I found the reason for my stubborn nitrates!

[Miami Reef]

My nitrates were consistently around 11-12ppm; they wouldn‘t come down!

I tried almost everything under the sun: vodka, vinegar, glucose, and a mixture of the 3. I would dose pretty high at times, but nitrates wouldn’t budge. Yes, I did try reducing my feedings.

In addition to carbon dosing, I also managed to change 15% of my water once a week religiously. I noticed a little-to-no difference in my nitrate levels after these water changes.

I predominantly use the Hannah HR Nitrate kit, but I also cross-checked with the Red Sea Nitrate Pro Kit, which was much above the 4ppm max reading of that kit.

Today I thought maybe I was having nitrites interfere with my test kits. I went to my LFS, which has this API SpinMaster kit, and I got this reading:

Nitrite at 0.1ppm.

I purchased a 32oz bottle of Fritz 9 (treats 80 gallons) and dumped the whole bottle in my 260-gallon tank.

I tested my nitrates a few hours later, and it was 4.1ppm!

It may be even lower tomorrow when the bacteria propagate to the ammonia and nitrite demand.

I don’t have a theory as to why my nitrites and ammonia are 0.1ppm, but I can now understand why some folks see a reduction in nitrates when dosing Microbacter 7: perhaps they may also have a little nitrite?


Edit 1/24/23 : it most likely wasn’t nitrites. I just had to feed less and dose more carbon.

 

[shakacuz]

i’m eager to see the results of other folks who saw this to be the case… few times i took some water to my LFS to test and they come out quite different from what i test at home… granted i don’t fully trust their quality but it’s good for a 3rd opinion(i test 2x a week with two different kits [hanna and red sea]) they also use this test for their purpose. if i remember correctly the times i’ve had different results from theirs i did see either nitrite or ammonia!

 

[vetteguy53081]

My nitrates were consistently around 11-12ppm; they wouldn‘t come down!

I tried almost everything under the sun: vodka, vinegar, glucose, and a mixture of the 3. I would dose pretty high at times, but nitrates wouldn’t budge. Yes, I did try reducing my feedings.

In addition to carbon dosing, I also managed to change 15% of my water once a week religiously. I noticed a little-to-no difference in my nitrate levels after these water changes.

I predominantly use the Hannah HR Nitrate kit, but I also cross-checked with the Red Sea Nitrate Pro Kit, which was much above the 4ppm max reading of that kit.

Today I thought maybe I was having nitrites interfere with my test kits. I went to my LFS, which has this API SpinMaster kit, and I got this reading:

Nitrite at 0.1ppm.

I purchased a 32oz bottle of Fritz 9 (treats 80 gallons) and dumped the whole bottle in my 260-gallon tank.

I tested my nitrates a few hours later, and it was 4.1ppm!

It may be even lower tomorrow when the bacteria propagate to the ammonia and nitrite demand.

I don’t have a theory as to why my nitrites and ammonia are 0.1ppm, but I can now understand why some folks see a reduction in nitrates when dosing Microbacter 7: perhaps they may also have a little nitrite?

I would get yet a third test at a LFS that does not use API tests as spin test is a rapid test kit from the master kits and also has produced false readings
Don’t want to be discouraging but you owe it to yourself to have a reliable and true reading

 

[doubleshot00]

I wouldn’t trust that Aqua spin. And why are you worried about nitrates above 10?

 

[Spare time]

You need to look at the error margin on those API spins. That is still possibly a 0.

 

[Spare time]

AQUASPIN Saltwater Disk (Code SW01) Test Factor Display Abbreviation Range Accuracy Minimum Detection Limit
Alkalinity (KH) ALK 0 – 300 ppm +/- 15% 15 ppm
Ammonia AMMO 0 – 3.0 ppm +/- 0.2 ppm < 1, +/- 0.4 ppm >1 0.2 ppm
Calcium CAL 200 - 800 ppm +/-15 %
Magnesium MAG 500 – 2200 ppm +/- 15 %
Nitrate 0 – 60 ppm +/- 25% 5 ppm
NITRITE 0 – 2.0 ppm +/- 0.2 ppm
pH 6.5 – 10.0 +/- 0.2 units
Phosphate 0 – 2.0 ppm +/- 0.2 ppm

pg 16 https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0358/2869/5084/files/API_AQUASPIN_MANUAL_092022.pdf?v=1663343655

 

[Miami Reef]

I wouldn’t trust that Aqua spin. And why are you worried about nitrates above 10?

I want my tank to look like this one day.

I love the Zeovit look.

 

[Cory]

This is really interesting! So with your hanna nitrate was 12ppm no3? And red sea too? Does your tank have live rock?

 

[Miami Reef]

This is really interesting! So with your hanna nitrate was 12ppm no3? And red sea too? Does your tank have live rock?

