K+ (potassium)

bobfish4black · 05/28/2016, 09:24 AM

First I would Like to know how to make up a solution for dosing Potassium Hydroxide, how much Potassium to how much RODI water, to make a stock solution?

Second is there a calculator to know how much of stock solution to dose to a given amount of tank volume, to raise K+ value say from 350 to 380, how much stock mixture to add?

I have asked this same question on Zeovit forum with out an answer.

bertoni · 05/28/2016, 04:15 PM

Do you have access to potassium chloride? Potassium hydroxide is going to be very low in pH and will add a fair amount of alkalinity. Potassium hydroxide can be dosed similarly to Kalk. The atomic weights are close enough to identical.

bertoni · 05/28/2016, 04:16 PM

Oops, here's a link to a useful chemistry calculator:

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Just use the Kalk entry, and note all the warnings. You can make a much more concentrated solution if you want, although it's going to be rather caustic, and I'd be very careful with it. That would reduce the volume that you need to dose, but I'd still dose very slowly. Mixing to the concentration of Kalk seems like a reasonable idea to me.

bobfish4black · 05/28/2016, 07:21 PM

Well i was hoping for something a little more taylor made for potassium, running Zeovit

bertoni · 05/28/2016, 07:59 PM

Potassium chloride would be a lot more convenient for regular dosing.

cougareyes · 05/29/2016, 09:09 AM

Is there any feedback from people that test and dose K that have seen definitive positive results. I used to test and and dose, usually tanks only needed a small amount; water changes with the salt I use must have kept up, I use the hw from brs. I have red and orange acans, red modern brain, a pink goni, red mushrooms, orange ricordias, and orange and red zoas and palys. I know K is suppose to enhance and maintain these colors. I never saw any difference and have since stopped, colors are still as vibrant as they ever were. I was not able to tell any benefit and the test was a pita.

bobfish4black · 05/29/2016, 09:22 AM

When i test for K+ it is regularly am low on K+, not by a lot, read about 360 to 370 but i would like to stay up around 390, supposed to help with bluing in SPS Corals. I do water changes weekly.

tmz · 05/29/2016, 11:08 AM

If your goal is to dose K , I'd certainly use potassium chloride vs potassium hydroxide. The later carries issues with alk .

I get plenty of K without dosing . Just food and salt mix cover it. What test kit are you using?

bobfish4black · 05/29/2016, 07:28 PM

Selfert

bobfish4black · 05/29/2016, 08:03 PM

Sorry i meant to say Potassium Chloride not Potassium Hydroxide!

I have Potassium Chloride.

tmz · 05/30/2016, 12:02 PM

I like the Salifert test too.

bertoni · 05/31/2016, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobfish4black

Sorry i meant to say Potassium Chloride not Potassium Hydroxide!

Okay, that makes sense. You can use the dosing instruction for calcium chloride, and they'll be more than close enough for our purposes. You could start with the instructions for the calcium supplement of the DIY 2-part as a starting point, and see how much more dissolves, if you want the solution to be more concentrated.

bobfish4black · 06/01/2016, 08:52 AM

Is there anywhere a calculator that would say how much is required to reach a certain level.

bertoni · 06/01/2016, 02:30 PM

If you mix it to the formula for the DIY calcium solution of the 2-part, the calculator entries for the calcium should be close. To be more accurate, you will need a reasonably precise scale. What do you have for measuring equipment?

bobfish4black · 06/01/2016, 03:38 PM

kitchen food scale, found to be good.

bertoni · 06/01/2016, 04:48 PM

Okay, I would go by weight. You could start with 430 grams of the potassium chloride and enough water to make 1/2 gallon, if you want to try to make a more concentrated solution. That'd be roughly twice as concentrated as the calcium solution, so you could use calculator but divide the volume by two. If 430 grams doesn't dissolve, I'd try adding 1/4 of a gallon at a time until it does. Potassium chloride should be very soluble, though. I suspect you can make an even stronger solution if you wish.

