Xanderjess
Aquarium Advice Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2021
- Messages
- 6
Hi there, I'm new to the forum. My name is Kevin and I live in the metro Atlanta area and a few years ago I started a saltwater aquarium with a 75 gallon marineland tank. Over the years my nitrate testing has shown to be through the roof with nitrates like in the 80+ per million range. I always read that high nitrates would kill fish, but all of my fish have thrived and then I read that nitrate tests are very unreliable so i just chalked it up to a bad test kit, which was made by, I believe its called API. Anyway, I read online somewhere that Salifert was a better test kit so I ordered one on Amazon, received it today, immediately performed the test, and the result was the darkest purple that was available on the test sheet. What the heck?
So I'm just confused how the nitrates could be this high and none of the fish or snails die. Also, a month ago I purchased a hang-on the side protein skimmer (Bubble Magus QQ3). It is running 24/7 and I empty it out every other day. At first I thought it wasn't working correcting but then it started to produce stinky excrement which is what I believe is a sign its working. So now after a month of using a protein skimmer, the test results for nitrates are still super high and now I'm thinking of buying another skimmer to hang on the other end of the aquarium.
I don't have a sump below, just a lot of live rock.
Any ideas?
So I'm just confused how the nitrates could be this high and none of the fish or snails die. Also, a month ago I purchased a hang-on the side protein skimmer (Bubble Magus QQ3). It is running 24/7 and I empty it out every other day. At first I thought it wasn't working correcting but then it started to produce stinky excrement which is what I believe is a sign its working. So now after a month of using a protein skimmer, the test results for nitrates are still super high and now I'm thinking of buying another skimmer to hang on the other end of the aquarium.
I don't have a sump below, just a lot of live rock.
Any ideas?