# Gh booster 60 ppm K



## mrtank50 (27 Apr 2022)

Hello to everyone.
I use seachem equilibrium gh as a booster.

There are two issues that bother me about this. I will be glad if you help.


I am completing gh 5 using 1-seachem equilibrium. But when completed to gh 5 it adds 60 ppm of potassium. Is that 60 ppm potassium a high amount? Will it do any harm?
As far as I know, does it have an antoginism effect with high potassium ca-mg-Bor and prevent its intake?

2-After putting the osmosis water into the aquarium during the water change, I should add a mi gh increaser.
Or should I set the gh to 5 in an external osmosis water tank and add it to the aquarium?


----------



## Hanuman (27 Apr 2022)

What about using CaSO4 and MgSO4? You probably are already adding K from your fertilizer.
It's advisable to remineralize the water prior adding it to the tank. This said I add directly CaSo4 in the tank because I really don't have space to store large amounts of water.
If you were to also add some dKH in that case premixing the water is probably a must.


----------



## MichaelJ (28 Apr 2022)

mrtank50 said:


> Hello to everyone.
> I use seachem equilibrium gh as a booster.
> 
> There are two issues that bother me about this. I will be glad if you help.
> ...



What @Hanuman says.   If you already took the plunge into remineralization with dry salts you might as well gain full control and do it cheaper than using Equilibrium.  The Ca and Mg parts of Equilibrium is  all Calcium Sulphate (CaSO4), and Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4).  Thats the only compounds you need to remineralize for GH - the K, Fe and Mn that Equilibrium also adds,  you will (or should) get from your fertilizer regime.

 If you're changing 60L you  need  to add ~6.4g of CaSO4 and ~4.5g of MgSO4 to reach ~5 GH with about the same Ca:Mg ratio as Equilibrium.  Just add it to the RO water and stir it up before adding it to the tank - it may be a bit hard to dissolve  in the container, but will eventually dissolve in the tank.

 The high potassium in isolation  won’t necessarily  hurt as such, it’s just grossly unnecessary and just adds to your tanks TDS which in turn is not exactly beneficial for your livestock.  In the past I’ve had my tanks at 80-100 ppm of potassium coming from my tap water due to the use of Potassium Chloride In our household water softener. It never caused any issues for my easy plants, but I didn’t like it due to the TDS increase, so I switched to 100% RO water.

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## Hanuman (28 Apr 2022)

MichaelJ said:


> If you're changing 60L you need to add ~6.4g of CaSO4 and ~4.5g of MgSO4 to reach ~5 GH with about the same Ca:Mg ratio as Equilibrium


That seems correct (see Dry Dosing column)


----------



## mrtank50 (28 Apr 2022)

Thank you very much guys. As usual, your rushed to help.

I will do what you say.

But there is a situation. I don't have calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate on hand. I have calcium chloride and magnesium chloride on hand.
Will it harm the plants if I use them?

When I used Seachem Equbilirum, it gave 60 ppm potassium. And I was giving 8 ppm potassium 3 times a week. This translates to a total of 24 ppm of potassium per week.

Seachem Balance = 60 ppm k

Fertilizer dose = 24 ppm

The total dose of k is 84 ppm. I think that's a high dose.


----------



## Hanuman (28 Apr 2022)

mrtank50 said:


> But there is a situation. I don't have calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate on hand. I have calcium chloride and magnesium chloride on hand.
> Will it harm the plants if I use them?


It's adding quite a bit of chloride. I am not qualified to answer on whether it will harm the plants or not at those levels so better let the experts answer on this. Below is the dosing in case you need it.


----------



## mrtank50 (28 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> That seems correct (see Dry Dosing column)


Thanks for your help my friend Hanuman. I am using the IFC calculator. It is a very nice and useful program.

But my version doesn't have this gh calculation plugin. When will you activate?

We are looking forward.


