Best source of Potassium Silicate??

poindexterous · Aug 7, 2011

So I just ran out of Pro-Tekt and will probably just get another jug of it but was wondering if anyone knows of a better Potassium Silicate product, better as in more Potassium Silicate per dollar. Even better a source of the pure chemical. It seems silly to keep buying and shipping jugs of 95% water to get the active ingredient. Thanks!

Guest 150314 · Aug 7, 2011

canna max labs potassium silicate, the jugs feel twice as heavy as pro-tekt. They recommend .25ml per litre pro tekt recommends 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, do the math. it's also cheaper than pro-tekt for me.

poindexterous · Aug 7, 2011

greenmango said:
canna max labs potassium silicate, the jugs feel twice as heavy as pro-tekt. They recommend .25ml per litre pro tekt recommends 1/2 teaspoon per gallon, do the math. it's also cheaper than pro-tekt for me.

That sounds like a good one, but I can't find it on the web? Or any Canna Silicate/Silica product via a google search?

Gsizzle · Aug 7, 2011

Yellow Bottle Silicate very concentrate. Recomend 1ml/gal

tr1ck_ · Aug 7, 2011

How does PBP Silica Blast stack up? That is what I have and its the only product I have tried.

Snow Crash · Aug 7, 2011

Gsizzle said:
Yellow Bottle Silicate very concentrate. Recomend 1ml/gal

Wow! 53.2% Potassium Silicate? That's crazy. About 10x as concentrated as the Pro-Tekt. I'd think that even 1ml per gallon would be a bit much... I might take that bottle and dilute it down myself to 1/2 strength just to use 1ml/gallon.

I've been digging the Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt myself at 3% K2O and 7% Si2O3, but that Yellow bottle is a better deal... even at $60/liter.

thefatman · Aug 7, 2011

$25.89 Pro-Silicate 4 liter bottle. 0-0-3.8

http://www.growsmarthydroponics.com/Pro-Silicate-4-Liter_p_4204.html

poindexterous · Aug 7, 2011

Gsizzle said:
Yellow Bottle Silicate very concentrate. Recomend 1ml/gal

Yup at 53% Potassium Silicate that's potent stuff!

I'm wondering the ratio of available silica vs potassium silicate is? Dyna Gro rates Pro-Tekt at 7.8% available silica, but the total % of P.Silicate is likely higher as P.Silicate is not 100% silica. Anyone know?

thefatman · Aug 7, 2011

ooops double posthttp://www.growsmarthydroponics.com/Pro-Silicate-4-Liter_p_4204.html

poindexterous · Aug 7, 2011

tr1ck_ said:
How does PBP Silica Blast stack up? That is what I have and its the only product I have tried.

It's fairly mild as I recall, 2% silica maybe? Has both sodium silicate and potassium silicate, not sure why?

Gsizzle · Aug 7, 2011

Snow Crash said:
Wow! 53.2% Potassium Silicate? That's crazy. About 10x as concentrated as the Pro-Tekt. I'd think that even 1ml per gallon would be a bit much... I might take that bottle and dilute it down myself to 1/2 strength just to use 1ml/gallon.

I've been digging the Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt myself at 3% K2O and 7% Si2O3, but that Yellow bottle is a better deal... even at $60/liter.

Takes me a long ways compared to others I have brought. Initial cost is expensive but cheap in the long run. I also recommend using in rez before adding any nutrients. Reason being it will cause a cloudy mess making nutrients less effective.

poindexterous · Aug 7, 2011

How to compare silicate products:

How to compare silicate products:

Alright here's some important info when comparing silicate products. As I suspected % available silicate, and total % potassium silicate, are very different things. I just found the MSDS on Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt and it contains exactly 24.9% potassium silicate, yet the available silicate is 7.8%, so about 30% of the total potassium silicate will be actual available silicate, which should apply to any potassium silicate product.

Thus the yellow bottle silicate is twice the silicate content of dyna-gro, but at $60 a quart is triple the cost per unit of silicate.

Snow Crash · Aug 7, 2011

poindexterous said:
Alright here's some important info when comparing silicate products. As I suspected % available silicate, and total % potassium silicate, are very different things. I just found the MSDS on Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt and it contains exactly 24.9% potassium silicate, yet the available silicate is 7.8%, so about 30% of the total potassium silicate will be actual available silicate.

Thus the yellow bottle silicate is twice the silicate content of dyna-gro, but at $60 a quart is triple the cost per unit of silicate.

Good looking out there. I just added the silicon and the K20 together the first time around. I get my Pro-Tekt for $12 per quart, so 2x the concentration for 5x the cost definitely doesn't make sense to me. I have been having great results with the Pro-Tekt and it is the one I would recommend anyway.

Gsizzle · Aug 7, 2011

poindexterous said:
Alright here's some important info when comparing silicate products. As I suspected % available silicate, and total % potassium silicate, are very different things. I just found the MSDS on Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt and it contains exactly 24.9% potassium silicate, yet the available silicate is 7.8%, so about 30% of the total potassium silicate will be actual available silicate, which should apply to any potassium silicate product.

