I dont trust my test kit

[b4tn]

According to my test kits my KH is 7, PH probe is 6.8 so my CO2 should be 33 ppm. Now what is strange is either my plants are chewing up nitrates like crazy or my test kit is funky. I am dosing 15ppm of potassium nitrate every other day. Each time before I dose I get a reading of 0 nitrates. Now phospates seem to only be using .5 or so every other day so the usage isnt allot. The part that bugs me is with CO2 at 33 and regular dosing My gravel and drift wood is getting covered with the same type of green algae that grows on the glass and many plants have thread algae. I dont trust the JBL test kits I can get here and the tetra test kits are even worse. neither have a fine enough range. What is a good priced test kit and what is a recommended vendor that ships USPS (thats the only way I can get mail)

 

[Toirtis]

I prefer Hagen and Red Sea....not sure of the best online vendors for them, though....Big Al's, probably.

 

[b4tn]

If thats the canadian store shipping is very expensive and takes a long time to get to me in Germany. I need to find someone who will ship US Postal Priority mail, it only takes 5 days to get to me. I am looking through the vendor list right now.

 

[Toirtis]

If thats the canadian store shipping is very expensive and takes a long time to get to me in Germany.

I was thinking Big Al's US online store...much less expensive than the Canadian one.

Hagen products should be very available in most parts of Germany...Rolf and Dieter have seen to that.

 

[malkore]

One easy way to test the validity of your kit...mix up a 1 gallon bucket of water, with enough KNO3 to give 10ppm of nitrate (obviously it wont' take much at all)

mix it well, then test it. if it comes out real close, your kit is ok. but if it still tests 0ppm, the kit's bad.

its possible for plants that were starved of nitrate to suck up a ton in a short time frame, but after a couple days of 15ppm dosing, they should have enough stored to stop such a rapid uptake.

 

[workfortheman]

b4tn~
Is your dosing solution 15 ppm concentrate kno3, or is that your target in the tank after each dose?

 

[b4tn]

Thats my target dose. I am using chucks calculator and adding the nitrate in powder form to the tank. Usually aout 1/2 tsp

 

[travis simonson]

I've had the exact same issue with an NO3 kit and I ended up overdosing NO3 badly because of it. malkore's advice is good. A reference sample should verify if you've got a bad kit. Being color-blind I like the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit or the LaMotte low-range nitrate kit if you want to spend a bit more.

 

[Tiffi]

Go to www.fressnapf.de and try to find out where the next store close to you is and look around there what selection they have.

 

[Milan]

The easiest way that comes to my mind is to take a water sample to a LFS to test it for you. Maybe a couple of them ...

 

[malkore]

Ok, so your tank is 30 gallons? .5 tsp in 30 gals of water increases NO3 by 15.1ppm

Just checking, because you never specified the size of your tank.

 

[b4tn]

Tank is actually 42 gallons. Through trial and error I have discovered I have about 7 gallons displacment from driftwood and substrate so I usually dose with the figure of 35 gallons.

The test kit is good. My plants just seem to be nitrate hungry. I am getting frustrated though because algae is spreading like wildfire. I see beard, brush, fuzz, and thread. I have upped CO2 to nearly over 30 ppm. Plants seem to love it! After lights have been on for a few hours it looks like a snow storm of 02 bubbles. Probably why my fish are still alive. I am trying to keep Phospahte at 1.5 and nitrate at 15 but nitrates are used much faster so it is difficult keeping up. Every morning I wake up and the algae is worse. I am just going to let it run its course for a few weeks and see if it will start diminishing if I continue dosing with CO2 above 30. If not I will take more drastic measures.