API Test Kit Colors and Results ?

[427HISS]

We have a 14g BioCube with apx 30lbs of live rock and removed the bio-balls yesterday because of serious levels of nitrate.
I use API.

I have some very high nitrates, and don't know why ?
I even bought a brand new test kit, to make sure my original agents were ok, but the results are the same.

I performed a 100% water change then tested 24 hrs later and it's still,....reads over 60ppm eek !

I use live rock in this quarantine tank, 2" of sand, 3 small fish, several types of "clean up crews", do not over feed, and I have never encountered this issue before.
It's driving me crazy !

According to the API instructions, we place the test vial against,...., not away, from the white portion of the card, and it's dark red.

The fish and corals look very good and no hair algae on the rock or green or brown algae on the glass !

If I did not test, you would not know the nitrates we so high.

I'm not using a skimmer, as the Cad Lights nano skimmer is junk, causing billions of micro-bubbles. But, with only 14g, I really shouldn't need a skimmer.

What's going on here ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Did you try the kit on some new salt water to see if it is working?

How long has the tank been up?

 

[Cory]

It's genrally hard to tell on the api nitrate test kit because zero is clear and all the others are reddish and become purple in the high range. If nothing is a problem I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[427HISS]

Yes, the RO/DI shows 0.

Set up for 7 months.

I know, it's hard to read a real correct color, but there's a difference between orange and dark red.

 

[gotscreensprinting]

Its not so bad

Im not saying its good but i have had it higher when my anemone died and sea slug my nitrates were off the chart red past 160 ppm nitrates i never lost anything.if you have a sump can we get pics or whats your equipment your running.

 

[gotscreensprinting]

Just do regular water changes you dont have to do 100 % on my 28 gallon cube when i had it i would change about 15% water i also had a chiller and media reactor.if you have bioballs make sure you kep them very clean i would swap out my carbon everyweek with my water changes i used instant ocean natural nitrate reducer

and for my ammonia i used amquel amonia reducer that worked for me.but a key too no nitrates or low nitrates is frequent water changes and cleansines of filter media.

 

[427HISS]

Im not saying its good but i have had it higher when my anemone died and sea slug my nitrates were off the chart red past 160 ppm nitrates i never lost anything.if you have a sump can we get pics or whats your equipment your running.

I don't have a typical sump, but rather the BioCube. I have the first version of the Cad Lights nano skimmer, which sucks because of the billions of micro-bubbles, so I stopped using it !

I guess I will try a additive like Seachem Purigen , Dr. Tim's Waste Away, the Instant Ocean's Natural Nitrate Reducer that you use and etc......

My two new clams are dying ! :sad: (I assume,.....it's the high nitrates) ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

.but a key too no nitrates or low nitrates is frequent water changes and cleansines of filter media.

Nitrate can certainly be reduced with water changes, but IMO, there are more effective ways to keep nitrate at low levels (such as organic carbon dosing, which you use with the IO nitrate reducer).

Water changes alone are fairly limited in their ability to keep nitrate at low levels (say, less than 5 ppm).

 

[427HISS]

What's is organic carbon dosing, similar to vodka dosing ?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What's is organic carbon dosing, similar to vodka dosing ?

Yes, it includes vodka, vinegar, sugar, biopellets, and various commercial concoctions. All are organic molecules that provide "food" for bacteria that grow and as they grow they take up nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate. Some of the growth can be in low oxygen regions, which uses up an especially large amount of nitrate relative to phosphate.

I dose vinegar, along with other methods of reducing nutrients, including growing macroalgae, providing a lot of live rock in my refugia, skimming, GFO, and granular activated carbon.

 

[427HISS]

Dosing scares me ! lol

I don't know what to do. I never had problems with high nitrates back in the 90's, and now I actually have them both tanks. Water changes always worked, but never had them over 10-15ppm.

