High nitrates. Please help

[psuguy]

The nitrates in my 55 gallon FOWLR tank is reading 160ppm. I have completed 50% water changes for the past 3 days and have not seen any decrease. I am using ro water and adding Seachem prime to the new water. Last week I suddenly lost 3 fish and the two remaing were dressed. A water change helped them but I have had no luck in reducing the nitrates

 

[psuguy]

Also, I am using an API test kit

 

[beaslbob]

First I would test ammonia with the seachem multitest kit to determine what the free and total ammonia levels are.

then I would only add Prime for the free ammonia.

(danger is prime also reduces the oxygen in the water and fish can suffocate with the same symptoms as ammonia)

Your nitrates IME could be anywhere from ~80-over 160 because of the way the api test kit colors work. Once the tank starts more fully consuming nitrates they drop down over a period of a few days. But first you have to get there.

If you have algae in the tank it is possible the algae is consuming ammonia and forgoing nitrates for nitrogen. So sometimes no ammonia with some nitrates is actually a good thing.

If you don't have macro algaes I would add them is some kind of refugium. The can be just a simple egg crate partition with some side lighting.

Hopefully the tank will start doing much better.


my .02

 

[flower]

Also, I am using an API test kit

Hi,

Prime is to reduce ammonia, not nitrates. It sucks up the oxygen, which why you lost fish. Fish don't care about nitrates, even into the 100s, inverts suffer and die over 40, and most corals over 20. API test kits are not reliable, they read 4Xs higher than other kits. There is nothing wrong with the kit per say...it tests a wider range of nitrates and most hobbyists THINK there is a problem when there isn't, and panic (such as you did). If you did a water change and there was no help... the kit is reading high, it's not your tank. Do water changes to get the prime out of the tank...point a power head toward the surface to try and get more oxygen into the tank,

Then get Seachem kits, or Salifert...anything except API.

 

[beaslbob]

Flower does have a point on the api nitrate kit.

there are two measures of nitrates. one is called total nitrates and reflects the total nitrate ion. The other is nitrate-nitrogen which is only the nitrogen part. So when measuring nitrates it is best to check how the kit is calibrated. And it is a simple conversion facto of ~ 4. Once that is considered the api kit is fine. but best to check whatever kit you're using.

 

[psuguy]

Thanks for the response. I will get a better kit and see what the results are

 

[geridoc]

Flower does have a point on the api nitrate kit.

there are two measures of nitrates. one is called total nitrates and reflects the total nitrate ion. The other is nitrate-nitrogen which is only the nitrogen part. So when measuring nitrates it is best to check how the kit is calibrated. And it is a simple conversion facto of ~ 4. Once that is considered the api kit is fine. but best to check whatever kit you're using.

Glad to see someone else coming to the defense of the API nitrate test kit. Knocking this kit has become routine when, as you point out, it works fine. It just measures nitrate differently, but just as reliably as any other.

 

[streamer]

it is amazing how many ppl knock the api test kits when in reality that's what they have and use..I have that kit along with salifet and when I test I have used both to see the results, guess what, got the same reading from both...

 

[beaslbob]

it is amazing how many ppl knock the api test kits when in reality that's what they have and use..I have that kit along with salifet and when I test I have used both to see the results, guess what, got the same reading from both...

+1

And IME the total nitrates vrs nitrate-nitrogen is kinda moot. The only kit I've had emphasizing nitrate-nitrogen was a fast test kit which may not be available anymore.

 

[flower]

it is amazing how many ppl knock the api test kits when in reality that's what they have and use..I have that kit along with salifet and when I test I have used both to see the results, guess what, got the same reading from both...

Hi,

I used API test kits for years, I always had a reading of around 5...then one day it read 80+ out of the blue...80+. My shrimp and corals looked fine, but should be dead at that reading. I did a water change and it dropped to 10, but by the next day it read 80+ again. I started doing daily water changes... I was a wreck worrying over the nitrates being that high. I thought my kit might be old, so I purchased a new master kit...same reading.

Then I got a Seachem multi kit, it has a regent to be able to test and see if the test is accurate. It said my nitrates were 1. API kits read more than what other kits read, 4Xs higher is the number Geri Doc came up with. There was nothing wrong, but the higher number freaked me out. Why it didn't read so high for so long, I can't explain, but the moment nitrates began to really climb, the test kit read off the chart high. Now remember, if Seachem read 1 AFTER all the daily water changes, my nitrates were high... but the API wouldn't drop to read below the 80+ each day. Once I got nitrates to 0 according to the Seachem kit, even the API read 0...THEN they were reading the same.