Trouble reading API nitrates

[Zac]

Hey all,

what would you say this reading is? I was thinking 30ish. It’s a little darker in person 

[Zac]

On 9/11/2023 at 6:57 PM, Pepere said:

With the API liquid test, it is sometimes helpful to mix half a cup of tank water with half a cup of water that has no measurable nitrates in it, and then, test that water if the first test of just tank water is somewhat ambiguous…

you make a 50% dilution and see what that tests at…

 

for instance, 10 and 20 ppi are hard to distinguish between.  If it was hard to tell the difference 50% reduction shows 5 ppm, you know the original was 10.  If a 50% dilution doesnt show much of a difference, it is more likely the original was 20 ppm…

 

 

 

 

Here’s the diluted test. Looks to be between 10-20. I’m guessing the original one was around 40. Although I know anything up to 80 is safe, 40ish is a bit higher than I’d like it. I do have a lot of floating plants though so I’ll probably wait a week before dosing any ferts and see what happens. I thought I had a good schedule going but I guess I’ve been dosing too much😅

[Zac]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:33 PM, Pepere said:

I work to keep mine in the 15-20 ppm range ish…

 

A 50% water change would drop you to 20…

depending on your biomass, feeding and plant mass you may see livestock/ feeding exceeding the plants ability to uptake nitrate.  
 

livestock and food can provide nitrates and phosphorus, but not potassium or trace nutrients.

 

I have 1 tank that the plants take up more nitrate than the livestock, feeding produce.  1 tank that the plants and livestock/ feeding are in balance, and one tank that nitrate production exceeds plant uptake…

I vary my fertilizer dosings per tank, but all three tanks see a 50% water change weekly and then dosing ferts to bring nitrate back up to 20 ppm…

Right. All I have are some snails, 6 Khuli loaches, an opaline gourami, and 4 Amano shrimp. I feed once a day and once every other day I’ll drop a small amount of repashy in the tank. Bio load is fairly small and plant mass is far more than fish mass. I have a fair amount of anubias and the surface is covered with frogbit and duckweed, I have some crypts and valisneria too. I think I’ll be okay. I do 20% water changes weekly and I’m usually fighting to keep it up. So I’m fairly positive they’ll be able to take it down within a week. I just know to add less ferts next time 

Edited September 12, 2023 by Zac

[Zac]

On 9/11/2023 at 8:00 PM, Zac said:

Right. All I have are some snails, 6 Khuli loaches, an opaline gourami, and 4 Amano shrimp. I feed once a day and once every other day I’ll drop a small amount of repashy in the tank. Bio load is fairly small. I have a fair amount of anubias and the surface is covered with frogbit and duckweed. I think I’ll be okay. I do 20% water changes weekly and I’m usually fighting to keep it up. So I’m fairly positive they’ll be able to take it down within a week

 

On 9/11/2023 at 8:21 PM, Pepere said:

I use Easy Green myself.  I like that 1 pump adds 3 ppm nitrate per ten gallons of water.

 

very easy to add how many pumps needed to reach target level.

Me too. I add 2-3x the dose twice per week. Each time I dose I should be adding no more than 10ppm. Which is why I’m a bit puzzled as to why I’m at 40 when floating plants are nitrate busters. The co-op test strips said 10 but I don’t really trust those. Also I’ve read about api kits being inaccurate. I’ll test again in a couple days since there’s no immediate emergency and see where I’m at. Maybe I’ll cut the doses by half and dose twice per week or something