Expired Red Sea Nitrate Pro Test Kit

[Falco]

I have 2 sets of Nitrate Pro test Kits from Red Sea and both have expired reagents. I have tried multiple tests with both sets and every time I am getting clear test water (no color at all) so I am assuming this is from the reagents being expired? I am fairly confident my system has nitrates as I am going through a large algae bloom at the moment. Does anyone have experience using expired reagents, do they drop off that fast for usefulness? One of the sets expired 12/19 so its only a few months gone, would have thought I would at least get some sort of reading while using.

I ordered new test kits but they won't be here for a week

 

[lapin]

Maybe test your tap water. It might have more nitrate than the tank water.

 

[Dom]

I would think that a reagent expired by only a few months would be ok.

 

[Breadman03]

Also remember that all that algae is consuming the free nitrate, resulting in there being nothing left for the test to detect.

 

[Falco]

Maybe test your tap water. It might have more nitrate than the tank water.

Good idea, I am going to test that this morning

 

[Falco]

I would think that a reagent expired by only a few months would be ok.

I thought so too, I am going to test the tap water and see if anything reads. Or even better, I have ESV Nitrate at that picked up a few weeks ago, maybe I will put a little bit of that in with RODI water and test it. that HAS to have nitrate in it, LOL

 

[NS Mike D]

low to no nitrate can explain the algae bloom, especially cyano.

 

[Falco]

Also remember that all that algae is consuming the free nitrate, resulting in there being nothing left for the test to detect.

low to no nitrate can explain the algae bloom, especially cyano.

That was what I was thinking/worried about. I have been trying to get my bubble and hair algae under control over the last few months and I was just getting ready to dose Vibrant (more for the bubble) so I wanted to test my nitrates daily to make sure they don't bottom out. Any recommendations on how/what I should do to test?

Thanks for the help

 

[NS Mike D]

hanna checker for PO4. I'm betting your NO3 are correct. Sounds like a classic you bottomed out your numbers to address an algae issue and created a new one.

 

[Falco]

hanna checker for PO4. I'm betting your NO3 are correct. Sounds like a classic you bottomed out your numbers to address an algae issue and created a new one.

for PO4 I am using Hanna Phosphorus checker and was at .015-.03 the last few days for phosphate (after conversion).

So should I leave things be for a bit, dose nitrates or something else? I can hold off on the vibrant for a bit or maybe start dosing once a week and see how things pan out.

 

[NS Mike D]

for PO4 I am using Hanna Phosphorus checker and was at .015-.03 the last few days for phosphate (after conversion).

So should I leave things be for a bit, dose nitrates or something else? I can hold off on the vibrant for a bit or maybe start dosing once a week and see how things pan out.

I am going to leave this for others on methods to bring your NO3 up. Just a few notes

post a tank pic so we can confirm what we are dealing with,

But I am betting it's cyano, could be others mixed in, but zero NO3 in the presence of PO4 is the other prime suspect in a cyano outbreak.

When NO3 is added, it may not register and PO4 might drop. This is a good sign. It mean the corals and macro algae (if present) are doing their thing again and using both for photosynthesis

If the algae has taken hold, you my consider a rip clean, pulling the rocks, spraying with H2O2, rinsing and replacing to get it out of the tank, like cutting out a cancer, to jump start the going forward process

 

[Falco]

I am going to leave this for others on methods to bring your NO3 up. Just a few notes

post a tank pic so we can confirm what we are dealing with,

But I am betting it's cyano, could be others mixed in, but zero NO3 in the presence of PO4 is the other prime suspect in a cyano outbreak.

When NO3 is added, it may not register and PO4 might drop. This is a good sign. It mean the corals and macro algae (if present) are doing their thing again and using both for photosynthesis

If the algae has taken hold, you my consider a rip clean, pulling the rocks, spraying with H2O2, rinsing and replacing to get it out of the tank, like cutting out a cancer, to jump start the going forward process

I will post some updated pics a little later today but in my main display I have a really bad bubble algae outbreak with a few spots of what looks to be bryopsis or some sort of GHA. Then in my 55g display (all plumbed to the same system) its a new setup and I am having a large GHA bloom in that tank.

I currently have Sea Lettuce in my fuge that grows fairly rapidly and I added Cheato to my 2nd fuge chamber a few days ago. also a large amount of GHA in my fuge as well.

Will post pics ASAP

 

[NS Mike D]

read this too

It was based on his pico and expanded to techniques for all size tanks with incredible high results. The conventional wisdom is to blindly post advice to drive down nutrients pounding that in, and then like in your case, it gets worse because they ignore that too low is also bad (even worse) and it ignores that detritus might be contributing to the issue.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

@brandon429

 

[Dom]

I thought so too, I am going to test the tap water and see if anything reads. Or even better, I have ESV Nitrate at that picked up a few weeks ago, maybe I will put a little bit of that in with RODI water and test it. that HAS to have nitrate in it, LOL

Are you testing using a 10ml water sample or a 5ml water sample?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

low to no nitrate can explain the algae bloom, especially cyano.

I don't agree with that. I don't think low nitrate explains algae or cyano (how would it?), but a lot of algae may explain low nitrate.

The only organism that we keep that seems to do better at low nutrients are dinos, and that is likely, IMO, because they just outcompete other organisms, not because they prefer low nutrients.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The conventional wisdom is to blindly post advice to drive down nutrients pounding that in, and then like in your case, it gets worse because they ignore that too low is also bad (even worse) and it ignores that detritus might be contributing to the issue.

I don't think we blindly post advice in the chemistry forum. You must be thinking of other places. lol

 

[NS Mike D]

I don't agree with that. I don't think low nitrate explains algae or cyano (how would it?), but a lot of algae may explain low nitrate.

The only organism that we keep that seems to do better at low nutrients are dinos, and that is likely, IMO, because they just outcompete other organisms, not because they prefer low nutrients.

I often quote you that no one know for sure what causes cyano to precipitate and mat up. There are some common occurrences, like when someone carbon doses and nitrates bottom out while PO4 remains (ergo recommendations to run GFO). but I suppose it's the organic carbon.

Thanks for adding the part about dinos. I closed off my post before adding that part.

 

[NS Mike D]

I don't think we blindly post advice in the chemistry forum. You must be thinking of other places. lol

correct. I often drop in to your sub-forum for threads. I trust that the discussion are usually based on science and not anecdotal hearsay.

On the other hand the main forum is full of algae threads where the advice is to lower nutrients and dose this or that without knowing what those levels are or even when the zeros are posted. Not to mention the alage threads that now have what appears to be dinos with all sorts of other problems after following lower you nutrient advice and dose xyz products.

fwiw, when I see you quoted me, I immediately go to the post as I know I got something mixed up or a partial answer. I appreciate that very much.