Api and red sea nitrite readings

[lostly22]

Hello, my api and red sea nitrite readings are very different, red sea seems to be around .05 and api around 1 ppm, which do i go with?

 

[Pntbll687]

you wait until the bacteria in the tank has consumed the nitrites and converted them to nitrates. Both tests should read 0 at that point.

Then the tank is cycled when ammonia, and nitrite are 0, with only nitrates present.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hello, my api and red sea nitrite readings are very different, red sea seems to be around .05 and api around 1 ppm, which do i go with?

Both are fine.

Nitrite is not important unless you are trying to figure out if it is interfering with a nitrate test kit (which it does).

The concern about nitrite is carried over from freshwater where it is toxic, to marine aquaria where it is not.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This has more:

Nitrite and the Reef Aquarium by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com