I always do a lot of researching before buying anything and this problem has now going on 2 weeks, so my wife says that since we used Dr. Tim's One and Only bottled bacteria that worked in starting her tank, to try his Waste Away.
if fact, she said this morning,...."just order something and quit procrastinating" ,...so, I guess I had better !!! lol

I HATE,.....when I buy any products, that don't work, it waste's my time and money, and more importantly, possibly killing corals & fish !
For instance, I've spent over $230 on two nano skimmers that aren't worth a **** !

 

[Ike]

Are you using RO/DI water? Are you using a properly calibrated refractometer to test your salinity levels? Elevated nitrate levels won't usually be an issue for clams, so I suspect something else is at play here...

 

[427HISS]

Yes and yes.

I know clams actually like "dirty water" compared to SPS's, to an extent, but consistent high levels harm fish, corals and clams.
Other than the nitrates, the water parameters are good. The PH is lower than I like at 7.8, but it's ok.

My wife sent me this information. Has anyone tried sugar to lower nitrates ?

"I read the thread on Reef Central about Dr. Tim’s. While on it I did a search and found this thread and here the information, maybe we should try this"


Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!! - Reef Central Online Community Archives


Hi, I have posted this trick to eliminate nitrates many times. I don't know why people use it but here it goes. My tank use to have high nitrates, as in off the chart. Around 60-80ppm, in 2 weeks they were down to zero WITHOUT water changes. I haven't done water changes in months and my nitrates are still at zero. Now I'm not a light feeder, I have a 92G FOWLR tank with a few damsels, an ocellaris clown, clarki clown, pajama cardinal, yellow tang and a hippo tang. Nitrates can only be eliminated naturally by anerobic bacteria, which of course is not in anyones tank since anerobic bacteria. There are very few of these bacteria in aquariums. In order to get this bacteria you need to feed it somthing, what happens to be sugar, plain old white granulated
sugar. Ok, now, this is how I did it...

First of all, you need to have a protein skimmer, it won't work without one, if you don't have one I would highly suggest getting one. As a start I would add 1/8 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 25 gallons of water, every other day. If you have any corals I would do every two days. You can add more but it's better to be safe than sorry. Doing this promotes the growth of anerobic bacteria as I mentioned before. Growing this type of bacteria will use up some oxygen in your tank, thats why it's better to start off with a low ammount of sugar. Your skimmer will supply oxygen as well as skim out all those anerobic bacteria that have just consumed nitrate. Therefore lowering your nitrates http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gifThis truly does work and you will be very suprised how much money it saves you in salt for water changes. I'm not saying you never have to do them again, I'm saying you don't have to ever do water changes to lower nitrates. I have directed many people in the right direction, and not one of those people have told me that they lost live stock and/or corals in the process.

I am saying this because every day, I see some one on here that asks how to lower nitrates besides water changes and I am getting pretty tired of explaining this whole thing to them. I would really appreciate it if people can post there experience on this thread and help keep this thread alive. If there are any questions I am here http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gifI hope this will help people out

 

[SABOB]

Take a water sample to LFS and have them test....Had issues with API Nitrate test kit showing extremely high nitrates, LFS test showed 5-10

 

[427HISS]

Take a water sample to LFS and have them test....Had issues with API Nitrate test kit showing extremely high nitrates, LFS test showed 5-10

REALLY !

Man, I sure hope it's the brand, as I bought a brand new API nitrate kit to test if my original was bad, for what ever reason, but it tested the same,...dark red.

What brand did your LFS use ?

 

[SABOB]

Not sure.....wasn't API.My sample at home was blood red, I freaked and took another sample to LFS,completely different results

 

[427HISS]

I'll call around to our LFS to see if any have a different brand like Salferit. I think every store uses API.
I'm really hoping,..... that my API test is wrong,....very wrong, like yours ! lol :suspicious:

 

[Ike]

Yes and yes.

