FishLove Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I went to a larger tank a week ago. Used sponge filters some established substrate on very bottom adding new substrate over it. Used decorations and plants from established tank. Let new tank run for 24 hours before adding the fish I took out of old tank that were in a bucket. Been testing water daily all testing came out good until today. My Nitrates are extremely high using the API testing kit. i did a 15% water change and will check it later today. What else can I do? I have no fish loss ——knock on wood. Fish are all extremely active and eating well. Input please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 What is extremely high? You may consider more than 15% water change. I do 50% weekly and have had no issues with that amount so far. Also, be careful with that API...make sure you are following the Nitrate instructions correctly as that can have an affect on the results. I only use my Master test kit on new tanks or when I did a major overhaul on one of them. Otherwise I use test strips for routine testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mineralNTL Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 22 minutes ago, Dawn said: Also, be careful with that API...make sure you are following the Nitrate instructions correctly as that can have an affect on the results. This THIS *THIS* Nitrate testing is maybe the most obnoxious test (other than GH and kH) to run with the liquid Master kit. That being said, I can 100% guarantee your results will be off if you don't follow the directions completely. How do I know? Because I couldn't figure out why my shrimp were dying in my old RCS tank. Ammonia? Zero. Nitrite? Zero. Temps? Stable @ 75F for over a year. Tank was well seasoned and super happy. Nitrates? 40. Oooooor were they? Stopped being super lazy one day and really shook those bottles and vials for the correct amount of time. Oh, weird, will you look at that? Nitrate levels OFF THE CHART. ...whoops... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan S. Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 I have an extremely difficult time deciphering the Nitrate colors against the chart... The shades are so close I never know which one I really am. Hopefully I'm not the only one with this issue. Drives me nuts. I know they are not as accurate, but I've gone to the Tetra test strips and just test/compare them more often so even if the color isn't quite as accurate, I can see changes from test to test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickS77 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 45 minutes ago, FishLove said: I went to a larger tank a week ago. Used sponge filters some established substrate on very bottom adding new substrate over it. Used decorations and plants from established tank. Let new tank run for 24 hours before adding the fish I took out of old tank that were in a bucket. Been testing water daily all testing came out good until today. My Nitrates are extremely high using the API testing kit. i did a 15% water change and will check it later today. What else can I do? I have no fish loss ——knock on wood. Fish are all extremely active and eating well. Input please. What size is the tank with high nitrates and what kind of fish are in it and how many? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishLove Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 MickS77, it’s a 20 gal. I also double check making sure I’m following the directions API has for testing Nitrates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishLove Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 11 minutes ago, Ryan S. said: I have an extremely difficult time deciphering the Nitrate colors against the chart... The shades are so close I never know which one I really am. Hopefully I'm not the only one with this issue. Drives me nuts. I know they are not as accurate, but I've gone to the Tetra test strips and just test/compare them more often so even if the color isn't quite as accurate, I can see changes from test to test. 22 minutes ago, mineralNTL said: This THIS *THIS* Nitrate testing is maybe the most obnoxious test (other than GH and kH) to run with the liquid Master kit. That being said, I can 100% guarantee your results will be off if you don't follow the directions completely. How do I know? Because I couldn't figure out why my shrimp were dying in my old RCS tank. Ammonia? Zero. Nitrite? Zero. Temps? Stable @ 75F for over a year. Tank was well seasoned and super happy. Nitrates? 40. Oooooor were they? Stopped being super lazy one day and really shook those bottles and vials for the correct amount of time. Oh, weird, will you look at that? Nitrate levels OFF THE CHART. ...whoops... I agree about being obnoxious. I’m following to a T. I even have my Alexa do the all the timing from the 30 second shake to the minute to the 5 minutes. It’s a 20 gallon tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishLove Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 54 minutes ago, Dawn said: What is extremely high? You may consider more than 15% water change. I do 50% weekly and have had no issues with that amount so far. Also, be careful with that API...make sure you are following the Nitrate instructions correctly as that can have an affect on the results. I only use my Master test kit on new tanks or when I did a major overhaul on one of them. Otherwise I use test strips for routine testing. Yeah I’m extremely anal about following precisely the correct directions. I usually do more then 15% it’s a 20 gallon . I was kind of afraid to with the tank being so new. Though I might check it later today to see where I am with it.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wmarian Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 (edited) Some suggestions...25% percent water change perday, while reducing feeding or even pausing feeding altogether for a couple days until nitrates low enoguh; adding some helper stem plants or floating plants (water wisteria? Hornwort? Frogbit?) And also, I think your report of the exact ppm for nitrates was autocorrupted...? Edited July 16, 2020 by Wmarian Additional ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 On 7/16/2020 at 9:38 AM, mineralNTL said: This THIS *THIS* Nitrate testing is maybe the most obnoxious test (other than GH and kH) to run with the liquid Master kit. That being said, I can 100% guarantee your results will be off if you don't follow the directions completely. How do I know? Because I couldn't figure out why my shrimp were dying in my old RCS tank. Ammonia? Zero. Nitrite? Zero. Temps? Stable @ 75F for over a year. Tank was well seasoned and super happy. Nitrates? 40. Oooooor were they? Stopped being super lazy one day and really shook those bottles and vials for the correct amount of time. Oh, weird, will you look at that? Nitrate levels OFF THE CHART. ...whoops... So true! This happened to me too. Follow those direction on that test! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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