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Am I doing something wrong or is API test kit being wonky?
Did a 20% change and normally I always see the nitrate drop as it should. For the first time after my waterchange today, my nitrate didnt budge a bit. Is it because I didnt siphon the sand enough? Not enough CUC (I only have around ~5 snails in a large tank)? or is the API test kit being weird? All my other parameters came out perfect so this is confusing. I'll be doing another 20% change soon, and if it doesnt go down, any advice how to deal with this?
20ish !what are your nitrates at right now?
I over stocked my 180 gallon and I overfeed too lol (because it’s fun). My nitrates and phosphates are undetectable and have been a long time (using API test - who cares if I’m at 1-3ppm). Anyhow, do you want to know my secret? Bio pellets and a reef octopus 200int protein skimmer. I also vacuume weekly (running my output into a filter sock so I don’t lose water) and I change my filter socks (I have 1 for each return) every day. If you keep your protein skimmer’s neck clean (daily) it will be more efficient. I bought an automatic neck cleaner so my neck gets cleaned every 6 hours (it’s on a timer). Anyhow, spend some money and buy a biopellet reactor and a reef octopus protein skimmer or another reputable brand and don’t worry about nitrates anymore. I also have a lot of snails of all kinds and crabs too. All my leftover food gets attacked by my crabs so I don’t worry about a bunch of leftovers on the bottom of my tank - they don’t last long. I learned along the way (12 years in this awesome hobby) to spend money on filtration. If you take my advice, keeping your nitrates at 5-10 for coral is going to be a problem hahaha. You might need to buy a dolphin to dirty the water a bit lol.
For a prime example as to why they can't be trusted- I ran three separate tests yesterday (all using RO/DI water). Every single one of them gave back three different readings. API tests fluctuate and are never accurate enough to fully trust.Did you use RO/DI water or tap? I ask because some taps have high Nitrate. I agree with Randy too. Although I think API tests get a bad rap, I will say their Nitrate test kit has been the least reliable for me. It is also their test with the most variables while testing too (two solutions, bottle shaking, etc.)
Hannah checker or salifertRO/DI, which test kit would you recommend for Nitrate? The process is annoying for API