Sulphate Of Potash

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Anybody ever use sulphate of potash as a substitute for lab grade potassium sulphate, I know sulphate of potash IS potassium sulphate but maybe its purity is questionable compared to lab grade chemicals, anyone ever try it for an aquarium as a source of K?
 
Tom Barr once said that K2SO4 is K2SO4, so would think so. However, like you I am never 100% sure there aren't other 'things' in there as well so that's why I got the power from AE then I know its OK.

Sam
 
I think I can clear this one up for you seeing as I buy the stuff for work

There aren't 'grades' as such for any of the main 3 base nuts we use.

I do use different suppliers for the same product based on what it is to be used in and also due to solubility.

One supplier's product might be cheaper but is lumpier but if it does the job in say a product like lawn dressing and lawn granular fertilisers then we buy the cheap lumpier one.

If we are producing soluble plant food then obviously we don't want the powder to have lumps in it or it means that we pay the difference + more in labour, electricity, machine time etc. to crush it up into fine grain, so it works out cheaper to pay for the finer product.

Sulphate of Potash is a different name for Potassium Sulphate. English tend to say Sulphate of Potash whereas Europe tends to be more direct and say the real name (I don't know why we always have to different)

When someone wants K2SO4 they will write Sulphate of Potash because they have always called it that. We will then order Potassium Sulphate from whoever produces the 'grade' we want for the particular product.

Check this link which is one of our suppliers. Thre are 3 'grades' from this supplier and the larger the particles the less it will cost (in general)

http://www.potash-ltd.co.uk/products/fprod.htm

So Tom is correct in saying K2SO4 is K2SO4. It's just different suppliers, different finish, same ingredient but some lumpy some not.

This applies to KNO3 and KH2PO4 also.

When it comes to Chelated Metals this is a different matter.

Although they are all chelated, some are chelated better than others and you do tend to get what you pay for but again, we buy cheaper stuff or expensive stuff dependent on the requirement of the end product.

I just use whichever is nearest. put it in a sample bag. take it home. pommel and granite the amount I need to add to my DI water and then mix. Can't complain for Free!!!

Hope this clears things up

Andy
 
Thats great Andy exactly what I wanted to hear, I have a brand new 1.3kg box of J.Arthur Bowers sulphate of potash, slightly lumpy, but no issues with that, can you tell me what this means written on the box...........Potassium oxide (K2o) soluble in water 48.0% (39.9%K)..........any ideas what this exactly means, is this the concentration of pure K? or something else entirely.
 
Interesting post Andy, I learnt something there :)

Sam
 
Yep good post, definatly save a few quid here, the 1.3kg box cost me about £2.50, a lot easier to source as well.

Tastes slightly salty just in case you ever wondered :lol:
 
I used the B&Q Sulphate Of Potash for about a year with no probs until I discovered it made no difference if I added it or not, so I stopped. I did notice though it had lots of black bits in it so I just strained it through a fine fish net before use.

James
 
Guess who I work for!!!

William Sinclair Horticulture (The home of J Arthur Bowers)

We make the B&Q stuff and most other homebrands (not all) and to be honest they get the sh**.

The quality always goes into our own brands (JAB) which tends to be standard practice with this sort of product because you don't want B&Q to be selling their own name for £1.50and paying you 50p for it when they have to pay you £1 for JAB products.

Also its why JAB Newhorizon peat free composts, and JAB multipurpose have won best compost in both peat free and peat reduced categories in which gardening magazine for 6 and 8 years running respectively, hammering even the top oppositions.

If you look at the link above you will see what the percentage of each type of potash is. The Sulphate (and other types) are just salts that hold the K together (Not a scientist just logistics man so don't know this for fact or the techy terms for it)

Tip of the day - Poundland are selling it for £1 a box (Sold off boxes with last years artwork on it. same product)

Andy
 
Andy so the same applies for KH2P04 and KNO3? Not that I'll need any for a good few years!

Sam
 
Got mine in Homebase they seem to do the range of J. Arthur Bowers products there.

Andy is there any other products in the range that we would utilise do you know, any KNO3 only products or PO4 phosphate products anything like that?
 
We use the same stuff as someone would put in the garden element wise.

After all a plant is a plant wether in the water or in the garden.

