Nitrates won't go down

It definately sounds like the test kit to me. Tropic Marin kits have an expiration date on them...I wish alot of other companies did that.

It looks like your nitrates aren't as bad as you think they are. But, if you still want them to go down to zero, try adding on a refugium. We converted our bioball chamber into a fuge in our sump. It's amazing, our parameters are perfect. Flame algae, sea lettuce, LOTS of Chaeto, and 5 mangroves, as well as a tower of base rock keeps it going. If you can go the cheap way like we did to add in a fuge, I highly recommend it.

 

Wow, Jwin, your not speaking my language..sounds great but fuge, refugium, sump...so much to learn. I dont know what those are
Sorry....I don't have anybody locally to fall back on expect for people like you on this site so Thanks!
Tropic Marine - I will have to check into buying these kits instead..Your right, I looked on all my test kits and cannot find any expiration dates and if they go bad in time than it sure would be nice to know when!!

 

I agree that its probably the second tang. Two tangs in a 55g is one heck of a bioload already. Not to mention all that rock you have displaces even more water, so your overall system volume is very small for those fish.

 

Yeah, your nitrates aren't bad. I put a bag full of nitrate remover pebbles in my sump and it took away all traces of my nitrate. I also used a nitrate remover filter for on top of my bio balls and let the water trickle through it.'

Sorry if I am not speaking english, you should learn about theses things though!!

 

Run some new carbon... I also bought stress enzyme from wal mart when my fish were having the ammonia issue.. dropped my ammonia and nitrates down quickly. Is reef safe as well.

 

The API test kits have an lot date on them, the last 4 numbers on the bottle, mine are 0708 and 0808, thus July 2008 and Aug 2008. The nitrate test are good for 3 years. Here is a link to luna's post that explains it all
http://www.3reef.com/forums/water-chemistry/those-who-use-api-test-kits-fyi-48335.html

hope this helps