how many dose for nitrates

[BantyRooster97]

I've been experiencing the exact same issue. Healthy tank, pale corals (some). I added fish, still 0 nitrate and .25 phosphate. Added more fish, same thing. I just recently started dosing sodium nitrate. enough to raise nitrate 1ppm every other day & still test at 0. So today I doubled the dose to see if I can get any nitrates to be detectable. Slow is the name of the game in my opinion.

 

[ZaneTer]

What you will find is a very large initial uptake of nitrate until the corals and algae are saturated. The maintenance dose required thereafter is actually quite a lot less. This is why people often overshoot

 

[jeffyhound]

bad test kit. no my dkh is 9. I have new kits on order.. also corals are not pale as much as not colore, brown and green.

 

[jeffyhound]

BigJohnny you caught something for me that explains a lot. I tested mixed water and it showed that my salt mixed up to 11.6dkh. I began dosing my tank based on that test. You caught that it shouldn't be testing that high. I confirmed that with a simple search. I should have been seeing 9 according to HW Marine. Using a API kit that I keep for a secondary reading if something is off, I showed 9. So I broke out a new Red Sea kit thinking I had a bad test kit, and it also showed 11.6. I ran a sample over to a friend and his Salifert Showed 9. The bottom line is the Red Sea kits are giving me bad readings, and I have used them for years. I only started dosing at that 11.6 a few months ago. For years I dosed at 8.5. Seeing as how the RS kit was reading nearly 2.5 points high, when I thought it was 8.5 it was likely actually in the 6's. No wonder I struggled with color and growth! Needless to say, armed with Salifert kits, I think after years of struggling, I have finally found the real problem. Needless to say, I am not real happy with Red Sea at the moment.

 

[BigJohnny]

BigJohnny you caught something for me that explains a lot. I tested mixed water and it showed that my salt mixed up to 11.6dkh. I began dosing my tank based on that test. You caught that it shouldn't be testing that high. I confirmed that with a simple search. I should have been seeing 9 according to HW Marine. Using a API kit that I keep for a secondary reading if something is off, I showed 9. So I broke out a new Red Sea kit thinking I had a bad test kit, and it also showed 11.6. I ran a sample over to a friend and his Salifert Showed 9. The bottom line is the Red Sea kits are giving me bad readings, and I have used them for years. I only started dosing at that 11.6 a few months ago. For years I dosed at 8.5. Seeing as how the RS kit was reading nearly 2.5 points high, when I thought it was 8.5 it was likely actually in the 6's. No wonder I struggled with color and growth! Needless to say, armed with Salifert kits, I think after years of struggling, I have finally found the real problem. Needless to say, I am not real happy with Red Sea at the moment.

Glad I could help

 

[drawman]

BigJohnny you caught something for me that explains a lot. I tested mixed water and it showed that my salt mixed up to 11.6dkh. I began dosing my tank based on that test. You caught that it shouldn't be testing that high. I confirmed that with a simple search. I should have been seeing 9 according to HW Marine. Using a API kit that I keep for a secondary reading if something is off, I showed 9. So I broke out a new Red Sea kit thinking I had a bad test kit, and it also showed 11.6. I ran a sample over to a friend and his Salifert Showed 9. The bottom line is the Red Sea kits are giving me bad readings, and I have used them for years. I only started dosing at that 11.6 a few months ago. For years I dosed at 8.5. Seeing as how the RS kit was reading nearly 2.5 points high, when I thought it was 8.5 it was likely actually in the 6's. No wonder I struggled with color and growth! Needless to say, armed with Salifert kits, I think after years of struggling, I have finally found the real problem. Needless to say, I am not real happy with Red Sea at the moment.

Unfortunately I've had similar weird readings with new Red Sea Alk test batches as well. Nothing can ever be 100% but I can't remember ever being disappointed in Salifert. Glad you found it!

 

[jeffyhound]

Well it wasn't me. BigJohnny spotted the problem. It never occurred to me. Red Sea is a brand that has been there since I began keeping marine tanks in 1977. I believed in them, trusted them, and even swore to other reefers that they were great kits. It is really sad that an API kit that everyone hates out does the RS!