is Potassium required for reef???? Help??

[Jason McK]

More and more the level of Potassium is becoming main streem. I belive within the next couple of years you will see more and more test kits on the market. With level in NSW being measured at or around the same levels as CA, it must play a role in the reef environment. Origonally the Zeovit system put a lot of stock into the level of Potassium and there fore Reefers Best Salt also was created with good levels of Potassium. Now also Deltec H2O salt clames higher levels of Potassium.
So the long and short of it is I think it plays a role. That role is yet to be determined and it might just be on the edge of becoming another important ellement of your water

J

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

From having messed around with it while on the ZEO system, I found color is much nicer once K+ is at the right levels. Once I finally got it within a good range, colors got mush better even though I had thought they were already good before. When I let the levels drop again, color went back to how it was. Many people on the ZEO forum seem to have found the same thing.

Im not sure what it effects for sure (not sure who does) but you may as well keep it at NSW levels. I still test for it once a month now. Its easy to keep levels high once you get them there.

I agree with Jason, it will become way more mainstream eventually.

[globaldesigns]

I have to agree with the others, never dose unless you can test. I do dose pottassium, but I use the Zeovit test kit. I find it hard to use but it does give me a baseline and I tend to dose less than more. Pottassium is said to improve colors of color especially in SPS

Be careful in dosing anything, never do unless you can test and know what to do with the results in regards to the dosing.

Happy Day to all!!!

[mandarin man]

I believe ELOS makes potassium test kit. I will get it today and test it out in my tank. Also, I have noticed that "Reef Pure" makes "Balanced ion Potassium suppment"; I am wondering is it OK to use or any one experience with this product?

Thanks

[sphelps]

Potassium is a key element but more so for SPS corals. Low potassium can lead to color fading, lower growth and even STN. All salts contain potassium but usually at around 300ppm, natural sea water is around 380ppm so usually dosing is a good idea if you plan on keeping any SPS corals, otherwise regular water changes should be sufficient.

Also I dose many things without being able to test for it, these include amino acids, PotassiumIodide Fluoride, Pohl's B-Balance, and other trace element supplements. I believe these additives play a huge role in my coral health and vitality and I know many others who claim the same. Sometimes testing isn't needed, you can dose lower amounts and observe how the livestock responds and go from there. Besides I think it would be foolish to put too much trust in any test kit, even quality test kits will often give false readings from time to time.

[BlueAbyss]

As was mentioned above, most people don't put too much stock in Potassium (though it's likely just as important an ion as calcium and magnesium), but it couldn't hurt to maintain it at NSW levels if you can test for it.

[mandarin man]

Thank you guys for helping me. I am new to this amazing hobby and I am trying to learn as much as I can.

I bought the KZ potassium test kit, tested the water and it is almost impossible to see the results without placing the test vial underneath the sun light or a very very bright light. It came out to be approximately 250mg/l to 275mg/l. Any one experiences with this test kit and have a better way of testing this? Am I doing it correctly by placing it under the sun?

I also bought reef pure potassium and started dosing it slowly. Let's see what happen

Thanks

[Myka]

I recently got the KZ kalium kit as well, and was a bit miffed by the way you test it. Kinda weird. I tested old water that I saved from my 33g before it transferred here, and then tested my 90g that i have here now. Both were around 240 or 250 ppm. I haven't figured out which product I'm going to use to supplement, but I'm excited to hopefully see some results. I'm interested to see if there will be any difference in my tank since it is 95% LPS.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by mandarin man

Thank you guys for helping me. I am new to this amazing hobby and I am trying to learn as much as I can.

I bought the KZ potassium test kit, tested the water and it is almost impossible to see the results without placing the test vial underneath the sun light or a very very bright light. It came out to be approximately 250mg/l to 275mg/l. Any one experiences with this test kit and have a better way of testing this? Am I doing it correctly by placing it under the sun?

I also bought reef pure potassium and started dosing it slowly. Let's see what happen

Thanks

I find placing it under the brightest light source possible is the way to go. I test in my bathroom, plenty of light in there It is a fairly frustrating test kit to read though.

Definitely dose slowly and keep an eye on your potassium levels. Once you see it hit 380 or so (as sphelps says, the higher the K+ the harder the kit is to read) level off and see how your tank does after a week of no dosing, then you can aim for a weekly dosing rate (or try whatever it says on the bottle, some are weekly dosing, some are daily).

I think once you get your dosing closer to NSW you'll find you'll get a bit better coloration out of your corals. I was running the full zeo system and quit cold turkey. Lately I have been working on my potassium levels back on track and things are coloring up nicely.