Nitrate readings are ridiculous

[rage]

Ok so I tested readings this morning. Fronts tank: nitrates are basically the same. Geos tank: nitrates down from 100+ ppm down to just a little less than 40 ppm. WTF! Tested my plain tap water this morning and nitrates are at 10 ppm. Not bad.

I'm thinking what if my batch of Safe went bad? Humidity or heat or keeping it in a different container or whatever. I'm doing another WC on the geos right now, another 50%, and I'll treat the new water with regular Prime from the bottle. We'll see what happens! Good thing I'm off work these days so I actually have time to do some trial and error work! :)

Could it be that you took earlier readings too early ?
Maybe the additives/ Safe had not had a chance to mix in well and stabilize, in both concentration, temp, ... ?

[aquabee]

If you're safe "went bad" mine should have too?

But mine is in a medication container.

[aquabee]

Could it be that you took earlier readings too early ?
Maybe the additives/ Safe had not had a chance to mix in well and stabilize, in both concentration, temp, ... ?

I thought about that also. But I took the readings yesterday prior to adding new water (so, on 10 day old water) and afterwards.

[SunnyHouTX]

But mine is in a medication container.

I don't think that's it since you use the same safe in both tanks, assuming of course

[aquabee]

I don't think that's it since you use the same safe in both tanks, assuming of course

Yeah. I do. Man, I dunno wassup. Almost done with a 50% WC on the geos with Prime. If the nitrates plummet to zero after a few hrs then I'll dose Prime in the fronts tank and see what happens to the remaining 5-10 ppm nitrate in that tank.

[SunnyHouTX]

How much safe do you put in the 105?

[SunnyHouTX]

Try this. Fill up without adding prime or safe and test. Then add safe and retest after an hour or so. Should find out something with that

[aquabee]

Just thought of something. Would aquarium salt alter readings at all?

[aquabee]

How much safe do you put in the 105?

A little less than a teaspoon.

[aquabee]

This is starting to piss me off. Post second WC, nitrate in the geos tank after using Prime is still 30-40.

[danielp]

Nitrate chains are tough to break. When I've had the problem it's typically taken multiple water changes and strong gravel vaccumming over several days to clear it up.

[aquabee]

Nitrate chains are tough to break. When I've had the problem it's typically taken multiple water changes and strong gravel vaccumming over several days to clear it up.

But WHERE are the nitrates coming from? What changed in the past 10 days?

[aquabee]

I even have plants in there. Those should be acting like nitrate sinks!

[jughead]

naw,I meant throw it away and don't get another one.a fishes behavior will tell you what you need to know about water quality.you asked the right question,why do my fish look ok if my nitrates are so high.test kits=junk

[danielp]

But WHERE are the nitrates coming from? What changed in the past 10 days?

Several main factors contribute to nitrate.

Over feeding, dirty filters and over stocked tanks are the biggies.

Typical tap water also has high readings based on recent research when trying to figure out a brown algae bloom.

I have 8 medium large Fronts and 9 large clown loaches in my 125.

I'm going to be reducing my tank load real soon. Probably going to part with a Front trio.