----------



## Hanuman (28 Apr 2022)

The remineralizer calculator is currently being built. So it won't be available immediately but soon. You can always use the TargetCalculator and play with calcium and magnesium ppm until you reach a specific ratio. As a rule of thumb, equal amounts (in weight) of CaSo4 and MgSo4 equates to ~ a 3:1 Ca:Mg ratio.


----------



## Aleman (28 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> The remineralizer calculator is currently being built. So it won't be available immediately but soon.



Sounds like it would be an ideal opportunity to add dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K2HPO4) to the target and DIY calculators :whistle:

I can't wait for the remineraliser Tab TBH as it will help me hit my KH target.


----------



## Hanuman (28 Apr 2022)

Aleman said:


> Sounds like it would be an ideal opportunity to add dipotassium hydrogen phosphate (K2HPO4) to the target and DIY calculators :whistle:


Already added. And since we were at it we also added Tripotassium Phosphate (K3PO4)


----------



## MichaelJ (28 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> That seems correct (see Dry Dosing column)
> View attachment 187556



Hi @Hanuman (looping in @Zeus.).  While technically correct (I suppose), I am wondering about the SO4 column in the MACRO SIDE PPM RESULT PANE. I think it would be more useful to have the total S (Sulphate) broken down instead of (or in addition to) the SO4 column - which in the above case with CaSO4 and MgSO4 would be (19.14 + 9.46) = 28.6 ppm of S.  Just a suggestion!

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## ElleDee (28 Apr 2022)

You mention that you have calcium and magnesium chloride on hand. I use calcium chloride and epsom salt (MgSO4.7H20, which I got at the grocery store for super cheap) and have never had an issue with the chloride. You do have to be careful not to combine the two in a concentrated solution or there will be some precipitation, but calcium chloride dissolves like a dream compared to calcium sulfate. (I have no experience with magnesium chloride.)


----------



## Zeus. (28 Apr 2022)

MichaelJ said:


> I think it would be more useful to have the total S (Sulphate) broken down instead of (or in addition to) the SO4 column - which in the above case with CaSO4 and MgSO4 would be (19.14 + 9.46) = 28.6 ppm of S. Just a suggestion!


Its was decided that seeing that most water company reports quote Sulphate (SO4) we would just show SO4 as we was trying to not show too much data as we didn't want folk to be put off. For the more science tech savvy folk the conversion is easy.
In the back end we have both


----------



## Hanuman (29 Apr 2022)

MichaelJ said:


> Hi @Hanuman (looping in @Zeus.).  While technically correct (I suppose), I am wondering about the SO4 column in the MACRO SIDE PPM RESULT PANE. I think it would be more useful to have the total S (Sulphate) broken down instead of (or in addition to) the SO4 column - which in the above case with CaSO4 and MgSO4 would be (19.14 + 9.46) = 28.6 ppm of S.  Just a suggestion!
> 
> Cheers,
> Michael


Thanks for the suggestion.
Yes it is correct. Doesn't mean we can't make errors though, and we have made a few in the past.
Can you elaborate on why it would be more useful so see S? By the way S is Sulfure not Sulfate. SO4 is Sulfate. In my experience most people refer to Sulfate and not really Sulfur but I could be wrong. At the end of the day it does't really matter because you are technically under the constrain of which compound you add and whether it is S or SO4 that is shown you can't do much about it.


----------



## MichaelJ (29 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> Thanks for the suggestion.
> Yes it is correct. Doesn't mean we can't make errors though, and we have made a few in the past.
> Can you elaborate on why it would be more useful so see S? By the way S is Sulfure not Sulfate. SO4 is Sulfate. In my experience most people refer to Sulfate and not really Sulfur but I could be wrong. At the end of the day it does't really matter because you are technically under the constrain of which compound you add and whether it is S or SO4 that is shown you can't do much about it.


