For anyone looking for an accurate, reliable way to measure nitrates in your reef tank, I think I have found a good solution.
This method mixes the red sea test kit with the hanna phosphate ulr ppm checker.
I found through testing a known nitrate solution that the red sea test kit is fairly difficult to read, especially at lower values. For me, anything under 5ppm looked like 0, and 10ppm looked like 5ppm. I struggle with seeing the light shades of pink/red.
So I found a solution. Use the hanna checker to read it. This does require a few extra steps, but is pretty simple to do.
You need 2 cuvettes, and you need to measure them to be sure they both read the same. To do this, simply fill both cuvettes with water, place in the checker and measure c1, then remove it and place the other cuvette inside and click the button. You should get a reading of 0.00. If you don't, clean the cuvettes and try again. If you still don't, purchase new cuvettes, or account for the difference in your measurements later.
Start with 5ml of tank water in a hanna cuvette (c2) Add 5ml of new, unused saltwater, bringing the total to 10ml in the cuvette. Place 5 drops of red sea part a and shake for 10 seconds. Add 1 level scoop of red sea part b, shake and let stand for 1 minute. Add 1 level scoop of part c, shake for 10 seconds, let stand for 9 minutes.
Fill the other cuvette (c1) with 10ml of sample water. Place c1 into the checker and click the button. Then place c2 into the checker and press the button (do not hold as this will start a 3 min timer). Record your reading and reference the chart for your nitrate ppm. It's that easy.
You may notice some bubbles or particles floating in c2. I like to turn the cuvette horizontally and slowly roll it around before the 9min timer goes off to get all the bubbles off the glass. You can also tap lightly on the side of the glass to help make the bubbles and particles float to the top. This is the hardest part of the process, as these bubbles and particles will throw your measurements off if you do not get rid of them.
Each 1ppm of nitrates will measure as 0.09 ppm on the checker. So it goes as follows:
Hanna ppm. Nitrate ppm
0.09 1
0.18 2
0.27 3
0.36 4
0.45 5
0.54 6
0.63 7
0.72 8
0.81 9
0.90 10
I know a lot of people will not see this as useful as a lot of you do not care about nitrates, but for those like me, wanting to run low numbers but make sure you are staying above 0, and staying close to a certain ratio with your phosphates (such as redfield ratio), this can be super helpful. So hopefully this helps someone, I know it has helped me.
This method mixes the red sea test kit with the hanna phosphate ulr ppm checker.
I found through testing a known nitrate solution that the red sea test kit is fairly difficult to read, especially at lower values. For me, anything under 5ppm looked like 0, and 10ppm looked like 5ppm. I struggle with seeing the light shades of pink/red.
So I found a solution. Use the hanna checker to read it. This does require a few extra steps, but is pretty simple to do.
You need 2 cuvettes, and you need to measure them to be sure they both read the same. To do this, simply fill both cuvettes with water, place in the checker and measure c1, then remove it and place the other cuvette inside and click the button. You should get a reading of 0.00. If you don't, clean the cuvettes and try again. If you still don't, purchase new cuvettes, or account for the difference in your measurements later.
Start with 5ml of tank water in a hanna cuvette (c2) Add 5ml of new, unused saltwater, bringing the total to 10ml in the cuvette. Place 5 drops of red sea part a and shake for 10 seconds. Add 1 level scoop of red sea part b, shake and let stand for 1 minute. Add 1 level scoop of part c, shake for 10 seconds, let stand for 9 minutes.
Fill the other cuvette (c1) with 10ml of sample water. Place c1 into the checker and click the button. Then place c2 into the checker and press the button (do not hold as this will start a 3 min timer). Record your reading and reference the chart for your nitrate ppm. It's that easy.
You may notice some bubbles or particles floating in c2. I like to turn the cuvette horizontally and slowly roll it around before the 9min timer goes off to get all the bubbles off the glass. You can also tap lightly on the side of the glass to help make the bubbles and particles float to the top. This is the hardest part of the process, as these bubbles and particles will throw your measurements off if you do not get rid of them.
Each 1ppm of nitrates will measure as 0.09 ppm on the checker. So it goes as follows:
Hanna ppm. Nitrate ppm
0.09 1
0.18 2
0.27 3
0.36 4
0.45 5
0.54 6
0.63 7
0.72 8
0.81 9
0.90 10
I know a lot of people will not see this as useful as a lot of you do not care about nitrates, but for those like me, wanting to run low numbers but make sure you are staying above 0, and staying close to a certain ratio with your phosphates (such as redfield ratio), this can be super helpful. So hopefully this helps someone, I know it has helped me.
