high potassium >470 salifert

[GSnake]

Hello,
I was almost certain I would be low on potassium, I didnt even think about being on the higher end - after not having done water changes for like 6+ months probably. I was surprised and even did the test 3 times with the same results getting light blue at the second / third drop of K-3 (salifert, if your familiar). which is >470 potassium. for reference I also checked my other newly setup tank and it came out perfect at 400 ppm (10 drops of K3).

What are potential sources of potassium?
im not dosing any directly (K solution). I feed frequently 4x small portions of flake through autofeeder and 1 frozen cube diy mix blend (mysis/brine/krill/clam) or extra pellets as a treat. I also dose phytoplankton, and either reef fuel (aminos), fauna marin Min S, or reef roids every few days (twice a week'ish).
I also have been dosing carbon for about a month and half now (diy nopox) and have a chaeto fuge ( both of which i thought would deplete my potassium). my cheato growth has slowed considerably too, not sure why.

is there a potassium remover ?

setting up to do water changes right now and will test the water as well ( seachem vibrant sea ), ( new tank uses kent marine salt )

 

[GSnake]

seachem vibrant sea

K​

• 500-550 mg/L

still its been likely a year without water changes.
isnt this high of potassium suppose to be bad for reef animals?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There’s no way to remove potassium except by water change.

Did you try the kit on some new salt water? It may just not be giving an accurate value.

Potassium never depleted in my tank, and depending on what sorts of foods you feed, there’s no reason to assume it will.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are you saying that’s the salt mix you use?

 

[Garf]

Hello,
I was almost certain I would be low on potassium, I didnt even think about being on the higher end - after not having done water changes for like 6+ months probably. I was surprised and even did the test 3 times with the same results getting light blue at the second / third drop of K-3 (salifert, if your familiar). which is >470 potassium. for reference I also checked my other newly setup tank and it came out perfect at 400 ppm (10 drops of K3).

What are potential sources of potassium?
im not dosing any directly (K solution). I feed frequently 4x small portions of flake through autofeeder and 1 frozen cube diy mix blend (mysis/brine/krill/clam) or extra pellets as a treat. I also dose phytoplankton, and either reef fuel (aminos), fauna marin Min S, or reef roids every few days (twice a week'ish).
I also have been dosing carbon for about a month and half now (diy nopox) and have a chaeto fuge ( both of which i thought would deplete my potassium). my cheato growth has slowed considerably too, not sure why.

is there a potassium remover ?

setting up to do water changes right now and will test the water as well ( seachem vibrant sea ), ( new tank uses kent marine salt )

I wasted money on a potassium kit too, never seems to change. And it’s a pain in the neck to carry out. I don’t think 470 is too high, there’s folks who have run lots higher.

 

[GSnake]

Are you saying that’s the salt mix you use?

ya vibrant sea seachem is the salt mx i used for the tank that tested off the charts, but its reported values are also off the charts- so less surprised now. yea i don't expect it to deplete with all the food i feed, but testing is the way to certainty. for now i did water changes with kent salt (400ppm K) to dilute it up. i read somewhere a while ago that too much potassium is worse for corals that too little, looking into that now.

I wasted money on a potassium kit too, never seems to change. And it’s a pain in the neck to carry out. I don’t think 470 is too high, there’s folks who have run lots higher.

I bought a potassium test kit cause I was curious about sps colors since I bought trace colors from redsea at one time ( dosed off calcium) just catching up to the adage 'dont dose anything without testing'

Since i switched to AFR powder, i will be ditching the red sea colors for traces and depending on info about high potassium I will be doing a series of water changes to reset K with kent salt

 

[GSnake]

now K tested at 450 after a 30% W/C using Kent salt instead