Nitrate ?

[bigwater]

I put 4 grams of potassium nitrate in my 90 gallon tank and the tank still measures 0 ppm. According to the calculator on Chucks page it should have brought it to 5 ppm. What am I missing?

 

[Jay]

4 grams of KNO3 in 90 gal should have given you 7+ ppm of NO3.

Added to your tap concentration it should be higher.

NO3 test kits are notoriously inaccurate. I would look there first.

Jay

 

[Captain Hook]

I agree, that will put you over 7 ppm of N for sure. Unless you have a super high light tank with tons of plants, it shouldn't disappear too quickly.

 

[djlen]

Take a glass of water and add to it a gram or so and test that.
If it reads 0 you have a problem with your test kit.
4 grams should give you 7.2 in a 90 gal. tank.

Len

 

[bigwater]

Thanks for the quick replies! I just found out how smart I am not. Instead of testing nitrate I was testing for nitrite. I have a level of 10ppm which seems low for how much I have added.