Comparing the Hanna nitrate test kit to the API nitrate test kit. Is one better than the other?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2024
- My research findings.
As you know for the past 80-years hobbyist have been led to believe that Nitrates, an end byproduct of the nitrogen cycle, is harmless to fish and only becomes a problem if Nitrates exceeds 80-100ppm.Hobbyist are more worried about high levels of Nitrates not because of the fish being bothered by it but the introduction of cyanobacteria and algae. However, through my research this cannot be further from the truth, and just because a fish shows no outward signs of stress like they do with that of ammonia poisoning or too high of Nitrites, prolong exposure too Nitrates and even at low levels does do damage.
Here is one example: A long time ago I had a Goldfish that got caught in my skimmer and was severally beaten up to the point that euthanizing the fish would have been the humane thing to do. But instead, I placed the fish back into the Anoxic-filtering Pond to see if it would recover. Well, it did, and within 3-month the fish look as though nothing had happen to it. This got me thinking why this fish survived such a traumatic experience with no intervention from me in any way, and yet why do fish, cold and tropical, seem to get parasitic infections, fungus, fins rot and so on when they appear to be healthy other whys. What unknown stresses are our animals experiencing that we as hobbyist are overlooking? Why are we overlooking these stresses?
As you know a fish’s brain is much like that of a human brain and does contain a hippocampus and fish do produce the hormones secretion glucocorticoids or (GCs for short). This has been proven in Salmon fish after going upstream to spawn, and then shortly afterword’s die off. The excess amounts of glucocorticoids adrenal hormones secretion after spawning indicates the fish have been deeply stress and already bodily functions are shutting down and being damage from the overly abundance of this stress hormone glucocorticoids. The shrinking of the hippocampus is a sure sign that too much glucocorticoid is present, and the fish is under great stress.
Like us humans when we have insomnia, most of the time 75% is caused by stress and the overly production of glucocorticoids, a stress released hormone in humans, too. Yet, insomnia will not adversely affect its victim immediately but if persistent enough it may cause other side effects such as impairing our immune system and the shrinking of the hippocampus, memory loss.
What I found is that fish under sustained exposure to Nitrates, anything over 5-ppm produce an overabundance of the hormone glucocorticoids that cause the degeneration in the fish. In all fish, the hippocampus a neutral site that is always a spot for which glucocorticoids affect showed exacerbated neuronal damage. This means that Nitrates are a stressor and can be a potential modulator of the hippocampal degeneration that I was seeing in fish exposed to Nitrates for prolong periods.
Those fish that were exposed to Nitrates of under 5-ppm or less showed very little to no excessive glucocorticoids and their hippocampus was normal. As the Nitrate levels increased along with prolong exposed the hormone glucocorticoids increased and therefore caused neuronal damage over time. This would explain why my Goldfish recovered over its stressful mishap after being placed in the Anoxic filter because Nitrates were at 5-ppm or less.
I experimented with the Carassius auratus capability to ward off stress, diseases, and parasites exposed to Nitrates of less than 5-ppm and those of long-term exposed Nitrates greater than 10-ppm going as high as 80-ppm. Those Carassius auratus that live in low Nitrate and/or free Nitrate water, like they would in nature, were less susceptible to the biological and chemical insults and had lower Glucocorticoids than those Carassius auratus that lived in stressful Nitrates laden water. The hippocampal of the later Carassius auratus showed degeneration of the hippocampal and no damage to those fish that were exposed to the low Nitrates. This would explain why Koi show a greater sheen to their skin in low Nitrate water than those in higher amounts of Nitrates. No stress! The Nitrates are the cause of higher amounts of glucocorticoids that stress the Koi unknowingly to the hobbyist.
This also may explain why my Koi and others using the Anoxic Filter have Koi over 30-years old now. It may explain why my South American Bumblebee catfish, Microsynodontis batesii in my 20-gal antique aquarium is now over 25-years old using a plenum that keep Nitrates lower than 10-ppm with two water changes a year.
Like diabetes that doesn’t kill its victims outright but will cause secondary problems like kidney malfunction becoming stage 4 or higher, heart disease, eye impairment and so on. Nitrates over time increase glucocorticoids and although not directly will kill the animal, it will eventually cause another insult to take hold and do the job instead. Once again, more research needs to be done.
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Great informative video, Dr. Thanks
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for you brilliant video, I wondered if these Hanna testers can be used for freshwater and you confirmed it for me so thank you for that! I bet the phosphate tester can be used as well, at work we use a professional Hanna tester to measure the phosphate, iron and even ammonia although the ammonia we use the ammonia version of your nitrate egg tester among other testers that are Hanna branded. I’m going to buy on of these now as I really didn’t get on with the API tester I had problems reading what the chart was showing depending on the light.
