What would you do with these water test results?

[jent]

I have been fighting a little bit of a macro algae problem in my display. Because of that, and the fact I have been struggling to keep acros (very STN every time). I have been trying to test and monitor things closely. I also recently purchased a test from aqua medics water testing (which is local for me, so luckily shipping time for the water sample is minimal).

Here is how my test kits are measuring:
Ca: 440 (RedSea Pro)
Magnesium: 1400 (RedSea Pro)
Alk: 7.34 (Hanna checker)
Phosphate: 0.049 (Hanna checker, has been consistent between 0.03 and 0.04, this is the highest it has been in a while, may need to change GFO)
Nitrate: 0 (RedSea Pro, no tint to the fluid at all)
Iodine: 0.06 (RedSea Pro)


Here were the results from aquamedic:
Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0 (0.000 - 0.050 mg/L)
Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.004 (0.000 - 0.100 mg/L)
Phosphate (PO4) Good 0.01 (0.000 - 0.250 mg/L)
Nitrate (NO3) Good 0.8 (0.000 - 25.000 mg/L)
Silica (Sio2-3) High 1.1 (0.000 - 0.500 mg/L)
Potassium (K) Good 414 (350.000 - 450.000 mg/L)
Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 242 (100.000 - 400.000 mg/L)
Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.2 (0.000 - 0.300 mg/L)
Strontium (Sr) Good 7.5 (5.000 - 12.000 mg/L)
Magnesium (Mg) Good 1400 (1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L)
Iodine (I) Good 0.04 (0.030 - 0.090 mg/L)
Copper (Cu) Good 0.03 (0.000 - 0.100 mg/L)
Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 2.5 (2.500 - 5.000 meq/L)
Total Calcium (Ca) Good 430 (350.000 - 450.000 mg/L)

The only parameter aqua medic showed me being too high on is silica, which I don't think is causing my issues or really know a good way to deal with since I am not sure where it came from.

What I find weird is the differences in both phosphate and nitrate, since that is what I have been most interested in. I had decided after I send in my results I wanted to start nitrate dosing. I waited till after sending in the sample to start, but have now been doing very very minor amounts of sodium nitrate to boost my nitrates. As of currently it was still undetectable with the red sea pro test kit (which goes down to .25ppm). It seems weird I am struggling to detect nitrates at all, with a kit that should easily show .25ppm, yet aquamedic read .8ppm.

I was also surprised they showed my phosphates lower than the hanna.

I am unsure what to trust? Do you guys think my idea of nitrate dosing still makes sense to try? Any feedback would be great.

 

[CastAway]

Just started dosing KNO3 myself. Happy I did. I read lots of similar testimonies. In my relative ignorance, I think it does make sense.

 

[Lasse]

Hanna ULR Phosphate have an accuracy of ± 0.02 ppm ± 5% of reading. Your and AM's measurement results are more or less the same IMO

But - IMO - both PO4 and NO3 are too low. I want my PO4 between 0.06-0.1 mg/L and NO3 above 2 mg/L

Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 2.5

2.5 meq/L = 7 dKH (1 meq/L = 2.8 dKH)

Sincerely Lasse