Nitrate test.

[reefmatenate]

Hi folks.

like the title says my nitrates are kind of high. I did some testing of my water quality and for no apparent reason came up with a significant reading of high nitrate. ammonia is zero. nitrite is zero. ph normal. salinity at 1.25 calcium and alk all normal. I don't see any specific signs of stress in corals. fish or inverts. but what happened was the other night when the lights shut off i noticed my very large long tip anemone really shriveled up. the next morning it had detached from its 1 year long home and then gotten all shriveled up. sadly i removed it and instantly started checking my params. Any idea what could cause a spike. i do 10 percent water changes a week. everything else looks extremely happy and healthy. Sad to lose one of my tank favorites. and for the trates to spike with no apparent reason... HELP! thanks

 

[bertoni]

How high is the nitrate? The animals might not care. Personally, I would have left the anemone in the tank to see whether it recovered.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Or moved it to a QT and given it a chance at least!

 

[reefmatenate]

i did put it in a qt for a few hours but it was literally disintegrated... i just don't get it. and my nitrates were around 60ppm I've never ever seen them get above 5.. today i did another water change and changed all my filter floss and added a small bag of GAC. seems its went down to 50ppm but its not enough... GAH so frustrated. i consider myself to be well educated I've been a reef keeper since 2000 ugh

 

[bertoni]

I'm not sure what's happening, but I'd test some RO/DI water with the nitrate kit. It should read zero, or the kit is having problems. Also, small amounts of nitrite can show up as large amounts of nitrate.

 

[reefmatenate]

well i lost my long tentacle anemone after him being extremely healthy for roughly 6 months he was a rescue i bought from petco for 25 bucks almost bleached out but he was eating and very sticky. then he just detached, shriveled up and died. i was so upset... and then i lost a goniopora. also hard to keep i know but I've actually had them reproduce in my tank... I've been a reef keeper since 2000 and I guess I'm just frustrated.... what would you guys say is the absolute best most accurate test to use for nitrates? I know my TDS is 0.02 which isn't perfect but its ok.... our water quality here is rough and finally "bertoni" and others. thanks so much reef central is a huge help in everything I do.

 

[bertoni]

There are a lot of problems reported with test kits, and I can't guarantee any of them. For nitrate, Salifert, and IO have worked well for me personally.