# Organic sources of potassium?



## wearsbunnyslippers (Dec 6, 2007)

a lot of flake foods contain potash which is a good source of potassium. depending on how much you are feeding, some of this will be used by the fish, so not sure how much will be getting to the plants...


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## Capsaicin_MFK (Nov 15, 2009)

bananas.

roud:


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

lol, do fish actually eat bananas?


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## sdm (Jan 9, 2007)

takadi said:


> lol, do fish actually eat bananas?


Yeah, but you have to peel them. They don't have thumbs!:icon_mrgr


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## stewardwildcat (Feb 24, 2010)

sdm said:


> Yeah, but you have to peel them. They don't have thumbs!:icon_mrgr


OMG you just made me spit take!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

+1 for bananas, sans peels :fish:


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

The banana peel is the greatest source of potash in the banana, so I hear, so save the peel, chop it up into strips and use it like root tabs.

I use it for terrestrials, it helps.


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## defiesexistence (Sep 13, 2010)

And molasses also has potassium, but I have no clue how that would work out in a tank. Maybe some homemade root tabs with molasses?


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## bradac56 (Feb 18, 2008)

There's allot of things in Molasses besides potassium which is OK for humans but not necessarily good in a tank. It would be better just to add K2S04 in dry form than mess around with products made for humans instead of aquatic systems.

- Brad


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Another fruit that has tons of potassium is durian. If you eat too much you will get heart problems because you'll be ingesting too much potassium.

But the best way to provide nutrients for the plants is to compost your organics first. It's not the best to stick a banana under your plant and expect it to provide K to your plant.


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> Another fruit that has tons of potassium is durian. If you eat too much you will get heart problems because you'll be ingesting too much potassium.
> 
> But the best way to provide nutrients for the plants is to compost your organics first. It's not the best to stick a banana under your plant and expect it to provide K to your plant.


Feeding Durians to pets would be expensive in some localities.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Plants like simple molecules when seeking nutrients. Potassium is taken up as K+ ions, not as complex organic molecules. Nitrogen is taken up as NH4+ or NO3-, not as complex organic molecules. That makes our cheap agricultural grade fertilizers, KNO3, etc. nearly perfect for our plants. So, why look for complexity?


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Tomatoes and lima beans have stupid high amounts of potassium. _Much _higher than you get out of the fleshy part of a banana. Just say'n... Maybe you could push lima beans under the roots :hihi:

+1 to what Hoppy said.


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

Because it's alot cheaper and easier


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Again, it would have to be composted to break down to simple molecules for the plants. If you have time (6 months or so), you can start a compost pile.

I just thought of an idea for a fert product. Compost in a gel cap? lol. And compost juice you squirt from a bottle.
Credit it to me if any of you make it.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I quit making compost in a 5 gallon bucket because I was so successful at making compost juice, and the tiny flies just loved it. But, I hadn't thought of marketing it. Hmmm.


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

I actually experimented using compost tea a while back. Actually, more like worm tea. I make compost using mostly banana peels. The plants seemed to really like it, but not the fish. The bacteria boost was enormous though, as pretty much every surface of the tank became slimy

I think you could patent compost "juice" in a bottle, but then you'd have to have numerous court battles with the several companies that already do make it. Never hurts to try though


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## Joe.1 (Nov 23, 2009)

Sounds like alot of work. I think I'll just stick to the powder. The easier it is to maintain my tank, the more enjoyable it is.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

You might want to 'mineralize' the compost to break down the organics further where it's stable under water (our tanks)... I can imagine the NH3 would shoot through the roof too.

I have a compost pile in the back yard. The flies and other weird bugs I've never seen in my life can stay out there.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> Again, it would have to be composted to break down to simple molecules for the plants. If you have time (6 months or so), you can start a compost pile.
> 
> I just thought of an idea for a fert product. Compost in a gel cap? lol. And compost juice you squirt from a bottle.
> Credit it to me if any of you make it.


I have made "super" mts in a gel cap. Not a success, btw.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

over_stocked said:


> I have made "super" mts in a gel cap. Not a success, btw.


why (not a success)?


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

MTS is amazing, but it isn't nearly as concentrated as other ferts, so it take s a lot more of it to get similar results. MTS Ferticles work better as they are much bigger. 

Sure, you could use a LOT of the MTS caps, but at a certain point, the work is counter productive. You also need to poke holes in the gel caps, as they naturally end up floating up though many substrates because MTS is so light. The air trapped in the capsules becomes a big problem before they dissolve. I did have some good plant growth in the tests that used MTS caps, but there were so many of them that it seems counterproductive. 

Better than nothing, sure. But there are easier, cheaper ways to add MTS(ferticles). 

It is too bad it doesn't work better, since about anyone could make 100,000 lifetime supplies of it for about 5 bucks and a week of drying/wetting...

Also, using my capsule machine, MTS tended to get it stuck up. It literally got it _dirty_... Not something I want to do to a very expensive machine.


