Nitrates are insanely high! 80-160ppm

[miyags]

Have you tested your newly made salt water.???

 

[Decalf]

Have you tested your newly made salt water.??? +1 here if it reads 160 here you have something wrong with your RODI or test kit

 

[VelasCorals]

This may seem like a weird question, but are you following the directions when testing? Are you taking any short cuts? I usually like to read the directions Right out og the book every once n' awhile to make sure I am doing it right.

I've read the directions several times so I think I'm doing it right. I take out 5ml of water and then add it to the test tube. I add 10 drops of soution #1, cap and shake. Then I shake solution #2 for 30 seconds and add 10 drops. Then I shake the test tube for 60 seconds and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Have you tested your newly made salt water.???

I'm going to do that tonight. I have not test frest salt water. I have tested my RO/DI and it came out as 0. Also 0 TDS.

I'm thinking about dosing Brightwell Bio Fuel to the tank to help get it down.

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Look into carbon dosing. White distilled vinagar or vodka will work great. Google carbon dosing and find a site from reefkeeping.com it's got a lot of great info. Just remember dosing anything will only cover the problem and not solve it.

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

Here's the article. Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

 

[returnofsid]

I don't think Saltwater and Freshwater Nitrate test kits are the same, though I could be wrong. What I'm saying is, when using a SW Nitrate test kit, I don't think you can accurately use it to test FW or RO/DI water.

 

[jedimasterben]

The test kits are the same - the results are not. The color charts for FW and SW are different.

 

[VelasCorals]

Looks like the color charts are around 10ppm off between fresh and SW. My RO/DI is testing 0 so I'll test a fresh batch of salt water and see what it shows. I doubt the Reef Crystals has a nitrates reading though...

 

[Sahin]

Did you sort out your nitrate problem?

I have about 25-30ppm nitrates as measured by my API test kit. I have ordered a Salifert test kit as the API is crap at lower levels. I have also started to dose AZ-NO3 into my tank. I am in day 4 so far. My tank was reset about 2-3 months ago and I am battling really bad nitrates. Apart from 3 LPS frags I dont have any other corals in the tank so I thought I'd go the AZ-NO3 route. Its basically a form of carbon dosing. Most reports over the years say that it works pretty well.

 

[jedimasterben]

Did you sort out your nitrate problem?

I have about 25-30ppm nitrates as measured by my API test kit. I have ordered a Salifert test kit as the API is crap at lower levels. I have also started to dose AZ-NO3 into my tank. I am in day 4 so far. My tank was reset about 2-3 months ago and I am battling really bad nitrates. Apart from 3 LPS frags I dont have any other corals in the tank so I thought I'd go the AZ-NO3 route. Its basically a form of carbon dosing. Most reports over the years say that it works pretty well.

I would have just used vinegar or sugar - significantly cheaper.

 

[Tinola]

I would read up on carbon dosing if your nitrates are that high

 

[Lilmatty5dimes]

i've got a midwest aquatics sulfur denitrator for sale. my nitrates were a big problem and bought this and hooked it up and they were all gone in 2 weeks. now i've got them under control i unhooked it and started carbon dosing. still have no nitrates. just a thought.
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/se...02644-midwest-aquatics-sulfur-denitrator.html

 

[VelasCorals]

I've got them down to 30-40 range with just feeding a lot less. I'm not too worried about it now because I'll be moving my tank in a month or so and adding a fuge to the system. I'll monitor it after that and see if the back up to those high amounts again. I'm also going to remove 3-5 fish to help with the bio load. Thanks for all the help.

 

[mattgreene22]

Did you ever compare test kit readings? Interesting idea a ways back about a club who brought all their test kits and compared on the same water....wamas should meet again in january

 

[psionicdragon]

sulfate denitrator works well for high nitrate. takes time. Carbon dosing does too, but it has its limitation.

 

[fjpod]

Sorry I'm late to the conversation, and I think you may have answered your own question by adjusting your feeding. I was going to comment that I thought your feeding regimen and the types of foods may have been the cause of your problem, not your test kit. I was also going to suggest that since everything seemed to be thriving in your tank, that although you want to bring the nitrates down, you do it slowly, such as with 20 percent weekly water changes (and a change in your foods and schedule).

What? no algae problems?

I also use API test kits and they have never given me "wrong" readings. they may not give an exact number for every parameter, but if you do them periodically, you can easily tell which way your tank is going.

If you've gotten your trates to 30 from over 100, I would slow down a bit.