Potassium nitrate
Contents
What is it[edit]
KNO3 - Potassium Nitrate: Provides Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) for feeding aquarium plants.
Quite often in a planted aquarium the plants absorb so much nitrate that it becomes a shortage and limits the growth of the plants. So aquarists add it manually.
To make a typical stock solution add 40g of dry KNO3 powder to 500ml of RO or distilled water and then add 10ml of this per 100L of tank. This will give you a value of 5ppm.
- One quarter tsp or 1.4g of KNO3 with give you 4.5ppm increase of Nitrate in 190L (50 US gallons) of water.
- Note too much Nitrate in the aquarium can damage your aquatic animals and any increases in levels of nitrate should be done gradually.
- See PMDD for more details and suppliers.
Synonyms[edit]
Nitric Acid, potassium salt, salt peter, nitrate of potash.
Warning[edit]
This chemical is hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation (lung irritant).
Prolonged exposure may result in skin burns and ulcerations. Over-exposure by inhalation may cause respiratory irritation.
Keep the item away from heat and other chemicals as it may cause explosions. See a MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for details.
