# Potassium test kits and dosing levels?



## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

I would also like to know if there is a freshwater potassium test kit.
I have been searching, but a little skeptical on what to buy.
I hope someone has some good information we can use


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Does anyone have an idea on testing potassium?
Thank you


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

With potassium, as with nitrates and phosphates, you'd have to try really, really hard to add enough to do any damage to your plants or fish. Macros aren't an issue. It's perfectly safe to dose standard EI doses and beyond. If you think you may have an issue with potassium deficiency, you can generally increase all macros with no danger. If it doesn't do the trick, you have another issue, and you can drop macro dosing back down to standard levels after a couple weeks. That said, if you want to increase potassium specifically, you can add K2SO4 to the mix of KNO3 and KH2PO4, without reducing the application of the other two. Again, however, drop it back down to normal if there's no positive results within a couple weeks.

The only current argument regarding overdosing EI involves micros, which is a whole different story.

Just make sure that if you're doing EI dosing, you're including the 50% water changes weekly. If you're not doing that, you're not using EI dosing.

But, I've never used a potassium test kit, and I'm not sure API (which is the most common brand of test kits we use) makes one.


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## Virc003 (Dec 3, 2011)

If I remember correctly, I looked into this sometime in the kast year and found freshwater and saltwater tests will give different results. Furthermore freshwater K tests ended up being too expensive. The 'cheap' kits I found were above $100 for a hand full of tests. For kits with any reliability the price was $300+ for the same number of tests. 

I want to say my source came from a barreport thread but I honestly can't say for sure.


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## heel4you (Mar 8, 2015)

Thanks for the answers.
I guess the perfectionist in me wants to be as spot on with my dosing as possible


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## Little Soprano (Mar 13, 2014)

Well I know they make SW, but they are actually reasonably priced. Its a shame they are so expensive for FW.

Right now in my 120 I'm dosing:
1-1/2 tsp of KNO3
1/2 tsp of KH2PO4
1 tsp of K2SO4-was dosing 1/2 tsp per EI recommendations

The s. repens seems to be a potassium hog by the looks of it. It's leaves are starting to get darker again and my pinholes aren't showing up anymore, but the s.repens looks like it wants MORE. Which is crazy, but I figure I'll give it another week or two (to get my CO2 up to proper levels), and then mess with levels again.

I do do a 50% W.C. per week.

I do a very reduced micro dosage however. Tuesday and Saturday are 1/2 tsp of plantex, Thursday is 14ml of Seachem Aquavitro Iron, no other micros. So Plantex is only twice a week vs 3.

I've also been dosing at night instead, so I can't forget. I do it when I get home from work (work 4-2:30am), so about 3:30 am. So Monday's dose is done on Sunday night, Tuesday on Monday, etc.


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