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Potassium Gluconate



Using the dietary supplement Potassium Gluconate obtained from the drug store
has been recommended as a source of K for aquariums.  It is a good source if
you are using pure potassium gluconate.  You have to read the bottles
carefully, however.  Many of the dietary supplements contain other chemicals
such as magnesium stearate and calcium carbonate in addition to the potassium
gluconate.  Also you will need to use a lot more potassium gluconate to get
the same K concentration as opposed to using K2SO4 (per the PMDD recipe) -
like 4 to 5 times as much (by weight) per my rusty calculations.

It's been 30 years since my last chemistry class, so forgive my foggy memory -
Doesn't adding K20 to water increase the pH and therefore, is usually not a
good source of K for dosing our aquariums?

Roger Gordon
San Diego