Potassium - Who cares?
 

Keep hearing grumblings about potassium levels and we should test it.

If you have a reef with corals, tick a box below. Comment too, if you're in the mood!

Or a circle above. Whatever :)

Our LPS system barely consumes any potassium.

Our SPS system consumes 1L every 3 weeks of a fully saturated potassium chloride mix.

It's very important IMO.

I tested once or twice but always been good, I would bet that part c of tropic marin balling is the reason why

I guess for me, I've never cared, wouldn't know what it should be and never felt my tank was lacking anything. I'll continue not caring :)

Your total disregard really does work well though

I like it, gives me time for other things :)

LPS system - don't care. SPS system - test and dose regularly.

It's similar to Magnesium in that it doesn't usually need to be dosed daily if you're doing weekly waterchanges. If you add a bit extra to the waterchange water then it rides ok for the week. I noticed a big difference in blues/purples when I started dosing in my old SPS system.

Yep. I dose and check once or twice a month. Since there are enough research done by the experts sometimes you have to trust them. I've dosed and I like the colours I had when I dosed. To be its like taking vitamins, you don't see the immediate effects but it pays off in the long run. With that being said, just cause I do doesn't mean you have to or need to as each tank is different. If you like the results continue to do so. If not, stop and save your money.

Didn't pick an answer because I don't know the answer, never tested but wondering if I should.

When I looked into it years ago, the K test was based on turbidity and hard to read.

Is there an accurate and easy-to-use potassium test available nowadays?

yes dosing part c from tropic marin seems to keep my tank balanced quite nicely

I Like Salifert it seems to be pretty good and its based on colour change not turbidity

The problem is Salifert stopped making the Potassium test kit.

The last time our Salifert supplier was able to get it was March 2014. :cry:

Never thought about it until I used Zeovit balance K. I started seeeing better coloration and more grow on SPS. So I am planing on purchasing a test kit now.

I have been using Kent Trace Elements which has K in it, as well as a bunch of other stuff. Not sure if it helps, but since I just use IO for salt, thought a few extra elements supplements can't hurt. And it's cheap. My SPS growth and color has been good.

I always had way too much trouble with the turbidity style test kits - found it incredibly challenging to get an objective reading. I kind of gave up on testing for it.

do you need to test if you're dosing zeovit PIF? I would assume so since it's still a form of potassium.

hard to say but possibly not , alot of foods are high in potassium as well some salts are to :)

I only dose for cal/alk, anything else is replaced by twice monthly water changes, tho all my sps an lps are small colonies or frags. If my reef was full of large corals then I could maybe see the need to dose more elements, still a 25% water change with good a good salt mix should replace most minor elements IMO.

I test a couple times/year just to know what's going on

I'll be testing it a few times in the near future as I'll be switching from 10% weekly WCs to 25% bi-weekly

+1.

I don't think I have ever even tested potassium. I suspect my water changes keep K in check.

Depends which salt you're using.

I rotate between h2Ocean and reed crystals. I hope I'm using the right salts :lol:

No, you're screwed. :p I haven't tested RC (haven't used RC in over a decade). H2O is low - around 300 ppm IIRC. I add 4 tsp Brightwell Potassion to 15 gallons of H2Ocean and this keeps it up in my tank doing 10% weekly or bi-weekly waterchanges. Give it a shot Kien! You will only see a difference if it is and has been low for awhile (obviously).

Ditto to this statement. :smile:

Well now you've got me thinking about potassium.. And here I was sitting in blissful ignorance. Thanks Mindy! Or should I be thanking Brad?? It's a conspiracy!

I care when I have time. I haven't had time to care lately. I used to dose potassium religiously and my tank looked fabulous. Then I stopped for some reason, my tank still looked fabulous. Then my tank didn't look fabulous. Not sure if it was potassium related or phosphate related. One of those P ones.

:lol: Doooo it! It's not like it's expensive or difficult.

All I can find on the web tells me natural seawater is about 380ppm

A testing problem I have is the Elos turbidity kit has a small range between 300 and 400, so it's near impossible to tell what the results are, and this leads me to believe it's not worth dosing as maybe I'll add too much and upset my critters

I'm with Brad and others ... frequent WCs and ignore the K issue altogether

After all the input, I've decided I still don't care. Just looked in tank, it all looks fine. Think I'll just sit and watch it instead of mucking around with it.

Well, according to the poll the overwhelming majority of canreefers agree with you. That or they don't know what they're doing..

You can't do that ... you still have to go tweak your Ca reactor, and move some SPS around, and tweak the skimmer too

Don't forget the lights. They're probably due for a tweak or two as well, for good measure.

Nope. Sitting on couch, just watching. Need to fill the reactor around August. SPS are mounted to rock. Skimmer is skimming happily. Nothing to do but enjoy.

Atta boy

Now if I could only adopt your methods ...

I think you have enough mucking experience to know what's best :mrgreen:

Really, it's my secret to success. It's a piece of art to sit across from and view. Not a toy, not a video game, not a chemistry set. Just a living canvas that I like to leave to it's own devices. I do maintenance biweekly. Only daily chore is wipe the glass. And watch..:razz:

Ooo, I can almost top that
I clean my glass once a week (whether it needs it or not, but mostly needed), along with my skimmer cup, and am gearing up for bi-weekly WCs
Once I switch to bi-weekly WCs, I'll raise your daily glass cleaning with my once/week scraping ...

Found this on JL website it's a cube u put in ur sump and slowly dissolves in 4 months time to release potassium and iodine into ur tank. This would be perfect for lazy reefers like me if it works. Has any1 tried this?

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...t_ID=zv-gtpi05

It seems like a good idea but what if your corals consume very little potassium?

That means potassium would rise higher than needed and might give you a negative effect. No different than dosing blind without testing.