Where can I buy powdered Potassium Nitrate?

[Fuzzy]

Better still you guys should purchase from the supplier dilute to 5% and sell it to the community cheap!

hehe.

[Growe]

Read through the discussion thread and had the same question. I was at a chemical reagent store today - saw KNO3 but cannot buy. Yes, all sellers are binded by the police order. So unless you have left over (from previous purchase), you can forget it.

Testing the theory now. Using Potassium Chloride to add Potassium and Nitrate. KCL should break down into Potassium and Chlorine. Neutralise Chlorine with the normal method that you neutralise your tapwater, you get ammonnia. Then you leave the conversion of ammonia to nitrate to your best bio filter!

If you look at Shadow's website (quick calculator http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/ ), you will notice that Potassium dosage in potassium phosphate is insignificant. To get the target potassium from it, you are asking for trouble (over infested with Phosphorus!)

Today, I added Potassium Chloride (1 tsp to my 240 litertank). see how it goes.

[aquarius]

So am I
But them cops track exactly how many grams each person takes (although they don't ask what you did with it unless the volume is very large). Problem is, the institute also restricts access to the KNO3, so unless one has a very good reason to buy/take it

Still, I'm going to see if any vendors sells 5% solutions that'll bypass this restriction. Still beats the 0.3% Seachem N water

I find it ridiculars why the suppliers can't just dilute the KNO3 to 5% or less and sell it to the public? If the authorities don't have a problem with Seachem's Nitrate solution than they shouldn't have a problem if the supplier bottling it to less than 5% concentration and then package it properly for aquarium use like Seachem.

And if suppliers in s'pore find it too troublesome to do it here due to red tapes, why don't someone get an overseas manufacturer to bottle it from overseas than import into s'pore??? Off course it has to be viable from a business point of view which means companies like ferka or wondergrow who already makes fertilizers may be able to bottle KNO3 and offer a much cheaper alternative to Seachem's Nitrate.

[Navanod]

Read through the discussion thread and had the same question. I was at a chemical reagent store today - saw KNO3 but cannot buy. Yes, all sellers are binded by the police order. So unless you have left over (from previous purchase), you can forget it.

Testing the theory now. Using Potassium Chloride to add Potassium and Nitrate. KCL should break down into Potassium and Chlorine. Neutralise Chlorine with the normal method that you neutralise your tapwater, you get ammonnia. Then you leave the conversion of ammonia to nitrate to your best bio filter!

If you look at Shadow's website (quick calculator http://aquatic-art.blogspot.com/ ), you will notice that Potassium dosage in potassium phosphate is insignificant. To get the target potassium from it, you are asking for trouble (over infested with Phosphorus!)

Today, I added Potassium Chloride (1 tsp to my 240 litertank). see how it goes.

Erm bro, I hate to say this but your plan has a fundamental flaw.
Chlorine does not break down into ammonia!

We get ammonia from neutralizing our tapwater because we have chloramine in it (instead of just plain chlorine).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine

Since chloramine is chlorine bonded to ammonia to form a more stable compound, we get back the chlorine and ammonia upon breaking it down during anti-chlorine treatment. The chlorine then escapes into the air leaving ammonia behind.

Since Potassium Chloride only gives you chlorine after breaking it down (and not chloramine), there's no ammonia to be broken down into nitrate

[Growe]

Navanod is Right! Me wrong.

Need to retract my theory and present me a whole new perspective that I still need Nitrate.

Any Chemist out there, if Chlorine can be dissipated pretty readily by bubbling or adding Sodium Thiosuphate, can I say by preparing KCL solution with KCL powder, add sodium Thiosuphate, I get good potassium K2O for my plant. Any undesirable biproducts will result? Does it end up with sulphurs like adding potassium sulphate? What is the best Potassium form that Aquarist should use? Currently, I have Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride and Potassium Sulphate in my vault.

[GaspingGurami]

Both chloride and sulphate are needed for plant growth. However, plants can eat more sulphate than chloride. Whatever the case, you still need the N component of your primary NPK macros. So you need to look at your nitrate needs. Currently I use Calcium Nitrate for the N.

Some people have expressed concern about the increase of Ca by using Calcium Nitrate. I have not encountered any problem on my side (but YMMV). I've Madagascan lace leaf plant bloom and continue growing without going dormant using such a fert combination. I think Calcium's importance is something that had been mis emphasized.

LL

[GaspingGurami]

I find it ridiculars why the suppliers can't just dilute the KNO3 to 5% or less and sell it to the public? If the authorities don't have a problem with Seachem's Nitrate solution than they shouldn't have a problem if the supplier bottling it to less than 5% concentration and then package it properly for aquarium use like Seachem.

And if suppliers in s'pore find it too troublesome to do it here due to red tapes, why don't someone get an overseas manufacturer to bottle it from overseas than import into s'pore??? Off course it has to be viable from a business point of view which means companies like ferka or wondergrow who already makes fertilizers may be able to bottle KNO3 and offer a much cheaper alternative to Seachem's Nitrate.

How about making your own nitrate?

Urea is a very cheap inorganic fertiliser sold at nurseries. It has very high N content, probably 46%. So you get a bag (around $5) of Urea, dissolve it, and chuck in an airstone and some filter mulm. Test NH3 and NO2 till both have become 0ppm and now you have for yourself Nitrate.

Someone with better counting skills than me may be able to give you the percentage of NO3.

LL

[James_C]

anyway to convert it while it dry?

[Shaihulud]

Urea breaks down into ammonia.

[o2bubble]

So, does anone knows how to get potassium nitrate? Can get from Malaysia?

[Navanod]

So, does anone knows how to get potassium nitrate? Can get from Malaysia?

Potassium Nitrate is classified under the explosive precursor list and is a controlled substance by the arms and ordnance dept of the police force. Please do not try to bring it back from johor without a permit!

[o2bubble]

No need to look so hard anymore Thanks guys!

[TyroneGenade]

Hello,

This is my mix which I use and it does work:
14.30 g KH2PO4
111.28 g K2CO3
61.74 g KCl
50.80 g HNO3 (or about 51.04 mL 70% HNO3 or 72.48 g 40% HNO3)

10 mL of this mix in 100 L will give: 10 ppm N, 20 ppm K and 2 ppm P. It also adds 1.2 ppm HCO3- which is meaningless as far as KH is concerned.

For Ca and Mg (2 and 1 ppm) you can make up a solution of 55.5 g CaCl2 and 47.6 g MgCl2 and add 10 mL/100 L. This solution must be made up separate to the P solution else the Ca and Mg will precipitate.

(I assume you are using anhydrous salts.)

These mixes are working well for me with my soft water where Cl ions are as essential as anything else. I do not have serious algae problems other than the hair algae and green spot algae I had in my tank before I started using this mix. My other thank is virtually algae free (except for the green water caused by too much sunlight and not enough CO2---my KH drops like a stone!).

To remedy my KH problem I add 2.5 mL of a

To boost my KH I made a 412 g/L solution of K2CO3 and add 2.5 mL to 100 mL to boost my KH by 1 dKH (adding 17.9 ppm CO₃^2-). This doesn't effect the pH to much (oddly enough). If you supply enough CO2 this KH boost shouldn't be needed.

A friend (who is a much better skilled biochemist than myself) had made up mixes of his own which work even better. He is in the works of marketing his NPK mix and already has a trace element and Ca/Mg mix on the marker for soft water. See http://www.apsa.co.za/board/index.php?topic=2152.0 I am not sure if he has a Singapore distributor as of yet.