[lakshen99]

Im gonna be making my own macro mix with one of 3 types of potassium.
1: Potassium chloride in the form of muriate of potash. NPK 0-0-60
2: Food grade potassium chloride
3: Potassium sulphate. NPK 0-0-51 + 18S
which is the best that I should use together with Monopotassium phosphate and potassium nitrate? will any of these react with each other to create precipitates?

 

[Mark Fisher]

1. The muriate of potash will typically be red-stained with iron oxide. That's not a problem, as that how it come out of the ground when it is mined, but it's not the form of iron your plants can use. Cheap and readily available. I have used it in the past, no issues.
2. Food grade potassium chloride may have anti-caking agents added. Never used it myself.
3. Potassium sulphate will add additional sulfur to your tank that you probably don't need.

The iron in the muriate of potassium can react with phosphate to form an insoluble precipitate when the pH is > 7, so you would want to mix and store them separately. Otherwise, these are all good to use.

 

[lakshen99]

oh wait so is this why my premixed macronutrient turns cloudy? it has muriate of potash, nano3, and kh2po4 in it

 

[Mark Fisher]

Possibly. Does your potash have a rusty-red color? If so, it has iron oxide in it and can react with the phosphate to form insoluble iron phosphate.

 

[lakshen99]

Possibly. Does your potash have a rusty-red color? If so, it has iron oxide in it and can react with the phosphate to form insoluble iron phosphate.

yes my dry potash is in the form of muriate of potash so its reddish. When I mixed the premix with RO water, it turns cloudy, but if i mix it with regular tap water it doesnt turn cloudy. A quick google search shows that RO water is ph 7 whereas tap water can vary.

If I do mix my own ferts from dry powders, is it best to mix it with distilled water or RO water? or maybe even tap water but will the impurities in it be a problem?

 

[Mark Fisher]

Try adding a drop of vinegar to your RO water and see if you still get the cloudiness.

 

[lakshen99]

Try adding a drop of vinegar to your RO water and see if you still get the cloudiness.

will try
If I make separate solutions of potash and phosphate and dose it into the aquarium at the same time, will that be ok?

 

[Mark Fisher]

Should be okay.

 

[lakshen99]

What if I use potassium sulfate? will the sulfate react with any iron or other elements that are present in macro n micro ferts?

 

[Stan510]

I read P.glutamate like Iron glutamate is easily uptaken by aquarium plants. I found P.glutamate as pills at Walgreens. My Java ferns never looked better- in fact,I've never had Java ferns ever grow so well in all my pre Potassium years.

 

[lakshen99]

I read P.glutamate like Iron glutamate is easily uptaken by aquarium plants. I found P.glutamate as pills at Walgreens. My Java ferns never looked better- in fact,I've never had Java ferns ever grow so well in all my pre Potassium years.

Ok this looks a little too overcomplicated haha, I'll just stick to the more well known elements of ferts. Plus I dont think that is even available in my country.

 

[Stan510]

We are in the same country! Walgreens is everywhere. I thought my answer was the simplest and easiest of all. Like one pill per 50 gallons seems to work,once a week.With a small aquarium that bottle I have could last a few years.

 

[lakshen99]

I'm from Malaysia. As far as I know there is no walgreens here. I'm guessing you probably mistook the Malaysian flag as the American flag since its almost the same?
I'll keep a lookout for P. Glutamate

 

[Stan510]

lol..I sure did.
I would think any Malaysian pharmacy chain store would carry those pills..or even one of those "health" GNC type (American) chain stores that sell supplements.

 

[Savetheplants]

@Mark Fisher is impressively knowledgeable but I would just ride with the excess Sulfate. You can go pretty high with Sulfate according to Dr Tom Barr. He has citations for everything but I don't remember where he got this from. A lot if not most of us are using Potassium Sulfate. I use it alternating with lab grade Potassium Chloride on a supplimental basis. My other source of Potassium aside from KNO3 and KH2PO4 is 7 ppm K from 2 dKH Potassium Bicarbonate at 50% water change.

 

[Stan510]

It was a post on Barr's forum about using PG that got me to Walgreens. Now- I'm not saying that i've tried what other use,because I haven't. Its just after seeing how well and fast Iron glutamate worked for plants,it seemed reasonable to think P.glutimate would also work.
But,don't take this as last word..if you like the idea of other forms,fine. I do think though,that pharmacy pills in a big bottle would be a simple and inexpensive additive. FWIW.

 

[lakshen99]

What would the maximum sulfate levels in the aquarium without affecting fish, shrimp, and plants?

 

[MoreliaViridis]

What would the maximum sulfate levels in the aquarium without affecting fish, shrimp, and plants?

Usually it doesn't matter too much. Some tanks go up to 100ppm potassium using K2SO4 (which results in 41 ppm SO4) without harming livestock.

 

[Deanna]

It is Potassium GLUCONATE, not Potassium GLUTAMATE, but I wouldn't bother with it unless you want to do your own chemistry calculations or find the amount to dose through trial and error by dosing a quantity of water. It's much easier to pick one of the many Potassium options from the dosing calculator: RotalButterfly , so that you can easily dose whatever you want.

For the reasons mentioned above, I'd also avoid Muriate of Potash. Between the KH2PO4 and the KNO3, you are probably getting enough Potassium (use that calculator to make this determination). If you want a little more, just use the K2SO4. The extra Sulphate won't do any harm and is needed by the plants in macro-type doses.

 

[Stan510]

I STANd corrected.