[Social D]

I think its time to put the two against each other in terms of potassium enhancement between corals and their very close relatives the plant kingdom.



As you may or not know Bamboo grasses need extra potassium for continued health and colour something ive experimented with in the past and it does show extensive green leaves and overall a general better health of the plant given extra potassium
My aim is to put a Coral up against a plant given they suffer from lack of potassium i find it fasinating to combinate the two.


So therefore i will,be using ther Acropora Aspera ( Green stag) and a row of bamboo plants as the experiment both have had a lack of potassium in the past so it should give great results.
This will be a very slow thread and will no doubt interest me only lol.

I aim to to show both species before and after potassium is added, The major pitfall is my chosen time of year as Bamboo's slow down and there metabolism for trace elements slows down, however i will try and show improvements in both .

Not a quick thread by any means but i hope to show the benefits bewteen them both, all be it a very amaterish experiment .. it all fun tho

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Good luck Tim ,have you got a start point and finish point for the experiment also what doses will you be adding as i take it there both be on the same dose


jas

[ben]

can you tell me why your doing this tim, as i dont get it?

[Social D]

sounded better last night

[ben]

http://www.dryoutnow.com/

[mrfishy]

My aim is to put a Coral up against a plant given they suffer from lack of potassium i find it fasinating to combinate the two.



why are you assuming that the acro is suffering from lack of potassium. surely if it is in your tank and your water changes are regular using a quality salt this would not be the case.

[Social D]

Not over time no, potassium doesnt sink like calcium or magnesium but overtime it will go below NSW levels, Some dull coloured SPS benefit from K addition

[lindsay]

As Tim says adding potassium to a tank that has a low level of potassium will result in some deeper colours esp green acros but other parameters would probably need to be within acceptable levels to see any improvement in any colours.

[tommo]

Quote

This will be a very slow thread and will no doubt interest me only lol.

interests me!

Tom

[Social D]

Il put this on hold to the spring given it some thought it wont work at the moment its the wrong time of year, also comparing the two might be hard to do.

Maybe its better to post on a gardening forum but i want to elevate the levels of potassium from one plant to another using Kz potassium
One fed with and one not.

Tommo thanks for the interest

[lindsay]

I think your find Potassium will sink as quick as calcium and magnesium Tim if your running a Zeo type system as the stones gobble Potassium


jas

[Social D]

Care to expand where you read this? Im all ears

[Social D]

Here you go Tom. Ive forgot much of what ive learnt but the basics are still with me lol

http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/2006...206A0821153.php

[lindsay]

Tim tested our potassium level in the sps system a few weeks back and found it to be a little short of NSW levels.So i have added a little and found that it did increase the green colour in some acros a little.The interesting thing for me is that for the past 6 or more years i have not added potassium with no coral health or colour issues.So unless a systems filtration hammers potassium levels ie Zeovit and possibly a lrg algae bed how important is potassium to the well being of corals?.
The reason i ask is that i have probably been on the low side for many years with no problems.It is good to see a little more green in some of the acros but that may not mean potassium has a high importance for acro health.

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

I think your find it in the text on the back of the brightwells additive .I Also read an article that said zeolite systems often use up potassium very fast .
I will try find the article again and link it for you and if i find anymore articles i will link them aswell but in short read the back of the brightwells bottle

Mind you knowing the zeo method it may well just be a case of another color enhancer


jas.

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

This is not the article i read i will try find it again as i didnt save .The article i read goes into the zeo stones useing it up due to the bacteria and so on .


This is a little text from the zeovite site

K-Balance
There are a lot of theories about potassium in a reef system. Some say it is not needed, some zeoheads say the process of bacteria exchange through the zeolites and skimming removes too much potassium that needs to be added later.

I use K-Balance only as needed. There is a test kit but it is very difficult to read. I use my Montipora caps as identifiers. When they start to get this washed out grey tone to them I add about 2 ml of K-balance every other day until they look bright again.

It is also said that an overdose of potassium can result in Acropora tips being burnt. I have seen picture of this but never experienced this myself.

Potassium Iodide (PIF and Job Complex)
Potassium iodide really helps the color of blue and purples in your system. I usually alternated between PIF and Job Complex because each contains a little something different.

I also dose based on what I see. If my blues are faded I will dose 3 drops of PIF one day and 3 drops of Job Complex the next until my blues are back. It doesn’t take much and usually end up dosing each about twice a week.

Also I watch my yellow corals. Signs of adding too much include yellow corals turning green, if this happens, stop (unless you like the green color).

Link to the whole read

http://www.zeovit.co...ead.php?t=10354


There is a better read so i will if i get time try find it

jas

[jason@jasonsaquatics]

Another quick read ,this is the text but i will leave link to the article as some may find it of interest

Potassium (K) in the form of KB Strong is dosed at a rate of 1ml for the 500ltrs daily. Although not a new parameter to monitor, it has recently received a higher profile amongst ZEOvit users who report that tissue recession, fading and low growth rates were becoming an issue. It is thought that the super cultures of bacteria encouraged eventually deplete the amount of potassium in the water along with NO3 and PO4, and coupled with the fact that most salts are low in K, resulted in needing to focus on this. Tests on my reef show that my money isn't wasted on this supplement. Overdose signs are in increase in algae and then tip burning of SPS.


Link to article
http://www.ultimater.../TOTM/2007_apr/

These are just a few reads that the zeo users have found but there are no real reasons why as TBH i think they just dont know why lol .Sience hey

[karnivor]

Could it be this one?

http://www.reefbuilders.com/2008/09/03/gui...e-vivid-bright/

[Social D]

Yeh try and find where you read Zeovit gobbles K, As that's different from what iv'e been told