Yes, S is Sulfur in English (or Sulphur if you want to go British English) ... I think _Sulfure_ is French... SO4 is Sulphate, of course... Thanks for catching my error  In any event, One point is to make it comparable to the S you get in the rotalabutterfly (its nice to see the same numbers... makes transitioning to IFC easier... I guess, but no problem - most can divide by 3... if they know that is the ratio to apply, that is) - also the _S part_ of SO4 is what shows up as TDS - I know it don't quite translate 100% due to the difference in ionic conductivity, but it's much more pertinent than the full SO4 ppm (I think?!)   Anyway, Great job on the Calculator!

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## Hanuman (29 Apr 2022)

MichaelJ said:


> I think _Sulfure_ is French.


Correct. I'm French, at least 50%.


MichaelJ said:


> One point is to make it comparable to the S you get in the rotalabutterfly (its nice to see the same numbers... makes transitioning to IFC easier


Trust issues? 🤪 - Joking. This said, we did help correct 1 or 2 bugs in the Rotalla Butterfly if memory serves me well 😉, so that's that. Fablau which is the engineer behind Rotalla also gave us some input during the creation of the IFC calculator.


MichaelJ said:


> also the _S part_ of SO4 is what shows up as TDS - I know it don't quite translate 100% due to the difference in ionic conductivity, but it's much more pertinent than the full SO4 ppm (I think?!)


Problem is you have no idea of what the TDS is composed of so it makes it pretty irrelevant.


MichaelJ said:


> Anyway, Great job on the Calculator!


Thank you. The new ReminCalculator is mostly done.


----------



## MichaelJ (29 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> Correct. I'm French, at least 50%.


Je vois, je ne savais pas.


Hanuman said:


> Trust issues? 🤪 - Joking.


Not at all! 


Hanuman said:


> This said, we did help correct 1 or 2 bugs in the Rotalla Butterfly if memory serves me well 😉, so that's that. Fablau which is the engineer behind Rotalla also gave us some input during the creation of the IFC calculator.
> Problem is you have no idea of what the TDS is composed of so it makes it pretty irrelevant.


Nah, I am not letting that one slip through    Knowing what a compound of choice is doing to your TDS is indeed pretty relevant if you're concerned about certain delicate livestock and wish to optimize things a bit.  I have been chasing low TDS for a while, while keeping pretty high fertilizer levels, and been trying a lot of different compounds for NPK, Ca and Mg... I know TDS is not the whole story, but knowing what a compound approximately is doing to your TDS is generally a good thing... that said, for most practical hobbyist purposes I don't think we disagree...and information over-load as @Zeus. pointed out is generally a bad thing.


Hanuman said:


> Thank you. The new ReminCalculator is mostly done.


Your welcome! Very cool! 👍

EDITED

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## Wookii (29 Apr 2022)

Another vote here for an 'Estimated TDS' column in your forthcoming remin caluclator @Hanuman and @Zeus. - it would be a worthwhile element to be included.


----------



## Hanuman (29 Apr 2022)

Any requests on the IFC calculator please do them on the IFC thread. I think we are derailing this thread.


----------



## Zeus. (29 Apr 2022)

Wookii said:


> Another vote here for an 'Estimated TDS' column in your forthcoming remin caluclator


Noted and will be in Version 14.3br  🤣. Adding new commercial products is very easy as all we do, just add a line in the back end drag the formulas down and enter some data. As to add 'Estimated TDS' would involved altering the front end, all the code for it and the dreaded conditional formatting and the back end. So it may be a feature we look at in the future. When we get close to release we have to 'draw a line in the sand' and say no new features or we would never release. The New ReminCalculator is a big new feature in itself which between concept and final polish has took many- many hours. Its a by product of 'Covid and Lockdown'


----------



## MichaelJ (29 Apr 2022)

Hanuman said:


> Any requests on the IFC calculator please do them on the IFC thread. I think we are derailing this thread.


Agreed. I added this as a Feature request to the IFC Thread.