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## Joe.1 (Nov 23, 2009)

I like your new avatar mistergreen.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

takadi said:


> Because it's alot cheaper and easier


You can buy a complete set of dry fertilizers from Greenleafaquariums.com or aquariumfertilizer.com for under 25 bucks shipped, I think. This will last the average aquarium well over a year. Often times they last longer than most people stay in the hobby...

The amount of work done with this involves about 300 keystrokes, 10 mouse clicks, about 20 minutes of reading. 1-4 times a week you will have to grab a scoop and dig in. 

Or, you could try to compost something that may or may not work to provide unknown amounts of nutrients and god knows what else. 

In the end, by composting things, the time, etc-you'll easily have spent 25 bucks--and gotten inferior results. 


Inversely, you could spend even more and buy a liquid product like mine, pfertz, or seachem and think even less with even less work. (its like 5 mouse clicks, not 10!).


I know that when we get something in our head, it seems like a good idea... but this just doesn't sound like it is worth the effort. 

The real question is, in such a low tech setup, do you need to worry about dosing this? Are you seeing any signs of deficiency or problems?


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

over_stocked said:


> MTS is amazing, but it isn't nearly as concentrated as other ferts, so it take s a lot more of it to get similar results. MTS Ferticles work better as they are much bigger.
> 
> Sure, you could use a LOT of the MTS caps, but at a certain point, the work is counter productive. You also need to poke holes in the gel caps, as they naturally end up floating up though many substrates because MTS is so light. The air trapped in the capsules becomes a big problem before they dissolve. I did have some good plant growth in the tests that used MTS caps, but there were so many of them that it seems counterproductive.
> 
> ...


Makes sense but Isn't most of MTS, sand? If it was pure compost, the level of nutrients would be much greater.



Joe.1 said:


> I like your new avatar mistergreen.


Thanks! It's the truth...


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Potassium sulfate is like $3 for a 1 lbs bag that lasts forever, and I put 1/16 of a teaspoon directly in my tank 3 days a week.

Not hard, or expensive. Seems kinda silly to speculate on what could be "easier" to purposefully put in your tank, when literally everything else you listed was coincidental and not purposeful.

How about just go with MTS substrate period? Seems logical to me that if you want to stay away from column dosing or keep your tank "organic" (which with 99.99% of fish food out there, trust me it's not), use a substrate that covers the bases.


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

mistergreen said:


> Makes sense but Isn't most of MTS, sand? If it was pure compost, the level of nutrients would be much greater.
> 
> 
> Thanks! It's the truth...


The only real trouble I see with compost is the potential ammonia level, the unknown nutrient levels, and the work going into it. 

Compost also takes a very long time to actually dry, so it would work better as a ferticle than in gel caps.


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## bradac56 (Feb 18, 2008)

over_stocked said:


> The real question is, in such a low tech setup, do you need to worry about dosing this? Are you seeing any signs of deficiency or problems?


That hit it on the head perfectly. In most of my low-tech tanks (about 30 usually) I won't dose more than a gH booster during the 30% WC once a week and then a splash of Excel every two to three weeks just because I'm a bit daft sometimes.

- Brad


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## takadi (Dec 13, 2010)

lol sorry, a little late in the conversation, but what in the world in MTS?

Also out of curiosity, I'm using a mix of flourite and ecocomplete. Don't the nutrients in the water eventually become "sequestered", if you will, into the substrate due to the high CEC?

My tank is medium to high tech btw. Anyway, the real reason for this question is because I'm too lazy to remember to dose and would rather nutrients "coincidentally" end up where it's supposed to be. What I meant by organic wasn't necessarily "organic" as is used today as a buzzword but rather anything I can feed the fish that would eventually provide the necessary nutrients. I find that the only nutrient that requires me to dose with fertilizers is potassium. It's not that I find dosing fertilizers hard. It's just that, opposite of members here, I like things to be out of my control and for equilibrium to occur spontaneously. Call it frivolous, but this was meant to be a question of novelty and I don't want to get into anything complicated


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

takadi said:


> lol sorry, a little late in the conversation, but what in the world in MTS?


*M*ineralized *T*op *S*oil


> Call it frivolous, but this was meant to be a question of novelty and I don't want to get into anything complicated


Ask us what time the sun rises, and we can make a 6 page debate out of it :biggrin:


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## bradac56 (Feb 18, 2008)

Hoppy said:


> Ask us what time the sun rises, and we can make a 6 page debate out of it :biggrin:


Hah! Everyone knows the sun doesn't rise it sneaks around behind our backs and pops up without warning.

- brad


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

And then I can sneak in and derail the bejesus out of the thread.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Awesome avatar Overstocked roud:

Hmm... Not sure what to tell you with the potash thing. Fish food does have it, but unless you want to OD fish food and cause other issues, I think just column dosing is your best bet with a high tech tank.

I wouldn't even worry about it much unless your plants start displaying signs of K deficiency.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

When you want to use "natural" sources of nutrients, like one might find in natural bodies of water, the first thing to do is go with low light. With low light the demand for nutrients is low enough that meeting it without dosing the usual chemicals is much easier. This isn't how it works in nature, but nature doesn't pack nearly as many fish into such a small volume of water. Our tanks are much closer to farms, with monoculture, than to nature.


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