Here is the difference.

In an aquarium we can add pure Nitrate as it is contained and will not run away. In the garden they have to find some way of keeping the element 'in position' for as long as possible and not be washed away or too far down and therefore other things are added.

That is why we pay more. We know the aquarium labelled items are safe for aquariums. We don't know if the garden products are. You would be better asking someone like Tom or George or someone who knows their science because some things may be added to garden ferts that can be deadly in an enclosed space but relatively harmless in the open environment (i.e. lawn ferts)

These make your lawn look great. I would think they would kill all fish within hours.

JAB do all the products including trace elements and J Innes compost (which George used once although I don't know if he used JABs version)

JAB boxed ferts (I can only tell you the Nutrient formulations someone else will have to explain what they mean)

Prodcut name N-P-K
Growmore = 7-7-7
Fish Blood & Bone = 5-5-6.5
Bone Meal = 3.5-17-0
Rose Food = 5-5-10+Trace Elements
Azalea, Rhod&Heath = 6-5-9+Iron
Sulphate of Iron = Iron Fe 20%
Dried Blood = 13-0-0
Sulphate of Ammonia = 21-0-0
Sulphate of Potash = 0-0-48
Superphosphate = 0-17.5-0
Epsom Salts = 10% Magnesium
Multi Purp Soluble Plant Food = 15-10-25 + trace elements

All these may look really useful to us from their nutrients, but you must look what else is added and if it is harmful in the aquarium before using.

Andy
 
I said I would come back after finding out the formulations for a couple of the more useful looking JAB products so here goes:

Product name N-P-K
Sulphate of Potash = 0-0-48
This is pure K2SO4 just boxed and sold so if you normally buy this then heres your new supply.

Water Soluble Multi Purpose Plant Food = 15-10-25 + trace elements
(grams of each substance in a 1kg box)
Potassium Nitrate = 403g
Ammonium Sulphate = 346g
Mono Potassium Phosphate = 193g
Micro Prilled Urea = 56g
Copper CU 14% = 0.19g
Iron FE 13.2% = 0.89g
Manganese MN 13.5% = 0.56g
Zinc ZN 14% = 0.17g
Sodium Molybdate = 0.07g

I guess the percentage in the metal descriptions means that they are chelated and the percentage is the actual percent of the 0.19g that is actually copper????

Anyways there are 2 breakdowns of products JAB Pot Sulphate is OK to use as it is pure. Not sure about the plant food.

A couple of interesting piccies for you

This is the Sulphate of Potash bay at work looking empty (Must be not doing my job very well. lol) This bay holds about 60 tones of K2SO4 and at the moment there is probably less than 10 in there. (The bay behind is Potassium Chloride)
K2SO4.jpg


This bay is the Fine Sand/Silver sand bay and again a little empty!. This time not because of my ineptitude but just that a delivery was due in and we had been hammering through the Silver Sand orders. This bay normally holds 100 tonnes and there is about 40 in there
Dry_Sand.jpg


N.B. I hear (and read)a lot of people saying that play sand and silver /dry sand is exactly the same thing and is OK to use in the aquarium.
This is not true.

They are both safe for the aquarium as far as I know(I myself have playsand in mine) but the difference is.....
.....Dry Sand / Silver sand is the sterilised version of play sand.

Therefore it may be better to use the dry/Silver sand in your aquariums.

Andy
 
Water Soluble Multi Purpose Plant Food = 15-10-25 + trace elements
(grams of each substance in a 1kg box)
Potassium Nitrate = 403g
Ammonium Sulphate = 346g
Mono Potassium Phosphate = 193g
Micro Prilled Urea = 56g
Copper CU 14% = 0.19g
Iron FE 13.2% = 0.89g
Manganese MN 13.5% = 0.56g
Zinc ZN 14% = 0.17g
Sodium Molybdate = 0.07g

You wouldn't want to add this to your tank as it contains Ammonia and also Urea. You have to be careful with garden fertilisers as they often contain ammonium compounds and/or urea.



James
 
Thanks anyway Andy good to know at least the Sulphate of potash is useful for our purposes, using it already :good:
 
Same Here can't see the point in paying

And Pot Nit and MKP. lol

I just grab a sample bag when needed (which isn't that often)

Andy
 

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