Zeus. said:


> Noted and will be in Version 14.3br  🤣. Adding new commercial products is very easy as all we do, just add a line in the back end drag the formulas down and enter some data. As to add 'Estimated TDS' would involved altering the front end, all the code for it and the dreaded conditional formatting and the back end. So it may be a feature we look at in the future. When we get close to release we have to 'draw a line in the sand' and say no new features or we would never release.


I hear you... just don't allow _feature creep _at this stage _- _it have a tendency to break stuff as well...  I know, I've been involved in product R&D for a lifetime... it always _grinds my gears_  when a so-called _great feature_ request shows up in the middle of a release lockdown where everyone is supposed to hunt bugs and not talk about what the product can't do or should do instead...

Cheers,
Michael


----------



## mrtank50 (1 May 2022)

Hello again guys. I followed your advice and suggestions. I stopped using Seachem equbilirum. I just used magnesium chloride and calcium chloride. GH 5 - with kh 0.

What I observed in my tank

1- Ludwigia palutris had head reduction. I think that excess potassium inhibits calcium intake.

2- Plant growth increased when potassium level decreased.

My 3-Tds is more stable. When potassium was high, tds was rising rapidly, I guess it has to do with nutrient synergy. Now it is more stable and gradually increasing.

4-L.cuba was not blushing. Now the head is starting to turn red.

5-C.Flamingo has started to shoot new shoots.

6- I observe the formation of GDA.

7-I started to experience severe iron deficiency. I give 0.2 ppm iron gluconate daily. The whitening of the plant tips still continues.

In a few more days, I will get certain results.


----------



## erwin123 (2 May 2022)

mrtank50 said:


> Hello again guys. I followed your advice and suggestions. I stopped using Seachem equbilirum. I just used magnesium chloride and calcium chloride. GH 5 - with kh 0.
> 
> What I observed in my tank
> 
> ...



Look forward to seeing photos, especially the Cuba/Pantanal! Based on your last photo long ago, we have many of the same plants... Pantanal/Senegelansis, etc...

If this is your super high ppm CO2 tank with the super low pH, surprising that you need to dose 1.4ppm iron gluconate a week...

I'm only dosing 0.18ppm Fe a week with my All-in-one Ferts. 
Maybe once a month, I add 0.2ppm Fe to the substrate via frozen ice cubes


----------



## mrtank50 (8 May 2022)

Hello again friends.

I wanted to make an update.

I used calcium chloride and magnesium chloride only once and I encountered a different algae for the first time.

The moss is dark black.

It does not happen in plants in soil, it is only present in glass.

I used 2 aquariums. On the 3rd day, the same algae appeared in 2 of them. Very interesting.

It has a soft structure similar to cyonabacteria. When I wipe it with my hand, it comes in the form of a mold.
When I pour h2o2 it turns white after 1 second. But it still takes its old shape. H2o2 certainly didn't work.


----------



## erwin123 (9 May 2022)

mrtank50 said:


> I used 2 aquariums. On the 3rd day, the same algae appeared in 2 of them. Very interesting.


You should be sharing photos of your plants, like your Pantanal and Senegelansis as well, not just photos of your algae!  I'm interested to see the plant growth in your high CO2/150ppm tank!


----------



## mrtank50 (13 May 2022)

erwin123 said:


> Pantanal ve Senegelansis gibi bitkiler içini sıkmayın, sadece yosunlarınızı sevmeyin! :serin: Yüksek CO/150ppm tankınızdaki2 bitki üzerinde görünürum!


dear erwin sorry for my late reply.

Unfortunately I'm about to lose my pandana. I tagged you and replied in the other post. I definitely do not recommend it.

If you have more than one tank like me, you can try.


----------



## mrtank50 (17 May 2022)

Hello again friends.
I wanted to make an update.

I stopped using Seachem equbilirum and mgso4 caso4.
I only used 20% tap water and 80% osmosis water.

I completed between TDS 120-150.

And the development in plants was much better.


----------