Thus the yellow bottle silicate is twice the silicate content of dyna-gro, but at $60 a quart is triple the cost per unit of silicate.

Another reason I figure the Yellow bottle was a better buy. It is recommended to be used on a weekly regimen instead of a daily or with every feeding like the others. I took my info from this post from another site. Maybe his math is wrong.

These are all the silica additives I could find...prices listed are the cheapest I could find online

Advanced nutrients, Rhino Skin (1% silica, 80.00 per 4 litres)
Botanicare, Silica Blast (2% silica, 35.00 per 4 litres)
Dyna Grow, Protekt (3.7% silica, 54.00 per 4 litres)
Dutch master, black bottle silica (below 4.9% silica, 23.00 per litre)
Dutch Master, Gold range silica (below 4.9% silica, 18.50 per litre)
Hydro-grow, potassium silicate (26.5% silica, 19.00 per 4 litres)
Yellow bottle, silica bloom (53.2% silica, 53.00 per litre)

The reason for the listing of below 4.9% silica in the Dutch Masters silica is...on the msds sheet it lists 4.99% potassium silicate as the only ingredient (other than water) and about 2/3 of that value will be silicon, the other 1/3 will be potassium
so I tried to err on the side of caution.

Commercial brand clear winner for amount of potassium silicate for the price is Yellow Bottle.
Overall if you don't mind going with the no-name brand hydro-garden, their cost per % of potassium silicate is the best. Their no-name if you work out the ratios, works out to 53% silicate, 1L for $9.50

no-name brands are not for everyone and excluding that I would definitely go with yellow bottle

poindexterous · Aug 8, 2011

So from what I've seen so far the three strongest potassium silicate solutions are:

Yellow Bottle Silica @ 53.2%, for $60 a quart(so $240 a gallon for comparison)
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt @ 24.9% for about $30 a gallon
Grotek Pro Silicate @ 20 to 30%(MSDS isn't more specific) for about $25 a gallon

Most of the others that I've found MSDS's on are from somewhat to much weaker, liquid sand(14%), rhino skin, botanicare, dutch, etc. Sure I missed a few but this is at least enough to help anyone looking.

Again these numbers are % of actual potassium silicate, available silica should be 30% of above numbers.

habeeb · Aug 8, 2011

I always question if one needs to use that much silica..

I only use once at flowering, and at a small dose.

when I had the GH clay, I thought that worked very well, but being a dust, I don't like particles floating in the air..

Anti · Aug 8, 2011

poindexterous said:
Yellow Bottle Silica @ 53.2%, for $60 a quart(so $240 a gallon for comparison)
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt @ 24.9% for about $30 a gallon
Grotek Pro Silicate @ 20 to 30%(MSDS isn't more specific) for about $25 a gallon

these numbers are % of actual potassium silicate, available silica should be 30% of above numbers.

Available Silica translation of above:

Yellow Bottle Silica @ 37.24% available silica
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt @ 17.43% available silica
Grotek Pro Silicate @ 14% to 21% available silica

(I figured as long as I was going to do the calculation for myself, I might as well post it up to save anybody else the trouble.)

poindexterous · Aug 8, 2011

Anti said:
Available Silica translation of above:

Yellow Bottle Silica @ 37.24% available silica
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt @ 17.43% available silica
Grotek Pro Silicate @ 14% to 21% available silica

(I figured as long as I was going to do the calculation for myself, I might as well post it up to save anybody else the trouble.)

Sorry if I was unclear, available is 30% OF the totals, not OFF of them. Thus:

Yellow Bottle Silica @ 16% available silica
Dyna-Gro Pro-Tekt @ 7.5% available silica
Grotek Pro Silicate @ 6% to 9% available silica
(numbers approximate)

poindexterous · Aug 8, 2011

habeeb said:
I always question if one needs to use that much silica..

I only use once at flowering, and at a small dose.

when I had the GH clay, I thought that worked very well, but being a dust, I don't like particles floating in the air..

That brings back memories, I once bought a bucket of GreenAir Pyroclay(probably the same thing), and I hated that stuff, what a friggin' mess in the rez it was, and in the air. Was very happy when it ran out. The silicate solutions are so much easier to use. And I agree not much is needed.

I've been just using it in small doses in place of pH raise as it's so strongly alkaline, thus killing two birds with one stone as they say.

dexter840 · Aug 9, 2011

i just started using a product most in the hobby don't use. it's called sil guard or green speed si same product different label made by growth products http://www.growthproducts.com/pages/horticulture.asp?tables=featured&product=62. it is 0-2-5 with 7 percent silica. it does contain a small amount of phosphite and it comes with 2% humic acid. so far plants seem like they love it.

Best source of Potassium Silicate??

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