Thanks again have a great day 👍
Hi mr Novak. Plenum with upvc piping to distribute even water movement under plenum and so you can push water in if needed. My question is I would like to fit a power head to plenum to a spray bar fitted on back of tank to agitated floor bottom. I’ve watched videos on you channel and you mention power head can be fitted. What power head would I be looking to get with water flow needing to be slow in plenum in a 55gallon tank. Looking to get back in the Hobby after 15 years out. Lots has changed and I find your methods very interesting indeed. Kept discus but always found nitrate and phosphate to much and water changes weekly. Many thanks wayne
Hi Kevin. . . Nitrates are the silent killer of fish ! Would like one hanna kit but they are expensive for what they are . Hoping plenum works for me on my new setup . Still processing my new substrate ready for new tank setup . Another great video . Bfn john .
my research findings.
As you know for the past 80-years hobbyist have been led to believe that Nitrates, an end byproduct of the nitrogen cycle, is harmless to fish and only becomes a problem if Nitrates exceeds 80-100ppm.Hobbyist are more worried about high levels of Nitrates not because of the fish being bothered by it but the introduction of cyanobacteria and algae’s. However, through my research this cannot be further from the truth, and just because a fish shows no outward signs of stress like they do with that of ammonia poisoning or too high of Nitrites, prolong exposure too Nitrates and even at low levels does do damage.
Here is one example: A long time ago I had a Goldfish that got caught in my skimmer and was severally beaten up to the point that euthanizing the fish would have been the humane thing to do. But instead, I placed the fish back into the Anoxic-filtering pond to see if it would recover. Well it did, and within 3-month the fish look as though nothing had happen to it. This got me thinking why did this fish survive such a traumatic experience with no intervention from me in any way, and yet why do fish, cold and tropical, seem to get parasitic infections, fungus, fins rot and so on when they appear to be healthy other whys. What unknown stresses are our animals experiencing that we as hobbyist are overlooking? Why are we overlooking these stresses?
As you know a fish’s brain is much like that of a human brain and does contain a hippocampus and fish do produce the hormones secretion glucocorticoids or (GCs for short). This has been proven in Salmon fish after going upstream to spawn, and then shortly afterword’s die off. The excess amounts of glucocorticoids adrenal hormones secretion after spawning indicates the fish has been deeply stress and already bodily functions are shutting down and being damage from the overly abundance of this stress hormone glucocorticoids. The shrinking of the hippocampus is a sure sign that too much glucocorticoid is present and the fish is under great stress.
Like us humans when we have insomnia, most of the time 75% is caused by stress and the overly production of glucocorticoids, a stress released hormone in humans, too. Yet, insomnia will not adversely affect its victim immediately but if persistent enough it may cause other side effects such as impairing our immune system and the shrinking of the hippocampus; memory loss.
What I found is that fish under sustained exposure to Nitrates, anything over 5-ppm produce an overabundance of the hormone glucocorticoids that cause the degeneration in the fish. In all fish, the hippocampus a neutral site that is always a spot for which glucocorticoids affect showed exacerbated neuronal damage. This means that Nitrates are a stressor and can be a potential modulator of the hippocampal degeneration that I was seeing in fish exposed to Nitrates for prolong periods.
Those fish that were exposed to Nitrates of under 5-ppm or less showed very little to no excessive glucocorticoids and their hippocampus was normal. As the Nitrate levels increased along with prolong exposed the hormone glucocorticoids increased and therefore caused neuronal damage over time. This would explain why my Goldfish recovered over its stressful mishap after being placed in the Anoxic filter because Nitrates were at 5-ppm or less.
I experimented with the Carassius auratus capability to ward off stress, diseases, and parasites exposed to Nitrates of less than 5-ppm and those of long-term exposed Nitrates greater than 10-ppm going as high as 80-ppm. Those Carassius auratus that live in low Nitrate and/or free Nitrate water, like they would in nature, were less susceptible to the biological and chemical insults and had lower Glucocorticoids than those Carassius auratus that lived in stressful Nitrates laden water. The hippocampal of the later Carassius auratus showed degeneration of the hippocampal and no damage to those fish that were exposed to the low Nitrates. This definitely would explain why Koi show a greater sheen to their skin in low Nitrate water than those in higher amounts of Nitrates. No stress! The Nitrates are the cause of higher amounts of glucocorticoids that stress the Koi unknowingly to the hobbyist.
