Gregsf66 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) Ok this is starting to get annoying.... I'm not going to lie... I have neglected my 75 Gallon over the past 5 months and I'm getting back into the hobby and I have Nitrate problems.... I had 120ppm when I started the testing 3 days ago.... Now I have 110ppm current today... I have removed over 45 gallons total... Why are these nitrates not going down?? I have been in the Hobby for over 6 years and saltwater for around 3..... How can I get these Nitrates down besides 30 Gallon Water changes every other day??? Me being an impatient person does not help.. thx in advance... Edited February 14, 2011 by Gregsf66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 This is a long shot but get your water tested by at least one other person/place/kit. The same thing was happening to me and just about as I started feeling crazy frustrated I found out my test kit was bad. Probably old. My nitrates that stayed at 40 no matter how many 50% changes I did turned out to be practically 0. Good luck, you'll get there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 This is a long shot but get your water tested by at least one other person/place/kit. The same thing was happening to me and just about as I started feeling crazy frustrated I found out my test kit was bad. Probably old. My nitrates that stayed at 40 no matter how many 50% changes I did turned out to be practically 0. Good luck, you'll get there! I second this. See if someone here locally could lend you a test meter, or a very reliable test meter. If you're using an API test kit, it is very probably that it is wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I was using an api kit as a matter of fact... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregsf66 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) I'm using a marinelane api liquid test kit. I'm also testing my tap and the saltwater I'm putting in it. And they are 0. Ok. I will have Austin aqua dome test it tomorrow. Edited February 14, 2011 by Gregsf66 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregsf66 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 What test kits do you all use??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 You might want to call before you have it tested there. They were going to be out of reagents for nitrates for several days as of Fri. Plus they're closed on Mondays Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregsf66 Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 See how long I have been out of this game. I can't even remember when the Damm fish store is open Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I've started using red sea pro. It's for low range nitrates, like 0-15, but it's a million times easier to interpret the results. I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 IMO, nothing wrong with API for NH3, NO2, NO3 as long as they are "good". IIRC, API gives them a couple of year shelf life from the date on the box. I also like the pH but it's not exactly accurate to .1, as well as the Alk/dkH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I used to use the API kit unit the same test (Nitrate) from 2 different API kits gave me 2 wildly different results: A Tale of Two Test Kits I use the Elos kit for Nitrates. Once it is gone, I'll use the Salifert one if the Hanna Checker Nitrate isn't out yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 IMO, nothing wrong with API for NH3, NO2, NO3 as long as they are "good". IIRC, API gives them a couple of year shelf life from the date on the box. I also like the pH but it's not exactly accurate to .1, as well as the Alk/dkH. The Nitrite test was giving me a 25-30 ppm reading when they were actually 0. I tested them with Mark's Hanna meter. The Nitrate test has given me very inaccurate results before as well. Tested around 20 and they were <5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Well I had to go and refresh my memory on this. One thing to remember when comparing Nitrate test kits and test results is some give results as Nitrate Ion ( NO3- ) and some give results as Nitrate as Nitrogen ( NO3-N ), not using the conversion factor will cause considerable confusion. To convert a Nitrate Ion result to Nitrate as Nitrogen divide by 4 (4.4 for obsessive types) for the reverse multiply by four (again 4.4 for obsessive types). The API kit is one that gives the results as Nitrate Ion. The Hanna HI 3874 gives results as Nitrate as Nitrogen. A reading of approximately 40 ppm by an API test kit should give a reading of about 10 ppm with the Hanna. As far as verifying the accuracy of different test kits it would seem to me testing against a laboratory grade sample would be the best way to do it but for myself I think for all practical purposes (unless a test kit can be shown to read 0 nitrates when there are in fact moderate or high levels) it's a moot argument for two reasons: The first is nitrates are not that detrimental to our animals, Sprung and Delbeck, The Reef Aquarium VIII pg 175, report nitrate readings as high as 40 ppm NO3- "may encourage more rapid growth of both soft and stoney corals". My understanding is what causes problems is the adverse effect that nitrate production has on Alkalinity and pH (I think it's especially important to maintain a history of these two parameters) . In my tanks I'm going to let these tests and how my animals are reacting determine my response to the presence of Nitrates. The second reason based on my 23 years experience keeping saltwater ecosystems is if I maintain a stable ecosystem with correct feeding, adequate water changes and maintenance the nitrates will be negligible (even with a wet/dry). Greg, if this was my tank unless pH and Alkalinity were off historical norms I'd just do weekly 5-10% water changes and monitor my feeding. While an inaccurate test kit is most likely the case another explanation for the inconsistency between the test results and the percentage of water change that Sprung and Delbeck point out is that nitrogen fixation can occur where cynobacteria convert dissolved nitrogen gas into nitrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb247 Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Def. go to multiple stores if you're going to have them test it. I was going to one store (leave it un-named for now) and they were telling me mine were off the charts, then I went to 2 other stores (Aqua-dome being one of them) and they said I was <5 ppm. Tested myself with an api kit and I was below 5ppm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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