nitrate question

i was told nitrate to some point is detoxified by saltwater and over a short time period doesent affect fish,corals thats a different story but i just bought a api test kit and have always used them without issue,make sure your putting the right amount of drops in im hoping this isent a strip kit they truely are horrible

 

ok I did the test twice bot the same way rinse in the water

10 drops of bottle one 30 sec shake 10 drops bottle 2 shake for 1 min let sit for 5 mins

It might be to be honest my lfs isnt always the greatest but the only thing that seems to have an issue is the green shroom everything else is fine and acting eating fine as well.

I run an ehiem 2213 can filter with a hob with carbon a filter floss. changed the media in the hob but left the can filter alone also did a 2 gallon water change and am mixing some more sw for the rest of the water and will test for comparison using RO/DI water

but again thanks for all the help

 

You may want to clean out that canister filter. I have an Ehiem 2280 canister filter that I just cleaned out yesterday. I was amazed how nasty it was. I'm going to start cleaning it every water change. My nitrates have been in the 10-20 range and I'm sure the filter is the reason.

 

Are you shaking the tube for 30 seconds or bottle #2? Just wanted to make sure you're doing the latter.

 

+1 The instructions are VERY specific, they need to be followed to the tee. After running the test the tube should be rinsed out thoroughly to prevent contamination. I use a timer for mine to make everything more accurate.

 

Yes, this is an important point/question. You need to be shaking bottle #2 for 30 seconds prior to use.

 

yes to all of the above and i did a waters change last night and retested this morning and it still read at 80 PPM also did shake for 30 sec and retested twice this morning just to be safe and did replace the filter on the hob and did anothe 10% change or 2 gallons and tested the new water for a nutral test and it showed at 0 ppm bunch of work in a few hours.

will try and clean the can filter tonight and see what happens but the fish and corals specificaly the mushroom ;D but every thing else in the tank is doing very well and has for the last year. also the coralife salt has qa ph rating os 8.2 freshly mixed in the bucket ;D which is good and thats measured by a half cup per gallon.

 

FWIW, I have two API Nitrate kits. One kit gives ~80 ppm, the second kit gives 10-20 ppm (using the same water). The HI reading kit is about 8 months older than the low reading kit. Yes I am shaking all tubes and bottles as specified in the instructions. My fish, anemone, and corals all look good. I will go to my lfs for a tie breaker. Very confusing.

 

lol i might go get a single kit from the LFS and re check but every thing looks great today after another bwater change last night so we will see

 

ALright after the 2 wter change I have to confirm that the API kit does work My nitrates are down to 20 ppm as of today and evertthing looks great including the mushroom that wouldnt open up so yea just an update and ill do 1 more change tonight and regurally after that at 10 per week ?Thanks to all for the help and advice ;D