Ugh nitrates!!

[Reefer Steve]

So before I left for work today I did a water test on my reef and was kind of horrified with the numbers I saw.
Ca: 400-420 (just where I lke it)(Salifert)
dKh: 8.3 (also just where I like it)(Salifert)
N03: 40ppm?!?! (Jungle dip test)
Po4: 3ppm?!!?!? (Salifert)


I dont understand my tank isn't growing algae and the coral is looking great. Whats going on here?

[boxfishpooalot]

No3 tests are junk. IMO the only thing worth buying is a colorimeter or the pinpoint nitrate monitor. Theese hobby kits are like do I or dont i have nitrates. Thats the best you can tell.

Fwiw high nitrates usually only will brown up corals. Somtimes they will increase color and growth. What really kills the reef though is not nitrates but phospahtes.

If you want to reduce them, there are many ways. My favorite way of corase is too increase the amount of living things. Like jam pack your tank with corals so that those corals barely have any nitrate to eat anymore. O yea and I like bb for nitrate reduction. All those organics in the sand and rocks, they really do contribute to high nitrates.

Above all if you have nitrate, you sand bed is not performing like its supposed to. Id say get rid of it. But thats not my choice just a suggestion. It can be done either way. But you wont see where the organics are from, unless you syphon some sand into the water change bucket, take a look, dirty? Thats where the No3 is coming from.

Ok just saw your phosphates are 3ppm. If that is true, and you have sps, they would be dead. If you have softies they are in heaven right now, and generally are not effected by those parameters.

Beware of salifert kits, somthing funky going on with them right now.