• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Do dry salts need to.be food grade?

papa_c

Member
Joined
22 Jan 2013
Messages
368
Hopefully a simple question as the title says, when buying dry salts to dose using the EI method, should these always be marked as FOOD GRADE or does it not matter?
 
eh, food grade :? never heard of salts that we're "food grade" approved, I doubt it matters as long as they're the correct ones and dissolved in distilled water
 
Hey Alan, thanks for your answer, I was trawling the internet for the powders and I remember seeing FOOD GRADE on the description which seemed to bump the price.

Based on your comment I now doubt whether I was searching the correct powders.
 
Hello,
It doesn't matter what grade of fertilizer is used. The most efficient policy is to obtain the salts at the lowest price possible.

It also doesn't matter whether salts are dissolved in distilled water or tap water or lake water or Nile River water. Again, the most efficient policy is to use the least expensive water. The only caveat is, for example, if the tap contains toxic substances such as pesticides or herbicides, or is high in pathogen count. Dechlorination is not a concern because it is easily done. In fact the amounts added to the tank will be very small and the chlorine in the small bottle will suppress fungal growth and so forth.

Cheers,
 
Hey Clive, thanks that was the news I was hoping for.

But then I guess it is only an economy if I manage to buy the correct ones!

Is it safe to search just the chemical symbol?
 
Hi papa,
Yes...just make sure you know what the right symbols are. KNO3, KHxPO4 (the "x" means any number), Epsom Salts or MgSO4 (if you need it). Definitely avoid for the meantime, any fertilizer using the symbol NH3 or NH4 as this is ammonia/ammonium. These can be used in lesser quantities, as they are powerful fertilizers, and most commercial aquatic brands use NH4 in minute quantities, but in the hands of the inexperienced bulk powders of these ammonium salts they can be troublesome.

Searching by chemical symbol is the preferred method. :cool:

Cheers,
 
Ive always stuck to lab grades ever since I started dosing EI. The agricultural grades often have impurities in them that much up other peoples mixes from time to time
 
Back
Top