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source of Potassium... Kcl?

Cor

Member
Joined
3 Nov 2015
Messages
385
Location
The Netherlands
if I want to use KCl as a potassium source, is the Cl not harmful to the plants?

For example, I want 25 ppm potassium in my 100 l tank. To reach this target of 25ppm K I need to add 4.77 grams KCl to my 100L aquarium.
But there wil be also 22.67ppm of Cl in it... or is this form of Cl not harmful?

cheers, Cor
 
Chorine is nasty stuff if used inappropriately. However we are not adding chorine but Chloride which is its ionic form and is safe to use in are tanks as KCl or CaCl2 for the ranges of K and Ca we will be aiming.

Chorine and Chloride are often mixed up by folk and folk get concerned, which is a good thing as it better to check and get it right than get it wrong. There is no stupid question IMO- just stupid folk who fail to ask when unsure ;)
 
Hi @Cor From practical experience I can safely say 23 ppm of Chloride is not harmful for plants, fish or invertebrates. My household water softener uses Potassium Chloride (KCl) and for a long time I used to dose Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) as part of my remineralization adding about 50ppm of Cl on top of the residual Cl from the water softener. I did however switch over to Gypsum salt (CaSO4) recently as I wanted to reduce the conductivity and at the same time get a higher Calcium content. The solubility of CaSO4 is much lower than CaCl2 but in the amounts I'm adding to the WC water it's all fine and everything will eventually dissolve when getting into the tank.
Cheers,
Michael
 
Chorine and Chloride are often mixed up by folk and folk get concerned, which is a good thing as it better to check and get it right than get it wrong. There is no stupid question IMO- just stupid folk who fail to ask when unsure ;)
@Zeus. You're absolutely right. It's really unfortunate that those chemical names are so close, same goes for Nitrate and Nitrite. Can be very confusing.
 
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Well, that makes sense. Thought that Chorine and Chloride were the same thing.
Txs to you all :thumbup:
 
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