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grim332
01/18/2014, 10:31 PM
Hi I have well established fish only tank. I have probably way to many fish in my tank and will out grow it pretty Quickly I'm aware of that and will be upgrading in the future my tank is a 55g with a 20g L custome sump with over 130 lb of live rock I have all small/baby fish snow flake, firmented , black edge moray also 1 dragon wrass 1 baby shark 3 engineer gobies 1 panther grouper and 1 6 inch puffer. Also i have a 29 gallon that is a reef . My main question is I checked both the nitates and both read 160ppm I'm very confused and and that's the truth my fish should be died . Do u think my test kit is bad expires 2017 I do exactly as the instructions say

Molly1414
01/18/2014, 11:39 PM
I would take some of the tank water to your lfs and have them test your water. Then you will know if your test kit is bad or your water.

slgcmg
01/19/2014, 12:57 AM
Wow. What a bio load for just a 55. I am sure the waste you are getting from your puffer, shark, and grouper alone are too much for that small water volume.

If your nitrates check out to be 160, I would get rid of most of your livestock, and several water changes. Most fish can handle high nitrates. Corals, not so much

Dapg8gt
01/19/2014, 01:17 AM
API test kits are not the greatest by far. If you have doubts get a quality test kit. Salifert, else, red sea.. I Def wouldn't trust my reef to API.

And I agree it could very well be that high with the bio load you have. That's way too many fish for that tank imo.

grim332
01/19/2014, 04:05 PM
I started dosing yesterday day Red Sea no pox 3ml for 25 gallons so I dosed 9 ml I was just wondering on the second day the tank is know cloudy. Is this normal

syrinx
01/19/2014, 04:07 PM
nitrates of 160 will not kill fish- that is obvious because your fish are alive!

Dapg8gt
01/19/2014, 06:11 PM
I started dosing yesterday day Red Sea no pox 3ml for 25 gallons so I dosed 9 ml I was just wondering on the second day the tank is know cloudy. Is this normal

Not really normal but not abnormal when first carbon dosing. My guess is you added too much and should wait for it to clear and back off on the amount when you resume. I would start really slow regardless of what the bottle says. I would Look up vodka dosing and the guide to implementing it and follow that with the nopox.

Did you verify your levels were accurate?