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Re: [APD] RE: K+



My own experience:

When I first started keeping aquatic plants I followed the "Tom Barr Method", which *at that time* suggested dosing K2SO4 - a lot, too, if I recall it was (for my tank) 1/2t of KNO3 and 1t of K2SO4. Some plants did not seem to do well under this regimen. After a while, Tom dropped the K2SO4 from his own recommendations.

Our water here is very, very soft GH=KH <2 (sometimes <1). I had been using Flourish's Equilibrium to raise the hardness. Equilibrium has a lot of K.  When I switched from using Baking soda + equilbrium for raising KH and GH to using CaCO3 + MgSO4, plant growth increased and algae growth decreased. Since I do not know what other things are in Equilibrium, I had to wonder if it was too much K.

Could it be possible that in my very soft water, an interaction occurs which makes excess K a problem? Could we be lacking a micronutrient that allows the plant to handle excess K? 

I have often wondered, since I am not a scientist, if there *is* something magical in Tom Barr's water - not a snake-oil kind of magic, just coincidentally that the water he has been using is better balanced in some undetermined nutrient.

I am a believer that excess K is harmful: fire away!



If K+ blocking occurs as you are theorizing, why did it not effects his
plants nor mine all these years but your tank for some reason?
We know we added loads but did not get the same effect.

So if you can explain how our system is not showing this but yours are with
the high K+ in and of it's self, I'd like to hear the arguement.  

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