Oh yea, I bought 15lbs of KP rocks months ago which colonized all my dry rocks. My entire rock work is full of beautiful coralline algae and life (even pinapple sponges in the sump).

 

[Sean Clark]

This is the classic Fast, Good, Cheap triangle.
You can only pick two. Spintouch is fast and not exactly good.

 

[Miami Reef]

Well, I probably should have put the word ”think” in the title: I THINK I found out why my nitrates are stubborn.

 

[taricha]

Not impossible. Others have found a tenth or so of ongoing NO2 in a stable tank.
the spin-test has high error. But, if adding a bottle of fritz actually lowers testable NO3, then that would be good evidence that there was a little NO2 available to be zero'd out.

 

[Miami Reef]

Well,

I tested my nitrates this morning, and it’s back at 12.5ppm.

There are too many variables to make any assumptions. I wish I had retested it yesterday to ensure it wasn’t just a testing error that gave me a lower reading.

 

[Aqua Man]

I don’t have a theory as to why my nitrites and ammonia are 0.1ppm, but I can now understand why some folks see a reduction in nitrates when dosing Microbacter 7: perhaps they may also have a little nitrite?

Interesting! Lasse uses a Hanna for Nitrite to test his tank occasionally. If I remember correctly, he does get a reading sometimes. Also I think I remember reading that DanP had a persistent Nitrite reading for a bit and discovered that Iron was too low.

 

[Dan_P]

My nitrates were consistently around 11-12ppm; they wouldn‘t come down!

I tried almost everything under the sun: vodka, vinegar, glucose, and a mixture of the 3. I would dose pretty high at times, but nitrates wouldn’t budge. Yes, I did try reducing my feedings.

In addition to carbon dosing, I also managed to change 15% of my water once a week religiously. I noticed a little-to-no difference in my nitrate levels after these water changes.

I predominantly use the Hannah HR Nitrate kit, but I also cross-checked with the Red Sea Nitrate Pro Kit, which was much above the 4ppm max reading of that kit.

Today I thought maybe I was having nitrites interfere with my test kits. I went to my LFS, which has this API SpinMaster kit, and I got this reading:

Nitrite at 0.1ppm.

I purchased a 32oz bottle of Fritz 9 (treats 80 gallons) and dumped the whole bottle in my 260-gallon tank.

I tested my nitrates a few hours later, and it was 4.1ppm!

It may be even lower tomorrow when the bacteria propagate to the ammonia and nitrite demand.

I don’t have a theory as to why my nitrites and ammonia are 0.1ppm, but I can now understand why some folks see a reduction in nitrates when dosing Microbacter 7: perhaps they may also have a little nitrite?

Super interesting! Very cool (and rare) when you can pull everything together.

The assumption in the hobby is that the nitrogen cycle steps are perfectly synchronized. They probably can go out of whack and a little ammonia and nitrite can build up just like in waste water treatment plants. @Lasse had some thoughts on testing nitrites even in established systems.

 

[shakacuz]

Super interesting! Very cool (and rare) when you can pull everything together.

The assumption in the hobby is that the nitrogen cycle steps are perfectly synchronized. They probably can go out of whack and a little ammonia and nitrite can build up just like in waste water treatment plants. @Lasse had some thoughts on testing nitrites even in established systems.

does he have a thread documenting any of his findings? i believe i’m also on the same boat as the OP because my tests are coming back low(tested yesterday with hanna HR no3, and hanna ULR po4) i’m buying new reagents tomorrow as my LFS is closed today and testing again today with a red sea kit

 

[ReefGeezer]

I want my tank to look like this one day.

I love the Zeovit look.

Ya know... Your tank can look like that with 11-12 ppm of nitrate... actually better... the corals will have more color. It takes time though. Every time you add some bottle of something to fix a problem you delay the process. Many of us are adding nitrogen compounds (ammonia, sodium nitrate, etc.) to our tanks to keep our nitrates at 5-10 ppm. You're there already. IMO, get Phosphate <.1 ppm, get Alk stable in the 8.5-9 dKH range and you'll be golden.

 

[Lasse]

The thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-importance-of-nitrite-measurements-in-a-reef-aquarium.754714/

I´ll come back later on in that thread with rather new experiences of a super stalled system - it needs to be resolved first though

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Garf]

Well,

I tested my nitrates this morning, and it’s back at 12.5ppm.

There are too many variables to make any assumptions. I wish I had retested it yesterday to ensure it wasn’t just a testing error that gave me a lower reading.

Is there a law that sais you're nitrite hasn't peaked again?

 

[taricha]

Is there a law that sais you're nitrite hasn't peaked again?

This thread needs actual nitrite tests - not from a spin disk.
API is great. Any other is fine too.