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#1
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What is K?
I am new to this. Could someone tell me what K is?
Tim |
#2
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What is K?
K is the symbol for the element potassium.
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#3
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What is K?
SLEngst wrote:
: K is the symbol for the element potassium. and, as an adjunct to this, is it in fact turbidity that is the measure of potassium in water? i always wondered what turbidity was. are there other factors contributing to turbidity? thanks, -david |
#4
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What is K?
"David Marshburn" wrote in message
... SLEngst wrote: : K is the symbol for the element potassium. and, as an adjunct to this, is it in fact turbidity that is the measure of potassium in water? i always wondered what turbidity was. are there other factors contributing to turbidity? I believe that there was a post a few days ago that contained a comment about using a turbidity test to determine the level of Potassium in a tank - this might be the source of your confusion. Potassium is difficult to test for. Chemical methods designed to "snag" the Potassium in order to quantify it in a test tend to also "snag" other ions in the water as well, and it is difficult to isolate the K from the interference. The only chemical method which is adaptable to hobbyist level test kits uses the turbidity of the sample (after reagent chemicals have been added to it) as a measure of the level of K. This isn't the same thing as the turbidity (cloudiness) of the water in your aquarium. Turbidity tests can be very difficult to read - they depend upon having a good eye and knowing how to compare a sample with a standard. If you have the money, you can buy more sensitive electronic testers for it but they are not really necessary for hobbyist purposes. Potassium is a macronutrient, needed by plants in relatively large amounts. It does not appear to have adverse effects over quite a wide range of concentrations. I have only ever heard of one instance of an excess of K causing problems and I believe that the levels in that case were in the order of 10X "normal". Anything in the 10-30 ppm range ought to be O.K., with the upper end of the range being more appropriate in extremely high light, CO2 enriched tanks. James Purchase Toronto |
#5
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What is K?
James Purchase wrote:
: "David Marshburn" wrote in message : : and, as an adjunct to this, is it in fact turbidity that is the measure of : potassium in water? i always wondered what turbidity was. are there : other factors contributing to turbidity? : I believe that there was a post a few days ago that contained a comment : about using a turbidity test to determine the level of Potassium in a tank - : this might be the source of your confusion. Yes, that's the case and why I asked. Thanks, all for clearing that up! cheers, -david |
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