My water test results..

jtravapd · Feb 11, 2009

So i have been going crazy as most of you trying to get rid of the nitrates in my water. I been doing water changes every other day. was doing 20 gallons..now 40 gallons... and i tested my water yesterday and my nitrate read 80 still....so i used my dads test kit (same brand) and still got 60-80. The test also said my calcium results are free calcium and my actual calcium is 10-20% higher then the 384 i was given.

I sent my water to be tested at aquariumwatertesting.com and got back my results and my nitrates are fine..lol...they are at 9. lol..which i wish was zero but 9 is better then 80..i just ordered a new test kit. safet (sp?) brand. hopefully that works better..these were my results:

Ammonia (NH3-4) ........................Good ......................................... 0.009
Nitrite (NO2)................................Good ......................................... 0.022
Nitrate (NO3)...............................Good .............................................9.9
Phosphate (PO4) .......................... High............................................ 1.42
Silica (SiO2-3) ............................. High..............................................0.8
Potassium (K) ...............................Low............................................. 214
Calcium (Ca)................................Good ............................................ 384
Boron (B) .....................................Low..............................................2.5
Molybdenum (Mo)......................... High..............................................0.2
Strontium (Sr) .............................Good .............................................7.9
Magnesium (Mg) ...........................Low........................................... 1013
Iodine (I¯)...................................Good ........................................... 0.05
Copper (Cu++) ............................Good ........................................... 0.01
Alkalinity (meq/L).........................Good ........................................... 3.39

any tips on how to fix the high or low levels i would appreciate..thanks in advance.

reeferwanabe · Feb 12, 2009

you may have posted this already but are you using ro? and if so have you tested it? phos reactor would be the first thing I would do.

jtravapd · Feb 12, 2009

reeferwanabe said:
you may have posted this already but are you using ro? and if so have you tested it? phos reactor would be the first thing I would do.

yes im using a coral life dual stage ro..how do u test it?

reeferwanabe · Feb 12, 2009

tds meter. are you using phosban?

Danw · Feb 12, 2009

Are you using chaeto? also, you can get a Kent Marine Reactor(40bucks) and put the Kent Nitrate Sponge filter media in that. and as far as the tds meter, you can get the tester, or you can get the monitor that attaches to the ro and monitors the water quality.

jtravapd · Feb 12, 2009

i have 4 bags of nitrate sponge in my sump right now...i have a 4 stage RO filter my dad is giving me his...so thats cool...a small upgrade..I have phostphate remover in my basement a bucket of it...i haven't added it to my tank though..i was afraid of messing up, because there were a lot of warnings on the label....i think is was phosban? im not sure ill have to look..

DaveK · Feb 13, 2009

jtravapd said:
...
any tips on how to fix the high or low levels i would appreciate..thanks in advance.

Like everything else, fixing the low levels means figuring out what the source of the problem is.

First make sure your water is at the proper salinity. I highly recommend using a refractometer for this. If your SG is at 1.020 verses 1.025, your water will have 20% less salt in it, and your readings for items such as calcium or magnesium will be 20% lower.

Next, compare the readings you get from your system to readings you get from a newly mixed batch of SW. If the readings in the new batch of water are better, then all you may need to do is make some additional water changes.

If the new batch of water is off also, you will need to correct that. This can be done by adding supplements, and many people do this. My own preference, if something is way off, is to look around for a better salt.

Lastly, your livestock is often an excellent indicator of your water quality. If that is doing well, you are often better off leaving things alone rather than trying to correct a parameter that is only slightly off.

Rbu1 · Feb 13, 2009

I don't trust the nitrate readings from that place. I was always testing mine and they were in the 80 range. When I sent the kit to them they were below 4. I am no chemist but is it possible the bacteria that eats the nitrates continues to do it while in that bottle????? I would trust your home kit more than the mail order kit.

Reefers · Feb 13, 2009

After reading this a few things came to mind:

1) Doing frequent water changes as you are doing can do more harm than good. I would highly suggest, that you stop, take a breather and try to determine exactly why your nitrates are so high. It's either a bad test kit, user error with the test kit or an issue with your tank. Water changes without resolving the real issue will ultimately do more harm than good. Stop the water changes for now. Resume a 20% change every two weeks.

2)I would suggest you get a Salifert or one of the new Red Sea test kits and test again. Maybe get an acquaintance from this forum to come over and test your water using his/her test kit. Don't borrow the kit, let the other person test the water.

3) Before drawing a conclusion on the "commercial" test results you received..What type of salt are you using?

3) When was the last time the RO membrane and the DI was changed on the RO unit? You can test whether they need changing by using a TDS meter, a hand held unit runs around $15-$20. Test the water at the tap and compare those results with the water coming out of your RO/DI unit. There should be a HUGE difference, the TDS at the tap will probably be 300-500 while the TDS readings after the RO/DI should be below 10.

4) Addressing the nitrate issue involves requires knowing more details:
How large is the tank?
How many fish?
Feed schedule and how much?
Die-off in the tank? fish/corals/macro algae
are there bio-balls and live rock?
You have 4 bags of nitrate remover in the sump..how long have they been there?
As was already mentioned, you can tell a lot about your tank by just looking at it..does everything look healthy? corals opening up? fish eating and active?

So...Take a step back, breathe deep and work thru this slowly...please don't start adding this and adding that in your attempt to get your numbers correct...It'll never work and you will become totally frustrated...

jtravapd · Feb 13, 2009

after reading your posts, you were all right on the money....im still unsure if my test kit was messed up though, but i did order a saefit test kit online which should be here soon. Then i will find out where my nitrates stands.

It turns out with all that water changing, even though i was adding salt, i wasn't adding enough, and over the past month or so my salt level has gone from .026 to .020....which i think is whats causing those low levels. im working on bringing that up slowly right now.

I was confused with the nitrate readings because everything seems fine in my tank..corals look great both hard and soft.,it colors are bright and they seem to be growing. fish are all eating and assume they are getting fed every time you walk past the tank. What started me on this journey was i never used to test the water, then one day tested it and found my nitrates to be sky high so i went into a panic.

my tank is 180 gallons with prob about 350lbs or more of live rock in it. I have nothing in my sump except, my pumps, heaters, skimmer and 4 bags of nitrate sponge, and 2 bags of carbon. which were put in about 2 weeks ago. I do have a ton of fish ,about 20 or so, biggest is my hippo tang which is like 6 inches or so.