nitrates

[sduerk]

I've been using the test kit from American Pharmacueticals (i think) it's the popular test kit with all the fish on the box. Anyway it has been telling me that my nitrates were around 20ppm. Well my carpet anemone has not been doing well so i bought a new test kit that you dip into your tank and test and this test tells me that my trates are around 80 ppm. I was quite shocked so I did a 10 gallon water change and my trates came down slightly. I'm going to do another one tonight but I just wanted to relay my horror story to you all.

 

[bang guy]

If you have a reef tank you really need to find a long term solution to your Nitrate problem. I'd also recommend getting a second opinion with another test.
80 ppm isn't lethal to most animals but it will prevent corals from thriving.
If you give us specifics about your setup I'll bet you get several ideas from the group that might help.
Guy

 

[frankl15207]

I would recommend getting a test done by your LFS. The dip in strips would probably sit at the lowest level of acceptable test kits. My LFS told me that he quit using the Aq. Pharm. dry tab kits because of constant readings of 80 ppm when he knew that wasn't the case. He now uses the Seatest Fastests exclusively for nitrate. I have had occasional bad readings with those, but simply retest. Sometimes the packets are a little low or high on chemicals.
Although I use the Salifert nitrate kit for low level readings, I have had ridiculous results when using their mid-range test. The low range reads at about 5 and the mid-range will read at 25-30. The reading that I get from the Fastest is less than 10 which matches Salifert's low level results. Something is really wrong there.
Get another test done before you panic.

 

[sduerk]

well i have a 55 gal reef with 2x65watt actinic and 2x65 watt 10000k pc's. Everything reads fine except for the trates. I have been using the test kit with the drops and was not satisfied with the ability to distinguish between 10/20/40/60 so on and so forth. The colors were just not extreme enough. So I asked the lfs and they said to use the dip strip as that is what they use for more accurate readings. What's the next step?

 

[guppie]

I would ask your lfs to test your water and then go from there. If they are high keep doing water changes, I would do 20% every day until it came down. You might want to cut back on your feeding, maybe to everyother day. If it continues to be a problem you might want to think about setting up a refugium with some micro algee, this will help out alot.

 

[slowest is fastest]

Definately not the most accurate form of testing. IMHO I think they are way to suseptable to contamination prior to testing and more often than not give a high reading.
The only way to be sure that you are getting the most accurate readings on tests performed is to learn to do them properly and do them yourself using high quality test kits.
Nitrates greater than 10ppm can cause problems. Unless you complete the nitrogen cycle through one (or a combination) of the methods mentioned above or do sufficient regular water changes nitrates will always be a problem.
SiF

 

[bang guy]

sduerk - Tell me about your filtration system. Live sand? How Deep. Live Rock? How much? etc.

 

[danrw84]

bang guy.
can you help me out here?
about to put a CPR hang on refugium on my 29 gal... the 12 inch one
what do you suggest i put in it? can i use LS instead of miracle mud? what do you reccomend?
i can get the calerpa algae that isnt sold in stores from an employee at my LFS..he has it in his tank.
i am curing some LS and LR rubble for it.
what do you suggest? will this be helpful for my tank?
you can see pics of it on my post last night
thanks for any help!

 

[bang guy]

danrw84 - I'll start a new thread for you. sduerk needs some help and we shouldn't hijack his thread.

 

[sduerk]

thanks for the concern.
I have around 75 - 80 lbs of LR and my DSB is around 5-6 inches high (however much that is) The system has been set up for around 2 yrs with never much of any problem. I have a wet/dry filtration, of course, on top of the lr/ls, and protein skimmer. I am perplexed now and when I went home for lunch my carpet anemone was face down with what looked like white ooze coming out of his "foot". I think I have enough ls but I could add more lr. I have had green star polyps and an umbrella leather which are doing well now for at least 3 months