Can you overdose potassium

[jduong916]

BRS sent me the wrong item. I received some time release zeovit potassium iodide tablets. It says one tablet lasts 4 months in the sump. I've never dosed potassium and I keep all sps corals which seem to be doing fine. Would there be any harm in throwing the tablet in the sump and seeing what happens?

 

[hyprc]

Sure if you're willing to test for it . I wouldn't attempt otherwise... you can overdose.

 

[jduong916]

Nah not gonna test lol, just don't know how much potassium this tablet would add. They say normal range is 400 to 420 (don't know the units, ppm?), I know i can't be above that , most likely lower. If this tablet adds 30 to 50 i think there should be no harm in giving it a shot.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

potassium in NSW is at 398 mg/L. so yes you can over dose it if unchecked or not tested for.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Let's put it a different way.

If you overdosed potassium by 10% using potassium iodide (40 extra ppm potassium; not a substantial concern from a potassium perspective), the iodide level would jump by 217,000% (130 ppm extra iodide vs 0.06 ppm in NSW). That massive iodide jump is far, far more likely to be a problem.

So while I am not typically a fan of dissolve at will sorts of products, if this one is even close to appropriate, it is not going to overdose potassium.

 

[MIKE NY]

As mentioned Iodide would be my concern and it was for me. While trying to maintain my potassium level I was dosing potassium iodide which sent my iodide level higher than I wanted. I'm currently dosing both separately....

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As mentioned Iodide would be my concern and it was for me. While trying to maintain my potassium level I was dosing potassium iodide which sent my iodide level higher than I wanted. I'm currently dosing both separately....

Iodide too high, or potassium too high?

Potassium iodide is an inappropriate way to boost potassium.

 

[jduong916]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/korallen-zucht-potassium-iodide-fluoride-automatic-elements.html

This is what I was sent. If iodide is an issue I won't use it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/korallen-zucht-potassium-iodide-fluoride-automatic-elements.html

This is what I was sent. If iodide is an issue I won't use it.

It is not just potassium iodide, which is never a useful potassium supplement. I'm not really sure what exactly is in it, or what it purports to maintain (or if it would succeed in that effort), but I would not anticipate it is a problem at the doses they recommend.

 

[lbacha]

I use potassium sulphate in my freshwater tank to boost potassium I also dose potassium nitrate to my reef to boost nitrates

 

[jduong916]

Ill give it a shot, seems easy enough to pull out if i see some adverse affects.

 

[Earl Karl]

What are the effects of potassium overdose?

 

[Rick Cavanaugh]

lots of death

 

[JimWelsh]

lots of death

+1. Lots of SPS death, more specifically.

 

[jccaclimber]

Here is a different angle advocating extremely high potassium. If he isn't killing things, is it a rate of change rather than actual value that could be causing issues? Here is the thread, the relevant portion is 20 minutes in. Note that I haven't tried this yet:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/potassium-dosing-3-x-nsw-level.421933/