nitrate confusion

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I'm tempted to wait until i get the prime and do a complete water change, start again
 
This is the first water change i have done but it was initially filled with the same water. I am using stress coat to remove the chlorine atm but have ordered a bottle of prime, after reading such good reviews, which i should receive in a day or two. Where do i find the expiry date on my test kit? I have the api master kit, i take it being over the expiry date could lead to inaccurate results. Do you think this has messed up my cycle? I won't lie i'm dissapointed :-(

No I think your cycle is fine. I'm just concerned about the high nitrate in the tap water once you get fish in there.

On the API test kit bottles, there are a bunch of numbers. The last four are the date of manufacture; so if it says 0510 it was manufactured in May 2010. They tend to last 2-3 years before expiring depending upon the test, but it's good just to check the date and make sure it isn't a false test (although it's still possible the batch of tests got tainted when they were manufactured and it's just a bad batch; not very likely but I've heard it happening).
 
It that case the dates are fine, do you think that the prime will help with the nitrates? Sorry about all the questions this is quite confusing! Thank you so much for your help, you guys are great :)
 
It that case the dates are fine, do you think that the prime will help with the nitrates? Sorry about all the questions this is quite confusing! Thank you so much for your help, you guys are great :)

It should but I'm concerned with having to potentially overdose Prime each time you do a water change to protect your fish (when you get them) from the nitrates ( don't . And then Prime only lasts up to 2 days, so after that then I'm not sure. I've alerted Eco to this thread, maybe he can help more than I can. :)
 
The first thing I'd do is triple (or quadruple) check the nitrAte test one more time. That API test is really finicky...and every single day we have people getting results all over the board that trace back to faulty tests. I swear it's like if you shake it for 59 seconds instead of 60 the results will be wrong, lol. The colors will also change over time and the 5 minute mark is the only time it's accurate.

If you do confirm your tap water contains 80ppm of nitrAte (I'd have a LFS test and confirm for you)...it's something worth contacting the Health Department about. In the US, the maximum containment level (MCL) is 10ppm. Anything above that is considered unsafe, not just for the fish but for your family. Here's something worth checking out-
http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/nitrate.cfm

* Do you live on old farm land or anything?
 
Ok i'll check tonight i must be doing something wrong it just doesn't add up. I'll also check the water in my tank again and see what's going on there. No i don't live anywhere near farmland, i'll make sure i do the nitrate test exactly the same each time, shaking bottle number 2 for longer
 
AmyD said:
Ok i'll check tonight i must be doing something wrong it just doesn't add up. I'll also check the water in my tank again and see what's going on there. No i don't live anywhere near farmland, i'll make sure i do the nitrate test exactly the same each time, shaking bottle number 2 for longer

And shaking the entire solution for a full 60 seconds? Sorry to sound redundant...it's just we've all messed that test up. I've actually contacted API and asked if they'd start printing the instructions on the bottles instead of just the booklet.
 
Triple tested the tap water, shook both bottles for 1 minute and the entire solution also for 1 minute (used a stopwatch!) then after 5 minutes showing 20ppm! just about to clean the test tubes and check the water in my tank
 
AmyD said:
Triple tested the tap water, shook both bottles for 1 minute and the entire solution also for 1 minute (used a stopwatch!) then after 5 minutes showing 20ppm! just about to clean the test tubes and check the water in my tank

The last thing you can try is to test bottled water as a control. If that tests positive we know something is screwy with the test...otherwise you'd confirm that there is indeed that much no3 in the tap water.
 
eco23 said:
The last thing you can try is to test bottled water as a control. If that tests positive we know something is screwy with the test...otherwise you'd confirm that there is indeed that much no3 in the tap water.

I'll do bottled water tomorrow, just tested my tank: ammonia 0, nitrite 5ppm, nitrate (double tested) 20ppm. I think i'll carry on with my cycle and see if, one day, i get no nitrite
 
Sounds good. Also I saw you're in the UK. Over there they don't have anywhere near as strict regulations on the water. In the states over 10ppm is over the limit...but it's not regulated like that across the pond. You can complain to the water company if you'd like...but it won't help, lol.

Also, 20ppm isn't a big deal for water changes. All except the most sensitive fish can swim quite comfortably in that level of no3...so no worries there :)
 
Thanks for your help eco, the uk has bad water as well as bad weather then lol
 
librarygirl said:
It should but I'm concerned with having to potentially overdose Prime each time you do a water change to protect your fish (when you get them) from the nitrates ( don't . And then Prime only lasts up to 2 days, so after that then I'm not sure. I've alerted Eco to this thread, maybe he can help more than I can. :)

AmyD said:
Ok thanks, for now i'll just carry on with the cycle and see what happens :)

MonsterfishGuy said:
To much prime can be dangerous, 10 times the reg dose is the warning point.

Clhorine remover use sodium thiosulfate, and after 10 times the dose it starts to get dangerous!!
 
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