Nitrate test false?

[computrgk]

Could my test kit give me false results the only reason why i ask this is that even though i've heard people being able to keep inverts with high nitrates mine never seem to come down any at all i've add more filtration more water movement LR LS i'm gonig to setup a sump system in a couple of months i guess that may tell more. Is lighting a factor in nitrate breakdown.
i've got the basic test kit is there one that gives more accurate results??
i'm not overly concerned at this time but soon would like to start introducing corals (4-5 months) but need to know a sure fire way to bring them down and keep them down,
i knw the rest of my parameters are fine to ok. ph is like 8.2 amonia is negligible aswell as nitrites. my calcium must be donig ok as i've got new coraline growth could alkalinity affect the nitrates or is just waste and nothing else. Please explain all causes for nitrates if any othe than waste.
As always thanks for your knowlege/help/advice/opinions.

 

[lion_crazz]

Originally Posted by ComputrGk
Is lighting a factor in nitrate breakdown.
No.
Originally Posted by ComputrGk
i've got the basic test kit is there one that gives more accurate results??
I do not know what you consider as the basic kit, but I usually recommend people to use Salifert kits because they are so accurate.
Originally Posted by ComputrGk
could alkalinity affect the nitrates or is just waste and nothing else. Please explain all causes for nitrates if any othe than waste.
Alk is related to pH and calcium, not nitrates. Nitrates could be caused by uneaten food decaying, too much food being given to the fish, too many fish in the tank, not enough water changes, not enough water being taken out during water changes, not vacuuming everywhere in the tank, not enough gallons being moved per hour (gph), etc.
What you need to tell me is:
-what size is your tank?
-what do you have in the tank as far as fish?
-how many lbs. of live rock you have?
-how often you feed the fish?
-how often you vacuum the substrate?
-how many gallons you take out per water change?
-how high are your nitrates?

 

[dskidmore]

Many of the cheaper kits can be way off base, and are only really good for seeing changes rather than exact values. I had some Jungle Quick Dip test strips that were reading my freshwater tank at 30 Nitrates. My Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit a day later read the nitrates at 15, without my having taken any action. Cheap kits are a great way to get through new tank syndrome, QT crisises, and other times when you need frequent testing of an inpricise degree. They are not a good way to fine tune the balance of your water chemistry.

 

[computrgk]

i'm getting deja vu
anyway it's a 75
LR 40-50 LBS not enough yet.
LS
10% water change every other week
3 damsels 1 hawkfish scooter blenny decorator crab hermit crab sally lightfoot long spiny urchin what i think is a formia star i think thas it
feed every two days so that everything is eaten immediatly
i stir up the substrate when doing water change
the nitrates are around 40-60 but tend to fluctuate.
i'm going to do a water change tonight
After ROME

 

[dskidmore]

How deep is that substrate? How much of it do you stir up? If it's a deep sand bed, you only want to disturb a small section at a time, so over several months you cover the whole bed. Denitrification can occur in the deep sand, but stiring it up breaks up the anarobic zones as well as releasing compounds that may not have fully cycled yet.

 

[computrgk]

it's only like 2 inches maybe even 1 1/2 deep

 

[computrgk]

it's only like 2 inches maybe even 1 1/2 deep
and i stir it all up due to the depth i know at like 4 inches it will break it down but don't really want to go with the much substrate

 

[the reef]

do you have a canister filter cause they need to be cleaned twice a week to remove the nitrate build up

 

[lion_crazz]

Well for now, I would recommend increasing your water change % to get the nitrates down. A 10% bi-weekly water change will help keep them down once they are down. Eveyrthing else sounds good. The only thing you did not touch upon was the flow rate in your tank. If there is a lot of detritus building up under live rock, this could cause high nitrates as well.

 

[murph]

you have to have a fully stabilized tank reading 0 for nitrites before you can believe any nitrate reading regardless the Test kit.

 

[dskidmore]

Some kits specificly say they are testing for total nitrogen, then you can use a formula to subtract your ammonia and nitrite results.

 

[computrgk]

my filtration isn't the best i have however purchased two smaller powerheads and have both aimed at the LR to stir up i'm probably running with the cheap filtration and powerheads around 1000 GP/h i cannot say that for sure that is just a guess I am however going to be jumping up to a custom made fuge in 2-3 months. also i'm sure a good protein skimmer would help elimenate some nitrates as well. after reading your post about doing a higher % water change i did a 20% change nitrates are at 40 ppm

 

[dskidmore]

Originally Posted by ComputrGk
i did a 20% change nitrates are at 40 ppm
Just keep it up. You're on track. It's going to take a long time to bring it down, just make sure it is going down on a weekly basis, and it will eventually come down.
20% weekly water change, with no nitrate production. (Yeah, unrealistic, actual numbers will be higher due to nitrate production.)
Week 140
Week 232
Week 325
Week 420
Week 516
Week 613
Week 710
Week 88
Week 96
Week 105

 

[computrgk]

would a protien skimmer speed that up a little or am I just in for the long haul of what i consider major water changes? Also i just inherited* a sand sifting star and am a little curious as to the cleaning of sand will that not take food away from him? Sorry if i'm not making any sense i'm working on no sleep :jumping:

 

[dskidmore]

The protien skimmer will keep nitrates from forming, but won't really reduce what's already formed. The only other alternative is a diffrent form of nitrate export, like a refugium.

 

[luke g]

how man fish do you have in yourt tank ,to many fish can make your nitrate high

 

[bluelagoon]

hey ComputrGk!!! i just saw you're from WARSAW INDIANA! that's awesome! i'm from pierceton, but right now i'm at school in Angola! when you get your nitrates down and all, you should talk to sweetdawn on here, she's from pierceton too, and she has tons of pulsing xenias if you're interested!

 

[computrgk]

right on my sister and her husband live in fort wayne I guess i'll just have to wait till i get my fuge to really lower the nitrates i'll be upgrading lighting at that time as well which brings another question all togeather about the amount of fish i've only got 3 damels maybe 4 a jawfish a hawkfish and the rest are all inverts not enough inverts but my money supply is low due to i'm a college student her in warsaw. My question regarding lighting is i know it's good to have 5-7 WPG to maintain most coral and i found i can do almost 6 like 5.9 with pc lighting is this going to do as good as 5.9 using Hilade lighting at 75 gallon i found 384 or there abouts for lighting. I will however do water changes till i get the fuge and hope to bring em down but when i change to fuge will that dramatically bring down the nitrates if i use some sort of LR with vegitation. or will it take a while also would adding some of the nitrate removing filter media now help? Sorry this post doesn't make a whole lot of sense i'm watching the colts while typing.

GO COLTS

 

[bluelagoon]

nope, that was super hard to read! :notsure:
and i'm not too good w/ technical stuff anyways, so even if it was i wouldn't understand! :hilarious
i've only got a 5 gal, so i don't have anything on that didn't come w/ it (an eclipse), except of course a heater, cuz i think it's somewhere in the laws of college dorm life that the dorm rooms can't stay anywhere NEAR a stable temperature!

and i don't know why, but i'm lovin the smilies today....

 

[computrgk]

yeah i jus reread that and didn't hardly understand it at all i changed subjects there wow ah well I guess my question really is a quick way to lower nitrates so that it won't be as hard for my new filtration system to maintain good water quality i'm still rather frustrated though as all my inverts are doing great molting fine all that yet my nitrates are reading really high this goes aginst all conventional wisdom on inverts and nitrates :notsure: :notsure: this is certainly a head scratcher