Potassium chloride to raise potassium

[Miami Reef]

If I add 2g of potassium chloride into my 260 gallon tank, how many ppm will potassium increase?

I asked ChatGPT, and it said this.

“
Thank you for clarifying. Let's calculate the increase in potassium concentration when adding 2 grams of potassium chloride (KCl) to 984 liters:

The molar mass of potassium chloride (KCl) is approximately 74.55 g/mol.

Moles of potassium chloride:2g / 74.55 g/mol = approximately 0.0268 moles of KCl.

Volume of solution: 984 liters.

Calculating the ppm of potassium in the solution with potassium chloride: (0.0268 moles / 984 liters) * 10^6 = approximately 27,317.89 ppm.

Therefore, adding 2 grams of potassium chloride to 984 liters of solution will increase the potassium concentration by approximately 27,317.89 ppm.”


That can’t possibly be correct. Can someone tell me the correct answer?

 

[LiLinka]

Why not just use a potassium additive. I thought pottssium chloride was used for diping corals and killing flatworms and other pests. I’ve been told strictly not to add potassium chloride to a tank.

 

[Miami Reef]

Why are you adding potassium chloride into your tank!?! Potassium chloride is used as a coral dip! You’re going to end up killing your fish and inverts dosing that. You’re better off using an actual potassium dosing supplement.

I’m following this protocol:

 

[LiLinka]

I don’t know man. I edited my above response. But personally I’ve been in the hobby for over 10 years and have heard people nuke tanks dosing it. Only trying to help.

 

[gbroadbridge]

If I add 2g of potassium chloride into my 260 gallon tank, how many ppm will potassium increase?

I asked ChatGPT, and it said this.

“
Thank you for clarifying. Let's calculate the increase in potassium concentration when adding 2 grams of potassium chloride (KCl) to 984 liters:

The molar mass of potassium chloride (KCl) is approximately 74.55 g/mol.

Moles of potassium chloride:2g / 74.55 g/mol = approximately 0.0268 moles of KCl.

Volume of solution: 984 liters.

Calculating the ppm of potassium in the solution with potassium chloride: (0.0268 moles / 984 liters) * 10^6 = approximately 27,317.89 ppm.

Therefore, adding 2 grams of potassium chloride to 984 liters of solution will increase the potassium concentration by approximately 27,317.89 ppm.”


That can’t possibly be correct. Can someone tell me the correct answer?

There is no harm in using Potassium Chloride to maintain Potassium Levels, provided that it is of adequate purity.

Having said that, I use Technical grade without issues.

You can use this calculator.

Potassium supplement calculator

Calculator to work out the quantities of chemicals to increase potassium levels.

www.ultimatereef.net

2g would raise your tank by about 1ppm.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t know man. I edited my above response. But personally I’ve been in the hobby for over 10 years and have heard people nuke tanks dosing it. Only trying to help.

That could only be by making ridiculous mistakes like Chat GTP. Proper dosing is not any sort of risk.

Potassium chloride is the single best chemical for dosing potassium to not mess up ionic balance. A mixture with a little bit of potassium sulfate is better in that context, but not ever necessary for this purpose.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I add 2g of potassium chloride into my 260 gallon tank, how many ppm will potassium increase?

I asked ChatGPT, and it said this.

“
Thank you for clarifying. Let's calculate the increase in potassium concentration when adding 2 grams of potassium chloride (KCl) to 984 liters:

The molar mass of potassium chloride (KCl) is approximately 74.55 g/mol.

Moles of potassium chloride:2g / 74.55 g/mol = approximately 0.0268 moles of KCl.

Volume of solution: 984 liters.

Calculating the ppm of potassium in the solution with potassium chloride: (0.0268 moles / 984 liters) * 10^6 = approximately 27,317.89 ppm.

Therefore, adding 2 grams of potassium chloride to 984 liters of solution will increase the potassium concentration by approximately 27,317.89 ppm.”


That can’t possibly be correct. Can someone tell me the correct answer?

The math GTP uses is nonsense.

If you add 2 g = 2,000 mg of KCl to 984 L, you have added 2,000 mg/984 L = 2 ppm total KCl.

Since KCl is 52% K, the addition boosts K by .52 x 2 = 1.04 ppm

 

[KStatefan]

I think we are safe for awhile before ChatGPT takes over

I use LoudWolf food grade for level adjustments. I created a spreadsheet for all my DIY dosing so I know the math behind it.

 

[Miami Reef]

The math GTP uses is nonsense.

If you add 2 g = 2,000 mg of KCl to 984 L, you have added 2,000 mg/984 L = 2 ppm total KCl.

Since KCl is 52% K, the addition boosts K by .52 x 2 = 1.04 ppm

Thank you so much for the math. I really appreciate it!

I can’t find nowfoods/iherb.

Is this an OK product? Nutricost Potassium Chloride Powder 1kg - Gluten Free, Non-GMO https://a.co/d/e2V8ZEN

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, that looks like a good choice. Here’s the now foods option:

https://www.nowfoods.com/products/supplements/potassium-chloride-powder?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlqLxqZzrgAMVkg9lCh3ddA7BEAQYASABEgIQwvD_BwE

 

[Miami Reef]

The math GTP uses is nonsense.

If you add 2 g = 2,000 mg of KCl to 984 L, you have added 2,000 mg/984 L = 2 ppm total KCl.

Since KCl is 52% K, the addition boosts K by .52 x 2 = 1.04 ppm

Hi Randy!

I think finally understand how to do this type of math. All because of you!

Let’s say I want 20ppm of potassium (from potassium chloride) in my 984L tank.

First, we divide 20ppm by the percent of potassium in potassium chloride (0.52). Then multiply that result by volume (in L) of tank.

20/.52= 38.46 x 37,846mg KCl or 37.8g KCl

We can even do the math backwards to double check ourselves.

37.8g of KCl = 37,800mg of KCl

37,800mg/984L = 38.4ppm total KCl (mg/L = ppm (roughly))

38.4ppm of potassium chloride. 52% of KCl is K.

38.4ppm x 0.52 = 20ppm of K.

Math was, and will never be my strong suit. I’m just glad I finally understood this.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good to me. Glad it’s all clicking now.

 

[formallydehyde]

For future reference, ChatGPT is built for language modeling and it's meant to say things that *sound* correct based on what it's seen before but it does not know how to really problem solve or fact check anything it says.

I asked it to come up with references to a research article I was writing because I was curious if it would find papers I hadn't stumbled across. It came back with a nicely formatted bibliography composed of completely fictional academic articles, complete with links, which just led to real research articles that were completely unrelated but were probably in its training set. It just generated what it "thought" a bibliography should look like rather than actually making a real one.

This is the program that's being used to generate thousands of pet care articles as we speak by the way.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

New question from another thread;


How many g/L to make same concentration as captiv8 bottle?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

New question from another thread;


How many g/L to make same concentration as captiv8 bottle?

That product is 100,000 ppm potassium.

KCl is 52.3% potassium

Combining 1.91 g KCl (1 g K) with 8.1 g water gives 100,000 mg/kg = ppm K.