Nitrate fix

ya I am using Quick Dip, it has 5 test strips in one, and I think that the ph reading that it gives might be off also. It is made by www.junglelabs.com . What testing supplys work best?
 
I've heard that the strips aren't very reliable, the liquid tests are pretty good though (bottle and a test tube)
 
However, even 44ppm nitrate is too high for a tank. In farm country especially nitrate can be high in water (i.e. the max allowed by law). I'd also reccomend the live plant route, sounds like your best/only option.

Emily
 
If the test strips are within their expiration period and if they haven't been dampened, they should be fine. You can always take a sample to the LFS and ask them to test it, to compare.

Even if your reading is 10 ppm too high, you're still dealing with lots of nitrates. Those of us in rural agricultural areas often see high nitrates in the Spring when farm fields are fertilized and you get runoff from Spring rains.

We often have 20 ppm nitrates in our tap water; I don't worry so much about nitrates per se, because I use nitrates more as a general marker of pollutants in my tanks. If you're really worried, you could get an RO unit...

I'd double check the nitrate level of the tap by testing with an alternative method before I'd lose any sleep over it.

Jim
 
Yes I for sure live close to farms, farms all around my house. I guess I will have to buy more plants, just suxs with all the alge growth in the tank due to high nitrate.
 
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