cthoughts1

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Hey all.. this is a bit odd.... I have a fish only with live rock 75 gallon tank. I have about 100 pounds of live rock and about 11 fish, everything 3.5 inches big or less... anyhow, here's the problem.. I topped off my tank yesterday with tap water filtered through an aquamedic di unit (I'm waiting for my rodi to come in next week).. before topping off the tank (I added about 4-6 gallons of water with a little salt [I wanted to raise the level slightly], proper 8.2 and stress coat to the water I used to top off) the amonia, nitrites and nitrates were all at 0. After adding the water the nitrates went up to like 30-40. I left the tank alone over night and today when I came home at about 5pm I tested again and the nitrates again just dropped to 0. I had been drinking a bit last night so I thought maybe, just maybe, I did the tests wrong...lol.. so I decided to add another 2-3 gallons or so to completely top off the tank (same procedure as yesterday) and I tested again, and oddly enough the nitrates are up to about 30 or so again after adding the fresh water.... and this time I haven't been drinking and I'm sure I did the tests correctly.. I tested the tap water and the nitrates on the tap water are at 0 as well... can anyone help shed some light on the situation? The salt I use is instant ocean salt. I've never had this issue before... the only things I changed are the fact that I used the bathroom faucet instead of the kitchen sink as my water source and I used that aquamedics di filter for the tap water. Aside from the everything is the same.. I tested both the water in the bathroom and the water in the kitchen and they both test 0 for nitrates.. anyone have any idea why this could be happening.. I always thought water changes lowered nitrated not increased them....
 

cthoughts1

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hey Deanos,

My old test kit was on its last drops, so that could definitely be the reason why the tests came out the way they did.. i took out my new back up test kit this morning and retested and everything is at 0 again.. i tossed the old test kit out.. thanks for your help.. i think you were 100% right...
 

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