Frustrated with salifert Nitrate test kit….

rlman41299

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My tank nearly crashed and lost majority of my prized sps colonies due to salifert Nitrate test kit.

I have noticed 3 weeks back that some sps colonies started to stn. All my parameters are in check and have not changed any equipment to trigger a stress on my tank. Supplementing and feeding the tank same as usual so I was puzzled.

I had a hunch that my nitrates may have been depleted but my test with this kit always shows 5-10ppm so I trusted it. A week ago the tank started to slowly showing signs that it is on it’s way to crash since I have started to lose colonies. And still the test shows 5-10ppm. Test kit’s expiration is 2022. I have now entered the panic mode and trusted my guts and sent an ICP test to find out what is out of whack. I have an old but not expired red sea nitrate pro test kit and tested with it at the same time as the salifert and still salifert is showing 5ppm while the red sea showed 0ppm.

That’s when I started to feed a bit extra and started dosing nitrate and behold after a few days the stn stopped!!!!
My ICP test results just finished yesterday and my nitrates are 0!!!!!!

I’ll never use salifert test kits ever again.
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fish farmer

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Seriously, its in the first sentence that was typed. Wow, read a little.

5-10ppm is a massive range. What do you dose?
I DID.

The OP talks about a 5 to 10 ppm range which is what the NITRATE kits read in and also talks about dosing NITRATES to fix his problem.

And an ALK swing like that...well that isn't good either.
 
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BoxKing

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Seriously, its in the first sentence that was typed. Wow, read a little.

5-10ppm is a massive range. What do you dose?
For starters the post says “Alkalinity“ not nitrate so one could get confused as to what test he was actually referring to. Secondly 5-10ppm range could be looked at as a massive range, though I feel most apply this range when using color charts, and or as an average - which some if not most feel is ideal for a mixed reef.

Ive been running close to 0 nitrates for a few weeks now… just started to lightly does NeoNitro to slowly creep up to 3-5ppm. I’m not a fan of changing my feeding style to increase nitrate in my systems, bc dosing offers more control.

I’d suggest getting either a Nyos NO3 kit, or the new Hanna HR Checker going forward… I mean, that’s if you feel the route cause of your loss was directly connected to running at zero nutrients alone.
 

drivingmecrazy

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I use Nyos and also Hanna ultra low nitrate checker.

Both are accurate for me.

The Hanna meter requires more steps and extra time but I feel the results are spot on.

What about your phosphates usually if low on nitrate. The phosphates wont be too far behind.

Glad you caught this in time. It could have been a lot worse.

Best of luck.
 
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rlman41299

rlman41299

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I use Nyos and also Hanna ultra low nitrate checker.

Both are accurate for me.

The Hanna meter requires more steps and extra time but I feel the results are spot on.

What about your phosphates usually if low on nitrate. The phosphates wont be too far behind.

Glad you caught this in time. It could have been a lot worse.

Best of luck.
PO4 has been constant .06 on hanna low range phosphorus
 

BoxKing

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PO4 has been constant .06 on hanna low range phosphorus
That’s a good figure.
Just keep in mind to raise your NO3 slowly. Drop 1ML in the tank and test a few hours later. Raise over the corse of a few days up to 3-5… longer if you want to go higher.
 

Reef.

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Have you tried the higher sensitivity method on the salifert test kit?

you can look through the side then divide by 10, if the result is less than 10.

May give you a more accurate result.
 
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rlman41299

rlman41299

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Have you tried the higher sensitivity method on the salifert test kit?

you can look through the side then divide by 10, if the result is less than 10.

May give you a more accurate result.
I’m tired on the color chart method. Just ordered the hanna nitrate test kit.
 
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rlman41299

rlman41299

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That’s a good figure.
Just keep in mind to raise your NO3 slowly. Drop 1ML in the tank and test a few hours later. Raise over the corse of a few days up to 3-5… longer if you want to go higher.
Nitrate now reads 2ppm via red sea nitrate pro test. Raised it to this level in about a week dosing ME coral nitrate of 10ml a day on a 150g tank. Tank now is looking better and stn have stopped. Still can’t get my head around the nice sps I have lost
 
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