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I posted this on the APD and thought it could be of interest here too.
I think that K uptake by plants might be higher than we think. I've been dosing it regularly through KNO3 and/or K2SO4 so that at water change I'm adding 20mg/l. And then mid-week adding 4-5mg/l.
I've always wondered what the actual levels and uptake was so I finally broke down and bought a LaMotte K test kit (ok, so I'm a control freak!
). I received it mid-week and I did the first test 3 days after water change and dosing (and before my usual mid-week dosing). The result: 8-10mg/l of K. Which logically means that I was at 0 when I did my water change!
I dosed 10mg/l of K at that point. 2 days later I measured 14-15mg/l of K in the tank. So an uptake of 4-5mg/l in two days.
Given that K is the nutrient that the majority of us never measure (we just dose to a certain level), could it be that more problems than we realize are due to a deficiency in K? and this causes an imbalance or uptake problem of other nutrients? :?
I think that K uptake by plants might be higher than we think. I've been dosing it regularly through KNO3 and/or K2SO4 so that at water change I'm adding 20mg/l. And then mid-week adding 4-5mg/l.
I've always wondered what the actual levels and uptake was so I finally broke down and bought a LaMotte K test kit (ok, so I'm a control freak!
I dosed 10mg/l of K at that point. 2 days later I measured 14-15mg/l of K in the tank. So an uptake of 4-5mg/l in two days.
Given that K is the nutrient that the majority of us never measure (we just dose to a certain level), could it be that more problems than we realize are due to a deficiency in K? and this causes an imbalance or uptake problem of other nutrients? :?