05/28/2016, 09:24 AM	#1
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	K+ (potassium) First I would Like to know how to make up a solution for dosing Potassium Hydroxide, how much Potassium to how much RODI water, to make a stock solution? Second is there a calculator to know how much of stock solution to dose to a given amount of tank volume, to raise K+ value say from 350 to 380, how much stock mixture to add? I have asked this same question on Zeovit forum with out an answer. __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

05/28/2016, 04:15 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Do you have access to potassium chloride? Potassium hydroxide is going to be very low in pH and will add a fair amount of alkalinity. Potassium hydroxide can be dosed similarly to Kalk. The atomic weights are close enough to identical. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

05/28/2016, 04:16 PM	#3
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Oops, here's a link to a useful chemistry calculator: http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html Just use the Kalk entry, and note all the warnings. You can make a much more concentrated solution if you want, although it's going to be rather caustic, and I'd be very careful with it. That would reduce the volume that you need to dose, but I'd still dose very slowly. Mixing to the concentration of Kalk seems like a reasonable idea to me. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

05/28/2016, 07:21 PM	#4
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	Well i was hoping for something a little more taylor made for potassium, running Zeovit __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

05/28/2016, 07:59 PM	#5
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Potassium chloride would be a lot more convenient for regular dosing. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

05/29/2016, 09:09 AM	#6
cougareyes Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 713	Is there any feedback from people that test and dose K that have seen definitive positive results. I used to test and and dose, usually tanks only needed a small amount; water changes with the salt I use must have kept up, I use the hw from brs. I have red and orange acans, red modern brain, a pink goni, red mushrooms, orange ricordias, and orange and red zoas and palys. I know K is suppose to enhance and maintain these colors. I never saw any difference and have since stopped, colors are still as vibrant as they ever were. I was not able to tell any benefit and the test was a pita.

05/29/2016, 09:22 AM	#7
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	When i test for K+ it is regularly am low on K+, not by a lot, read about 360 to 370 but i would like to stay up around 390, supposed to help with bluing in SPS Corals. I do water changes weekly. __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

05/29/2016, 11:08 AM	#8
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	If your goal is to dose K , I'd certainly use potassium chloride vs potassium hydroxide. The later carries issues with alk . I get plenty of K without dosing . Just food and salt mix cover it. What test kit are you using? __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

05/29/2016, 07:28 PM	#9
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	Selfert __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

05/29/2016, 08:03 PM	#10
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	Potassium Sorry i meant to say Potassium Chloride not Potassium Hydroxide! I have Potassium Chloride. __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

05/30/2016, 12:02 PM	#11
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	I like the Salifert test too. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

06/01/2016, 08:52 AM	#13
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	Is there anywhere a calculator that would say how much is required to reach a certain level. __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

06/01/2016, 02:30 PM	#14
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	If you mix it to the formula for the DIY calcium solution of the 2-part, the calculator entries for the calcium should be close. To be more accurate, you will need a reasonably precise scale. What do you have for measuring equipment? __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

06/01/2016, 03:38 PM	#15
bobfish4black Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: BC Canada Posts: 198	kitchen food scale, found to be good. __________________ 187 custom reef tank, Running ZeoVit, Apex New Gen, Jebao DCS 12000 return, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer, Mazzi venturi and mag 18, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre Current Tank Info: 187 Gallon reef tank, ZeoVit with Vibe, Apex classic, Jebao DCS 12000 return pump, custom180 Euro-reef skimmer with Mazzi venturi and mag 18pump, Lighting-2 60" XHO blue reefbrites , with 8x60" T-5, 3 Maxspect Gyre XF150

06/01/2016, 04:48 PM	#16
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	Okay, I would go by weight. You could start with 430 grams of the potassium chloride and enough water to make 1/2 gallon, if you want to try to make a more concentrated solution. That'd be roughly twice as concentrated as the calcium solution, so you could use calculator but divide the volume by two. If 430 grams doesn't dissolve, I'd try adding 1/4 of a gallon at a time until it does. Potassium chloride should be very soluble, though. I suspect you can make an even stronger solution if you wish. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni