Interpreting Test Results...

[Dom]

I am trying to better understand what test results mean. Yes; I know "my numbers" and understand what the hobby accepts as "normal" or "within range'. I would rather not speak in these generalities but instead understand what a number (test result) is actually telling me about my tank.

So today, using my Red Sea test kit, I tested nitrates in a tank that I am currently battling red cyano on about 30% of my substrate. It has been suggested that elevating my nitrates might help correct the problem. So... chaeto is out of the fuge and I am allowing nitrates to go up.

My result reads: "4ppm".

"ppm" stands for "parts per million". Is this correct?

So what does this number say about my tank? Is this high? What is a good number to maintain for those of us who like to keep some nutrients in our tanks for corals?

 

[Bleigh]

I am trying to better understand what test results mean. Yes; I know "my numbers" and understand what the hobby accepts as "normal" or "within range'. I would rather not speak in these generalities but instead understand what a number (test result) is actually telling me about my tank.

So today, using my Red Sea test kit, I tested nitrates in a tank that I am currently battling red cyano on about 30% of my substrate. It has been suggested that elevating my nitrates might help correct the problem. So... chaeto is out of the fuge and I am allowing nitrates to go up.

My result reads: "4ppm".

"ppm" stands for "parts per million". Is this correct?

So what does this number say about my tank? Is this high? What is a good number to maintain for those of us who like to keep some nutrients in our tanks for corals?

I’m not sure what this means in reference to your red Cyano.

I do know a little about ppm in general. PPm does mean parts per million. It can be thought of in a similar manner as a %. 1 percent means 1 per 100. The acronym ppm is used in lieu of a symbol. It means you have 1 per 1 million of whatever you are looking at. So it’s at a much smaller ratio than a percentage. So 4 ppm of nitrate is 4 nitrates per 1 million particles. It is a low number for nitrates. I do know you don’t want your nitrates totally at 0, but I’m too new to salt water to tell you where the minimum level is.

 

[BestMomEver]

4 is about right. I’d keep it below 10.

 

[Dom]

I’m not sure what this means in reference to your red Cyano.

I was explaining why I was testing; to see if my nitrates went up to deal with a cyano issue. Unnecessary background info I guess.

 

[Bleigh]

I was explaining why I was testing; to see if my nitrates went up to deal with a cyano issue. Unnecessary background info I guess.

Lol. That’s not what I meant. I meant that I didn’t know how nitrates affected cyano. Feel free to explain it to me.

 

[Dom]

Lol. That’s not what I meant. I meant that I didn’t know how nitrates affected cyano. Feel free to explain it to me.

I once started a thread on this exact question, but it failed to gain traction.

As I understand it, removing chaeto from the refugium reduces nutrient export. That reduction in the export rate causes nitrates to climb, creating a competition for the nutrients on which cyano feed. Eventually the cyano dies off.

 

[jda]

Nitrate is both a building block and a poison. The levels at to which it is poisonous vary from creature to creature. Cynao is growth limited once nitrates start to climb - it is poisoned... growth limited. Although this may sound good, this raising nitrate too high cause other issues to other things. Nitrates below 10 do not seem to cause an issue to nearly anybody... more people have issues above this and lots of people above 25. Some people celebrate their nitrates at 50, or above, but they are truly outliers.

 

[dansreef]

Dom, you say that you are fighting "Red Cyano" on 30% of your substrate. Are you sure it is Cyano? Have you by chance removed a small sample and placed it under a microscope? IF not, you might want to do it. Best case scenario is that it is not a mass of moving organisms and instead long red filaments.

I met up with a hobyist not too long ago that swore he had cyano on his sand bed. We put a small sample under a microscope and it was instead an outbreak od Dinos...

 

[Dom]

Dom, you say that you are fighting "Red Cyano" on 30% of your substrate. Are you sure it is Cyano? Have you by chance removed a small sample and placed it under a microscope? IF not, you might want to do it. Best case scenario is that it is not a mass of moving organisms and instead long red filaments.

I met up with a hobyist not too long ago that swore he had cyano on his sand bed. We put a small sample under a microscope and it was instead an outbreak od Dinos...

I did post slide photos. Here is the link:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/please-have-a-look-at-these-photos.555979/