Dropping Nitrates?

[alishasreef]

1st test - 13th oct was 1.1ppm (hanna nitrate HR)

2nd test - 27th oct was 0.1ppm (hanna nitrate HR)

I haven't done any water changes, no carbon in sock, skimmer has not been running. I even added 5 new fish after reading 1.1ppm. Have also been heavy feeding and using reef energy plus.

Any ideas? and suggestions on a good bottle of nitrate liquid to dose for the UK.

Edit: not a new tank, over 2 years old.

 

[lucyretz]

Do you have a refugium? b ionic is my favorite or neo nitrate from brightwell.

 

[alishasreef]

nope, very confused on the sudden drop.

may this indicate my fish don’t create enough bio load for the corals that eat up the nitrates maybe?

 

[Sean Clark]

I wouldn't fuss about it. You are still well within the accuracy range of the test. Basicly you have two identical test results.

From Hanna:

Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F

±2.0 ppm ±5% of reading @ 25 °C (77 °F)

 

[lucyretz]

nope, very confused on the sudden drop.

may this indicate my fish don’t create enough bio load for the corals that eat up the nitrates maybe?

its a pretty small drop in all honesty, nothing to stress over with the drop itself. lots of bio media including well established live rock could be the culprit. having to dose your tank with nutrients isn't a bad thing, your filtration system is working well! just keep a very close eye on the number as you dose and follow the bottle instructions closely.

 

[mdb_talon]

I wouldn't fuss about it. You are still well within the accuracy range of the test. Basicly you have two identical test results.

From Hanna:

Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F

±2.0 ppm ±5% of reading @ 25 °C (77 °F)

This answer. And that accuracy assumes you did everything perfect(ie exactly 10.000ml test water, shook it adequately, etc). The real variance for us mere humans is likely much more.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Feed more, or dose food grade sodium nitrate. Not sure what you have locally, but it is readily available in the USA.

 

[Dan_P]

1st test - 13th oct was 1.1ppm (hanna nitrate HR)

2nd test - 27th oct was 0.1ppm (hanna nitrate HR)

I haven't done any water changes, no carbon in sock, skimmer has not been running. I even added 5 new fish after reading 1.1ppm. Have also been heavy feeding and using reef energy plus.

Any ideas? and suggestions on a good bottle of nitrate liquid to dose for the UK.

Edit: not a new tank, over 2 years old.

The HR Checker has a high standard deviation, which translates to those two numbers you measured being indistinguishable and might even be near zero ppm. Also, be aware that there seems to be a possibility of an occasional bad lot of reagent that causes low readings.