Extremely low potassium in reef

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Sooo I have a 90 gal total vol system, radion pro for supplement and a 250 watt radium. Reef octopus super 2000
Tank 4 yrs old

I have had longstanding issues with montis of any kind.... Where as before it was plentiful in growth and color. Sooo
Prior to my issues I carbon dosed with Red Sea no3 po4 with no ill effect, levels were controlled accordingly. Then I said to my self lets play with a biopellet reactor, so did my research started with a very modest dose. Well one week into it montis started paling and the dieing. So it was stopped the reactor came down and I returned to my tried and true method. It took a few more monti demises (months) before the lightbulb went off in my head. I thought bc I was so modest this would not effect my tank how ever......

Could the bloom of bacteria of consumed my potassium which have already been low to begin with? So in an effort to save what I have in my tank I run down to the Lfs and get brightwell potassion bottle bc of good reputation and the fact that not all supplements are KCL, and this one is concentrated 80000 ppm . So begin dosing max dose of 40 ml split up during the day. Testing with no response.... Sometimes 2-3 x recommended reagent. This leads me to believe I was critically low.

So now I am 4 days into it going on 5 getting some burnt tips..... Montis are lingering

So my question to the experts is if I try to raise at max dose daily I'm hoping for 10ppm daily raise. This does not account for the role that bacteria are placing or coral uptake ----- please offer info for here

But at 10 ppm daily max it's going to take a very long time. I desperately want to speed the process up but not to the corals demise. I'm gallantly trying to save them bc I was negligent in testing for the obvious.

Can you guys help me out here?

All other params are stable at alk 8.5-9

Calcium 440

Mag 1480

Trates 1 ppm

Phos .08 working on this

K - estimated to be in the 100ppm range test cannot determine
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Bacteria will consume some potassium, but foods also add it.

I'd be surprised in potassium is really that low. How did you test? did you try the kit on some new salt water?

It may be low, but 100 ppm may be testing error, and going too high can also lead to problems.
 
Last edited:
OP
OP
Jay6363

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes randy I'm very worried about it. I agree very unlikely it's that low. I'm using Red Sea test kit

Montis have been having a real tough time. I think the k was already low then then the pellets did me in idk
 

GainesvilleReef

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
333
Reaction score
249
Location
United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
With bio-pellets you really should keep your alk in the 7-8 range. I learned this the hard way. My experience was very similar to yours. Let your Alk drop on it's own and things should improve. I also had the same experience with the potassium and nobody can explain why. It seemed to be a transient thing when starting the bio-pellets. Once corrected it never depleted again. Good luck.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes randy I'm very worried about it. I agree very unlikely it's that low. I'm using Red Sea test kit

Montis have been having a real tough time. I think the k was already low then then the pellets did me in idk

What salt mix are you using and did you try the K+ kit on it?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm not sure what all the problems might be, but I've heard of folks who had problems with their SPS corals when they dosed without checking the values. :)
 

jedimasterben

Bubble coral sting good
View Badges
Joined
Apr 6, 2012
Messages
1,902
Reaction score
432
Location
Okeechobee, FL
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I'm not sure what all the problems might be, but I've heard of folks who had problems with their SPS corals when they dosed without checking the values. :)
It's possible that the issues would come from dosing too much too quickly. I've lost many snails, crabs, and fish a few months back with a large potassium chloride dose that was not predissolved (wasn't really any data on it then, so I figured what the heck). No coral or anemone loss, though I do not keep SPS corals anymore. ReefGen's growout system is kept 2-3x NSW levels for potassium, Justin Credabel did a talk at Macna that included some potassium bits. :)
 
OP
OP
Jay6363

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I test daily with the Red Sea test, I do not dose more than is recommended total daily increase. I usually split it up today I didn't and a coral rtn'd

Randy it's not even registering on the test even if I give more 2x the reagent needed but that would make sense if I wast that low to begin with , and its recommend to only increase by 10 ppm daily to be safe.
 
OP
OP
Jay6363

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Tested a fresh batch of salt mix it turns out I think the test is bad....... :( most simple reason
It didn't register any k in Red Sea coral pro. So off to the store in the am
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It is pretty unlikely the salt mix has very little potassium, but that's always a possibility, so if you get another kit, try the salt mix, and if you get some different salt (or access to a friends), check that with the current kit. :)
 

evolved

[email protected]
View Badges
Joined
Dec 16, 2010
Messages
10,633
Reaction score
11,975
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
It's possible that the issues would come from dosing too much too quickly. I've lost many snails, crabs, and fish a few months back with a large potassium chloride dose that was not predissolved (wasn't really any data on it then, so I figured what the heck). No coral or anemone loss, though I do not keep SPS corals anymore. ReefGen's growout system is kept 2-3x NSW levels for potassium, Justin Credabel did a talk at Macna that included some potassium bits. :)
Yup, I was just going to bring up Justin's thoughts on this too; I was sitting in on that talk as well. It's probably in the BRS series? Not sure.

But yes, he spoke of how he likes to keep K really high, up to 800ppm. He did make it perfectly clear raising K too quickly always resulted in corals melting.
 
OP
OP
Jay6363

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I got another test kit, used three x three reagent no reaction ...... I wanted to pull my hair out. Called Red Sea going to send out another test ..... I'm gonna do a series of water changes
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

Reef Chemist
View Badges
Joined
Sep 5, 2014
Messages
66,553
Reaction score
62,861
Location
Arlington, Massachusetts, United States
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
IMHO no, not really. Expelling zoox would make the colors lighter in appearance, akin to Zeovit and ULNS - this makes the pigmentation much darker in color.

Yes, it does remove brown. I wasn't sure what was meant by vivid colors.
 
OP
OP
Jay6363

Jay6363

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 7, 2011
Messages
624
Reaction score
106
Location
Albany ny
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Gentleman...... Can you help me out here? Lol
Evolved, am I to assume if I go slowly a slightly higher k level in a reef not as bad as being low?
As I am having horrible luck with test kits. I have done 20 gal wc thus far, hoping to balance things out. Sps look stressed lost two as of now. Montis are peacing out. Soooooo

Can anyone give any advice as what to do at this point? Test kit on the way from Red Sea.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 69 52.7%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 68 51.9%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 34 26.0%
  • None.

    Votes: 29 22.1%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.9%
Back
Top