Potassium chloride (kcl)
 

Being that I work in the oilfield I have access to alto of chemicals

Can I use potassium chloride aka KCL to supplement K

I'd be concerned because it is used for an industrial purpose and probably in bulk that it isn't refined enough for aquarium use and have impurities in it. I work at a pulp mill and same as you I have access to many various chemicals but am concerned because it is bulk and designed for industrial use and may not be refined enough for safe aquarium use.

True. But I imagine the stuff at drugstore should be ok

We recently purchased some potassium chloride in bulk but it is lab grade.

You just need to get the chart to see how pure it actually is.

FYI: We are thinking about selling some by the kilo if you are interested.

How much is every living organism worth to you? And I don't just mean $$.
Why risk it all for a savings of peanuts??

The reason we bought in bulk was because we use a salt that is highly deficient in potassium and since we use so much salt in our store, the amount of 1L bottles of Fauna Marin K (potassium) we were using was ridiculous.

We also don't know the purity of the stuff we buy from these bottles so its best to source it yourself and know EXACTLY what you are getting.

Agreed. But there's a lot of dyi so why not ask. A lot of supplements are jacked up how many dollars just for a fancy label on a bottle

How about potassium chloride from water softener (home use)?

Ill check drug store as it should be pharmaceutical grade

From what I remember, they can still call it pharm grade if its 90% pure.

From what I read the remaing 10% is salts

Is that a yes or no? Bought it from Culligan water.

Shouldn't be an issue just double check the salt it could be high in some stuff and low in others but then again the dosage would be low enough not to have An adverse effect anyway it also says nothing about aquarium use but then again we in the hobby have a habit of using stuff not designed for aquarium use :twised:

i have been using calcium chloride ice melt since january with no adverse effects and at $40 for 50 lbs you cant beat the price. buying in bulk in this hobby leaves more money to buy frags and other gear.

3 years for me with same stuff.

Ive been using pottasium salt from a bag of water softer (says its pure and "healthy to drink") without problems. It is food grade at least, the bag states "pure pottasium Chloride". Bought it at Lowes

I'm holding a bottle of lab grade KCl in front of me that I just used to do a series of nitrate and ammonium extractions on a batch of soil samples for my masters. Since it's lab grade, it also lists it's impurities:

Iodide: 0.002%
Bromide: 0.01%
Chlorate and Nitrate (as NO3): 0.003%
Other Nitrogen compounds: 0.001%
Phosphate: 5ppm
Sulphate: 0.001%
Barium: 0.001%
Calcium, Magnesium and R2O3 precipitate: 0.005%
Heavy metals (as Pb): 5ppm
Iron: 3ppm
Sodium: 0.005%

I'm sure there are more pure forms of KCl available for higher level analytical chemistry, but that's what the University of Calgary considers to be 'Lab Grade'. I imagine the list of impurities for KCl that you can buy in the store or in bulk would either look similar, or be slightly to much worse. The chances that your'e going to get a KCl additive (or any kind of additive for that matter) that only adds KCl are pretty much zero. Not sure if any of those listed parameters would be enough to cause problems in a tank though, or which contaminants are likely to increase in concentration when you go with a lower grade salt.