so confused

[artur]

Hi everyone!!!I have 90 gal.tank<fishes and corals>.You can see tank on the tanks showcase.Every think looks fine.But from like 4 months ihave a high nitrate.So i keep do PWC but is still over 20.I always used the API test.And here is the confusion.That nitrate drives me crazy so i bougt 3 diffrent brands.Remember everythink in the tank looks healthy,so i guess nitrate is O.K.Here are my resolts. API-30 Sachem-5 Red Sea-20 Instant Ocean-10.What brand is accurate?What you guys use and think of that?Thanks!!!

 

[cmor1701d]

I find most of them are hard to read. I used to use the Seachem, but swithec to the Salifert. It still requires some subjective judgement, but I find it the easiest to read. I also trust Salifert to be accurate.

 

[melosu58]

I use the API. I guess there is no one right brand. Just another one of those questions that if you ask 10 people you`ll 10 different answers. Let me ask you a question in regards to your nitrates.. Do you have a skimmer and how often do you do PWC`s? Also are you using tap water?

 

[artur]

Yes i have a good skimmer.In 90 gal.tank i did yesterday 35 gal.water change.I do it every 3,4weeks.I think that is fine.API tests show i lower nitrate from 30 to 10.Yes i still youse tap water but i test water before i put it in the tank and it showed 0.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

API seems to work well with higher nitrate levels, but Salifert has a much lower resolution. The first color change on an API card is 5.0 ppm. With the Salifert test, you can read down to 0.2ppm.

You might want to test that tap water with a nitrate test kit that has a lower resolution, like the Salifert kit. I'm thinking part of your problem is coming from your source water, but it's just flying below the resolution of all your test kits.