amazing discovery today!!!

i think i finally found out why my nitrates are soo high! ;D
yesterday i did a wc. tank looked clean, but corals looked worst than before. gsp totally closed up,xenia shriveled up and toadstool did not look as good as usually does. shrooms,fish and clean-up crew did not seem to be bothered.
i mixed up another batch of saltwater (i use instant ocean reef crystals) added mag chloride and epsom salt because reef crystals don't have enough in it already and let it mix over night.
this morning i was testing to check mainly for mag,cal and alk but decided to go ahead and check ammonia,nitrate and nitrites as well. you know, one of those what the hell, why not kind of moments...lol...
i was very surprized to see that the ammonia level was almost 2.0ppm !!!
of course nitrates and nitrites were 0.0ppm
i am assuming that it has to be my collection/mixing container that i used for holding ro/di water (32 gal brute rubbermaid trash can) it always has water in it and never gets washed. i guess i should start bleaching it every once in a while, but never used bleach before, scared that i will contaminate my tank somehow.
so no wonder my nitrates are always high. if i'm putting in ammonia water, it gets converted to nitrates right off the bat, no overfeeding the fish or anything. just instint nitrates. something to look into for people with high blood red nitrate problem. the pics shown are of the test results. the ammonia results pic is tap water (left) ro/di (center) salt mix (right)

 

Also make sure that your test kit is not expired. I dont remember if it was Inwall or Geekedified, but one posted a test analysis of all the salt mixes out on the market. Look it up and you'll be surprised how most salt mixes have Po4, No2, No3 and Nh3 in the mix. I'm 90% sure it was Geek.


Luna

 

i know that the nitrite test is definitly expired, but ammonia and nitrate are still good (lot # 83A0607 ,84A0607 ,17A0607 and 18A0707)
i would doubt that salt mixes would have almost 2.0ppm ammonia but you never know. i am going to throw out the fresh salt mixed water and clean my holding container and test again. i'm pretty sure it has to be my container.

 

Why not just mix about a quart's worth of SW using RO/DI water (in a glass container) and testing that? That'll let you know if the rubbermaid bin is a variable in this equasion.

 

test the mixed SW before you put in the mag chloride and mag sulphate (epsom salt).

 

okay, i washed container. used dish soap (don't have any bleach)
mixed small amount of sw at 1.026 specific gravity, test results was same as first.
so i took a clean wine glass and collected ro/di water and mixed in salt(super concentrated---specific gravity pegged) those are the ones on the left and right side in the pic. i diluted that down with ro/di water to about 1.028 and thats in the center. looks to be about .50ppm ammonia. sorry pic is blurry this time, but comparing the two together you can tell the difference between the first set of tests and the second set. i would say the salt has .50ppm of ammonia already in the mix, which to me is unacceptable. we should demand ammonia free salt mix :clapping:
how about everybody take pics of their fresh saltwater mix test results and lets compare them to actually see which salt is the best to use as far as ammonia goes. it wont take long and it will be fun to actually see what other salts are testing at without having to buy it first. and, we wont have to just take someones word for it because we will have a pic to see for ourselves!!!!! :thumb_up:

 

are you using food safe quality bin? I made the mistake of not when I first started out and the plastic can leach out impurities. I have since switched to the Brute food grade quality trashcans to store my water and all is fine here.

 

i am using a brute 32 gallon trashcan that i got from lowes a while back. don't know if food grade or not. doesn't say anything about it on the lable.
i have been filling it up again since yesturday (about half full) and i just check for ammonia when i got home from work and it reads 1.0ppm
where do i get food grade containers? or what else can i use to store ro/di water?