why are my nitrates doing this

[The Ugly Phase]

ok so i tested my nitrates when i got them down every day the nitrates stayed steady 20 then 1 day boom up to 42ppm it constantly does this i have to do a water change every 1-2 days to keep them down i have 5 small fish in a 94 gallon tank and i feed them just enough so they eat it all the fish are as goes

midas blenny
royal gramma
2* clowns
1 mandarin goby

the nitrates are over 75ppm cause i decided to be a normal human being and do a 10% water change once a week for 2 weeks now im back to 1 to 2 days 10% water change

bare bottom tank
tropic marin pro salt i use

it goes up 20ppm every week just in 1 day not over time

tested with hanna HR and nyos nitrate

the tank is 1 year old

nothing has died everything is accounted for

 

[Baldyreef]

maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can help you out? this one is kinda stumping me

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't know of a reason for steady nitrate then a sudden 20 ppm jump, except test variability or small changes in nitrite (which can read as a lot of nitrate). For example, if the water change has some nitrite in it.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

I don't know of a reason for steady nitrate then a sudden 20 ppm jump, except test variability or small changes in nitrite (which can read as a lot of nitrate). For example, if the water change has some nitrite in it.

it was a steady jump 20 - 42 done some water changes down to 30 then up to 50 again then i did 1 water change every week and hanna checker is flashing 75 while nyos is reading 65-90

 

[The Ugly Phase]

this was from august before i got them down to 20ppm coulld that much nitrite read alot of nitrate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

it was a steady jump 20 - 42 done some water changes down to 30 then up to 50 again then i did 1 water change every week and hanna checker is flashing 75 while nyos is reading 65-90

I can't really make out exactly what that means, but test variability is most likely.

Not saying you are, but folks spend a lot of time trying to understand things that are not actual changes.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

this was from august before i got them down to 20ppm coulld that much nitrite read alot of nitrate?

Not all test kits clarify what the extent of the nitrite effect is, and I cannot tell if you mean nitrite is 0, or was sometimes 300 ug/L, but if it was 300 ug/l nitrite with the Tropic Marin nitrate test kit, that gives a false addition of more than 20 ppm of nitrate to the actual nitrate, so the effect can be large.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

i have just ordered a ICP it arrives friday i will send it off some time next week and on the same day take nitrate readings

then wait back for the ICP results

 

[The Ugly Phase]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/daily-nitrate-input.991792/

just found this athough the guy feeds ALOT more than me and has ALOT more fish than me similar situation

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes, with the same thought likely to drive it: test error.

Many reefers assume tests are far more reproducible than they really are.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

Yes, with the same thought likely to drive it: test error.

Many reefers assume tests are far more reproducible than they really are.

its just the 2 tests are reading very close to the same as each other and i have tested multiple times hanna goes red

nyos reads inbetween 65-95ppm
hanna reads blinking 75ppm

my torch // acanthophyllia / hammer / mushrooms are doing fine

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t doubt nitrate is in the range that those kits show, I just would not accept sudden jumps in actual nitrate over factor of 2 changes in home test kit results.

 

[Dan_P]

its just the 2 tests are reading very close to the same as each other and i have tested multiple times hanna goes red

nyos reads inbetween 65-95ppm
hanna reads blinking 75ppm

my torch // acanthophyllia / hammer / mushrooms are doing fine

Have you measured the nitrite concentration lately?

 

[The Ugly Phase]

Have you measured the nitrite concentration lately?

i have not i do not own a nitrite test but i have ordered a ICP and i should have the results for that late next week that tests for nitrite

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Id be wary of trusting a nitrite result after a sample sits in a closed vial for a week or more.

 

[The Ugly Phase]

Id be wary of trusting a nitrite result after a sample sits in a closed vial for a week or more.

my ICP takes 3 days to get results from sending it off i sent it 24h tracked and they do the tests and post them within 24 hours

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What company? Nitrite isn’t an actual icp test. :)

 

[The Ugly Phase]

What company? Nitrite isn’t an actual icp test. :)

reeff zelements i have bought the advanced test they test for nitrite too this was my last test from them numbers on the left are my tank results this test was from augest i got my nitrates down to 20ppm but now they are back up

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Assuming that 0.38 nitrite is accurate, it can account for a lot of false nitrate with a test kit. More than 20 ppm with some. I don’t know how reef zelements measures nitrate and whether they too suffer the interference.