I know clams actually like "dirty water" compared to SPS's, to an extent, but consistent high levels harm fish, corals and clams.
Other than the nitrates, the water parameters are good. The PH is lower than I like at 7.8, but it's ok.

My wife sent me this information. Has anyone tried sugar to lower nitrates ?

"I read the thread on Reef Central about Dr. Tim’s. While on it I did a search and found this thread and here the information, maybe we should try this"


Nitrate Reduction 101 with sugar!!! - Reef Central Online Community Archives


Hi, I have posted this trick to eliminate nitrates many times. I don't know why people use it but here it goes. My tank use to have high nitrates, as in off the chart. Around 60-80ppm, in 2 weeks they were down to zero WITHOUT water changes. I haven't done water changes in months and my nitrates are still at zero. Now I'm not a light feeder, I have a 92G FOWLR tank with a few damsels, an ocellaris clown, clarki clown, pajama cardinal, yellow tang and a hippo tang. Nitrates can only be eliminated naturally by anerobic bacteria, which of course is not in anyones tank since anerobic bacteria. There are very few of these bacteria in aquariums. In order to get this bacteria you need to feed it somthing, what happens to be sugar, plain old white granulated
sugar. Ok, now, this is how I did it...

First of all, you need to have a protein skimmer, it won't work without one, if you don't have one I would highly suggest getting one. As a start I would add 1/8 of a teaspoon of sugar for every 25 gallons of water, every other day. If you have any corals I would do every two days. You can add more but it's better to be safe than sorry. Doing this promotes the growth of anerobic bacteria as I mentioned before. Growing this type of bacteria will use up some oxygen in your tank, thats why it's better to start off with a low ammount of sugar. Your skimmer will supply oxygen as well as skim out all those anerobic bacteria that have just consumed nitrate. Therefore lowering your nitrates http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/wink.gifThis truly does work and you will be very suprised how much money it saves you in salt for water changes. I'm not saying you never have to do them again, I'm saying you don't have to ever do water changes to lower nitrates. I have directed many people in the right direction, and not one of those people have told me that they lost live stock and/or corals in the process.

I am saying this because every day, I see some one on here that asks how to lower nitrates besides water changes and I am getting pretty tired of explaining this whole thing to them. I would really appreciate it if people can post there experience on this thread and help keep this thread alive. If there are any questions I am here http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gifI hope this will help people out

Nitrates aren't toxic at the levels we're talking for fish or clams. That's something that has been blown out of proportion in this hobby for years. I really like the API calcium and alkalinity tests, but the nitrates for reefers purposes is questionable. I'd suggest getting a Red Sea or Salifert.

 

[427HISS]

Ok guys, all is good for the reefs. Whew !

I took a sample and,....my API nitrate kit, to two stores and tested the water against another brand.
My sample was again, over 60 +, maybe even over 100. Their test was between 10 to 15 !

I actually shouted in glee. lol

I would have done this over a week ago, but I did buy a new API nitrate kit several days ago and it also was over that amount, dark red.
My original kit came with a reef setup that I bought 6 months ago, and could understand if it went bad, for what ever reason,
but the new kit's expiration date is 2018

When I called API a month ago, I gave him the numbers (no actual date, just lot #) on the old one and he said it is 2015.

So, I'm perplexed on how this could happen ?

BUT,.....very excited it wasn't me. lol :bigsmile:


Secondly, I believe the clams problem was too high of salinity. I also had the store check it with my Refractometer, and it was 5 + points higher !
Once I slowly addled RO water and brought it back down to 025, everybody looks much better.

What brand of Refractometer is the easiest to calibrate, read, correct results, but won't brake my bank account ?

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

All I can add is that nitrate testing is among the very worst for accuracy.

I've seen where groups of people get together with different kits and get wildly different results on the same water. It really isn't very encouraging, and its not easy to determine which (if any) of them is accurate.

I don't have a preferred refractometer, but getting one that claims to be a true seawater refractometer is likely a good bet.