Nitrate Exporter

[Xx YOZER xX]

API kit. I set the tank up slowly from scratch. Started with 4 bags of sand and 40 lbs of live rock. The sand I bought in the bag, and the live rock I got off a guy in guerneville who had it cycling for years. I recently had a silver dollar sized yuma float off behind the rock work. Maybe he died... How badly would something like that spike nitrates? I'd imagine they'd spike pretty high.

 

[zeroinverse]

Remember that skimmers take out dissolved organic matter before it decomposes into ammonia, nitrites & nitrates. Since you just "fixed your skimmer", you still have to water change to bring nitrates down. Since your DSB is not deep enough to complete the denitrification cycle (of converting nitrates into nitrogen gas).

 

[northbay-reefer]

+1 on Skim more, and use less sand.

API test kit is cheap and inacurate. I used it once and will never use it again. The only API I might consider using is the alk test kit.

 

[Xx YOZER xX]

Thanks zeroinverse. I will probably do weekly water changes forever!

Tom, what is a more accurate kit? I've had pretty good luck with the API kits, but I'm no expert by any means