API test kits

[KelliZackMOM]

Who uses these and are they really accurate? I've about had it and I'm sure those that follow my posts are tired of hearing about my nitrates, but I'm really beginning to think either the test is giving false readings or I am doing something wrong. I am following the directions exactly for the nitrate test. I even set timer to make sure I shake long enough. I was consistently at 40 even with weekly changes. I slacked off a week because I knew my RO/DI unit was coming and they went to 80. Did 30% change and got 20 on 7/14. 7/16 back up to 40. 10% change 7/17 and still 40. Today back up to 80, about to do another 10%.
I have been googling test kits like crazy and get mixed reviews on them all. Thought about salifert because I know people here use it. I want something simple and accurate that is not going to be subjective based on how hard you shake the bottle or vial or the lighting in the room, or my eyes interpretation of 40 on the color chart. Is there anything that just gives you a number? I am even going to go as far as sending a sample of my water into a lab so I have an accurate baseline to go on and compare to home test kit.
The reason I am having such a hard time believing these results are accurate is my tank is not having any algae growth except a little dusting on the rock(it was dry when added). Nothing hairy or furry or bad looking. I have not scraped glass in a couple of months. I do have a DIY upflow algae scrubber that grows all kinds of stuff, but even before adding that I had no growth in tank. My livestock is doing great including the inverts(except the snails that have been getting killed by the hermit crabs). I also have a serpent star, emerald crab, and 4 big turbos. I do not think I'm special, but I just do not get how everything is surviving with nitrates that high so that is why I'm questioning my test results.
My other parameters this evening are as follows:
Temp 79.9
Ammonia 0.25(once in a blue moon I see this, but usually 0)
Nitrite 0
PH 8.0
SG 1.026
Calcium 340(has been 400, but now a sudden drop)
Phosphates 0.25
and of course, Nitrates 80

 

[chuck78]

I use API water test kits. It always says my nitrates are @ 40ppm sometimes 60ppm & my LPS,SPS,Softies & serpent stars still grow like crazy so Idk what to make of it. My tank has just recovered from an ich outbreak. It tank ran fallow (fishless) for 3 months & I still did my 55 gallon water changes ONCE A WEEK & my nitrates still sat @ 40ppm. Later on, I found out that half of my 300+ lbs. of live rock was originally from two established systems. I came to the conclusion that my rock must've absorbed some of those nitrates over the course of 8+ yrs & was now slowly leeching it out. I no longer worry b/c if Acro's & Monti's are doing great in my tank, either I'm gettting false positives or the nitrate tolerance of these animals is higher than reported. I hope it false positives. Either way, everythings growing & that is my objective. Unhappy animals usually don't grow in this hobby. Lately I've been considering the usage of vodka to lower nitrates, but I still on the fence about it. Brightwell's "Reef Bio-Fuel" is a good alternative to vodka, but that stuff gets REALLLLY expensive when dosing for 220+ gallons of water volume.

 

[FishyReef]

I have the seachem basic kit and have been pretty happy with the nitrate test in it. It can be a bit hard to differentiate colors at times, but no shaking of the vial, etc. It just achieves the color in a couple of minutes and will hold the same color for quite some time (I let it sit for a few hours the other day while I was doing maintenance and the color didn't shift after the first 3 minutes or so. I agree with your conclusions though that your test is off. If your tank looks good and your inverts are happy, then it seems pretty unlikely that you'd consistently have nitrates that high!

 

[Smitty]

I believe that their test kits go bad quick, and are known to give bad results when they do go. Double check your results with the lfs and see what they get from their test kits.

 

[justanotherfishhead]

Okay, I hope everyone doesn't get on my case for sharing my story of "cheating" instead of doing a ton of water changes. I had a nitrate problem when I first started my 55 gal and I used this stuff only a few times, and I never had nitrate readings again. I know a lot of people don't advise dosing with anything. But when I first started my tank, I used tap water and found out that my tap had 50 ppm nitrate, and my tank water was testing 80 ppm. I did several large water changes and it was so hard to get it down so I tried this stuff. I added it once a week for 3 weeks. It is supposedly all natural biodegradable polymers (whatever that means). After my nitrates got to zero (using same API test) I never had to use it again. (And of course I switched to RODI instead of tap water) I guess it gets stuck in your rock and keeps eating the nitrates or something. Because I transferred my rock from my 55 gal into my new 125 gal and I still have never had a nitrate reading. Yes I tried different test kits to be sure. I'm all for going natural but this stuff really saved me a lot of water changes and frustration with nitrates.

Aquarium Water Conditioner: Instant Ocean Natural Nitrate Reducer

 

[Smitty]

I wouldn't get on your case for that...Every tank is different, so whatever works for one tank may not work for the next. I'm glad to hear that you got yours under control...good job. So cheat away. :)

 

[yote]

Ask your local water company if they will test the nitrates in your water. Some will, some wont.

Have your LFS test the water and compare that against your test kit. Then have another store run the same tests.

It is possible that you have a bad kit. It happens. Plus we really have no way of knowing how long a kit has sat in a warehouse before hitting the stores shelves.

 

[justanotherfishhead]

Yes, I had the water company come out because I was really alarmed at that. They took samples from my house to the lab and also tested nearby sources and said the water was 33 mg/L. The federal maximum allowed is 45. They told me they've had other people with aquariums say their water tested higher and that the home test kits exaggerate results - if you have a little nitrate the color looks darker than it should. I bought different test kits with about the same result. The guy at one of my LFS was actually doing the API test wrong - he wasn't shaking the 2nd bottle at all. I pointed out to him that the directions say it was really important to do that and he just shrugged it off. Needless to say I don't go to that LFS anymore. And that guy was one of the managers at that store! What, he just thought none of his customers had any nitrates?!

 

[Bifferwine]

mg/L = ppm. So 33 mg/L is nitrates at 33. That's really high, and that explains the high nitrates if people are using tap water for water changes and top offs. A good example of why using tap water is a bad idea. Water changes don't do much good if you are replacing bad water with more bad water. :)

 

[yote]

We usually test first with API kits then if we suspect something,we'll follow up with another brand like salifert. But all in all,we've had mixed results with just about every brand on the market.

 

[bigford]

i thought my api test kit was bad so i tested my S/W tank with my wifes
F/W test kit and got the same readings. so i made a gallon of fresh S/water
and a gallon of F/water and took two samples and went to my LFS
F/w read low #'s across the boards S/water was a touch higher. I told the LFS
guy that both samples came from the tap at my house and all i did was add
salt to one. he test both with API and salifert.

point is i have a fish only tank and if the guys are not dieing or breathing
hard then all is fine