nitrate problem

[djarth]

Come to my office, i let u take a swim Can help me wash the tank as well

[Infinitereef]

I would like to, but I need a plane tickets to go there. But must be beautiful. How nice it is that you can have a tank in your office.

[narkosis]

Hi all reefers,

i realised that the nitrate level in my tank reaches the 50 mark when using the salifert test kit. I did a massive water change of approx. 80l of water and then came back again to measure after long hours only to find out that the nitrate level stays unchanged! Can someone pls enlighten me?

hiya,

I may get bashed for this, as I've never used Salifert's NO3- test before. But whichever brand you're using, do be aware of something. If 50ppm is the last colour on the comparison chart, what it means is actually 50ppm or more, and very seldom exactly 50.000 ppm.

In cases like this, we do a 2-to-1 dilution test, say of 50% of the required test sample & another 50% of RO/DI water. If the new result is say, 40 ppm, this implies that your real NO3- level is 80ppm, and not 50ppm as originally thought.

If however, in this test, the colour is still the last one, you need to do even further dilution, say 4-1, and multiply the end result by 4. You have to keep doing this until you hit a colour that's not the last one. Then, you'll have the real reading. At this point, say you had a real 150 ppm. If you change 1/2 the tank water (which you shouldn't), it'd drop to 75. But doing the test on full tank water concentration will still indicate that it's the last colour.

Hope this helped, and I haven't totally lost you on this.

[RAV-65]

Angry,

you may wanna test yout tap water at home for no3, if it already contain high levels of no3, like the tapwater in my house, it wouldn't reduce no3 very much even with a 20% water change...

the feedback for AZ-No3 is pretty good, but be sure that your water is aerated well...

Vincent Ho

[angry]

make sure yr test kit had not expired.

I'm darn sure its not expired yet. I have a year or more to go before i reach there:)

[angry]

Angry,

you may wanna test yout tap water at home for no3, if it already contain high levels of no3, like the tapwater in my house, it wouldn't reduce no3 very much even with a 20% water change...

the feedback for AZ-No3 is pretty good, but be sure that your water is aerated well...

Vincent Ho

Hmmmm that might ring a bell:) Thx.

[Acanthurus pyroferus]

Oh.. so NO3 would cause bloom in algae..

I believe most saltmix have 0 P04.. at least thats what I read from the packing.

How to define improper lightings?

as in kelvin spectrum but I don't think it's related to cyno bloom. Usually too high of spectrums would also result in cyno spread. Just be careful of products and additives that may add extra PO4 to an already infected tank with cyno. Will only increase it's stages of spreading. Get a saltmix thats without PO4 like Coralife Salt Mix.

[hotsoup]

So far for me, marco alage is proven to be the best solution to bring down NO3. been having 0 reading since setting up my new tank(running for 5 mths already)

[chrislwp]

why not test the newly mixed salt water which suppose to have the min no3 to ensure that ur testkit is working

[angry]

why not test the newly mixed salt water which suppose to have the min no3 to ensure that ur testkit is working

Will do that. Might be using the same test kit or Crab's tank this saturday. We'll see.

[angry]

So far for me, marco alage is proven to be the best solution to bring down NO3. been having 0 reading since setting up my new tank(running for 5 mths already)

Which type of algae are you using? Do you have to leave the lights on for 24hr a day to keep them well?

[xx_boy08]

Hmm... Anyone here tried using FRITZ ZYME #9? I have problems with nitrate too, but after using FRITZ ZYME #9, nitrate starts to lower esp nitrite and ammonia. It contain only live nitrifying bacteria (Nitrosoccus and Nitrococcus bacteria) and rapidly seed bio filters.

[Crab]

Will do that. Might be using the same test kit or Crab's tank this saturday. We'll see.

Eh? Saw my name