app and make sure there
is no Page Outs and no Free Memory. Then you can assume that the
amount of memory is just right for your particular task....

Err...are you asking about the aquarium?
That's the million dollar question you know. Don't expect solid answer.
It's biotic.

[ProjectCode619]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the response. Perhaps I should refine my question then. I am only dosing KH2PO4 to bring up Potassium and Phosphate. The problem is, there is no data anywhere that says a certain PPM is the correct amount in a certain tank size.

With that being said, all I want is healthy green plants with one type of dry ferts. Since its going to be in a shrimp tank I want to keep ferts to a minimal.

So is it safe to assume 0.5ppm being my goal for potassium just about do it for a 20 gallon planted shrimp tank in order to keep plants and shrimps happy at the same time?

Only planning to dose once every 2 weeks.

[Darkblade48]

Originally Posted by ProjectCode619

With that being said, all I want is healthy green plants with one type of dry ferts. Since its going to be in a shrimp tank I want to keep ferts to a minimal.

This is impossible; no single chemical contains potassium, nitrate and phosphates in one.

The minimal requirement is usually potassium nitrate and potassium phosphate.

Originally Posted by ProjectCode619

So is it safe to assume 0.5ppm being my goal for potassium just about do it for a 20 gallon planted shrimp tank in order to keep plants and shrimps happy at the same time?

0.5 ppm of potassium is probably insufficient; but the more important question is how are you even measuring the potassium in the first place?

You can use EI dosing and your shrimp will be fine...

Originally Posted by ProjectCode619

Only planning to dose once every 2 weeks.

This will probably not result in happy plants, and rather, algae.

[giuliano]

Hi Guys,

If you would like to know more about the technical part of monopotassium phosphate you can visit here:http://www.haifa-group.com/products/...cal_grade.aspx

[AngryAnkylosaur]

DarkBlade is right when he says you can't dose 1 fert and expect it to supply all the needs of your plants. They simply need more nutrients than that to be healthy.

That being said if you are comparing Seachem Potassium to dry dosing you should be using K2SO4(Potassium Sulfate). This used to be part of the EI method before he switched to recommending GH booster instead. The GH booster is something like 40% potassium sulfate and this combined with the amounts of potassium in the other ferts make up the total potassium you should be dosing. I have very hard water so I don't dose GH booster and dose K2SO4 to make up for the lost potassium. I can't speak for how well the 2 products compare in terms of plant uptake or effect on inverts but I would suspect the dry ferts would be better in both areas if I had to guess. Beyond this the dry ferts will be cheaper. 1lb is $3+shipping and will last you quite a lot longer than the liquid.

[ProjectCode619]

Anyone?