This also may explain why my Koi and others using the Anoxic Filter have Koi over 30-years old now. It may explain why my South American Bumblebee catfish, Microsynodontis batesii in my 20-gal antique aquarium is now over 25-years old using a plenum that keep Nitrates lower than 10-ppm with two water changes a year.
Like diabetes that doesn’t kill its victims outright but will cause secondary problems like kidney malfunction becoming stage 4 or higher, heart disease, eye impairment and so on. Nitrates over time increase glucocorticoids and although not directly will kill the animal, it will eventually cause another insult to take hold and do the job instead. Once again more research needs to be done.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums hi kevin. . . Wow thanks for more great information . It's plenum all the way for me. Putting in some substrate today on my new setup and so the process begins . It's my best attempt at getting it all right and seing what happenes . Thanks for your reply . John .
Where can I find the book you mention and reference that you wrote? I clicked the link in you about section but that took me to a blog rather than a book.
Are you saying that if the reagents are old (have been exposed to air for a while) they will show more nitrates when you test? or just inaccurate?
Once the regions have been exposed to air and time itself they may show either too much or too little nitrates they become less and less accurate overtime the test kits do.
Thank you for your videos. I greatly enjoyed them and will be making a shrimp tank with a plenum. I wanted to see if you can look int the bio home products from pond guru. That product sounds like it can complete the nitrogen cycle like the bcb bags too.
The trouble with a lot of these products that you speak about have a tendency to eventually clog and then they become pretty well useless except for the nitrogen cycle.
Thanks for sharing. After 30+ years in the hobby, I’d still stay with the API.
I don’t care what the exact PPM is. I’m looking for a ballpark. Ultimately you’ll have to adjust with waterchanges when needed or if you know how to use a Sulphur reactor.
When the API reads slightly off yellow towards orange, I am happy.
Thanks for the video.
Fair enough!
Kevin, how do you feel about the test strips? I used aquarium brands years ago and found that the colour was quiet easy to read as long as you did it straight away. I can never tell if its 10 or 20ppm on the API kit and I look into the Hanna they are 103.00 here in AUS and the regent is about 32.00 for 25 tests quiet pricy.
They're good unfortunately the more the test strips are exposed to air the less accurate they become that's the only downside. Some companies will actually segregate the test strips in little packs of 10 so you don't ruin all of them by opening and closing the container that they are enclosed in.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Ok I'll give them a try when other tests kits are out
Thank for sharing Doc. I'm happy with my plenum and bcb. In my country, they increase the price of akadama soil. I want to use garden baked clay soil instead (baked over 1200 degrees). Can i use them? Btw, i cannot find oil dri, zorb, kitty litter that you mention. I only found 3 things...akadama soil, zeoilte soil, baked clay soil (it seam like terracotta soil).
Thanks for sharing
Hello,
Thank you for the great video. Does it matter if you buy the low range or high range test kit?
I just came back from 1 month away while a family member was being kind enough to feed my fish. I just had an automatic feeder, but they ended up feeding 1 tablet of the sera-o-nip tablets per day. These make a mess and a lot of pollution, and usually only give these treats once a week or less. So upon my return I found a lot of cyano on my plants and glass. I haven't done a water change, but stopped using the tablets for the last two days. Did a hanna phosphate test and its read 0.03ppm (was 0.25ppm the day I got back), orp 260, and nitrates are either 40 or 80 ppm, I'll be doing a water change as soon as I have the time. I can never tell the difference between the two readings (40 and 80ppm, or 10 and 20 for that matter) on API. I will want that hanna checker. Is it normal for phosphate levels to drop faster than nitrate levels using bcb baskets and the home made purigen. Thanks.
No not really they're both going to be accurate enough for our use.
I checked with Hanna and they say that Fresh water samples produce approximately 15-25% more colour compared to their equivalent marine sample of the same nitrate concentration. Now if you are getting readings of 48ppm that should be 40ppm in reality. You might say that that doesn't matter much in Dr Novaks comparison with the API as you can barely tell the difference in colour between 25 and 65ppm with the API cards, but it would be more crucial at lower readings. So if you don't mind having readings 20% too high, do what Dr Novak suggests and use the marine Hana in freshwater. Or take a chance and reduce your value by 20% each time. Whatever i don't think Dr Novak can really say the Hanna and API are close in their values if there is that inherent difference there.
When I bought fish from my aquarist a few weeks ago I asked him what was the nitrate level of the tank and was told that they don't test for nitrates as they don't worry about nitrate levels.
That seems to be the new train of thought today not like a long time ago. It seems like nitrates aren't a big deal anymore only until the tank is full of algae and they have all kinds of issues with water quality.
Great video sir. I would a Hanna meter but Canada it's way to expensive, I use the app. But truefully since using a plenium my nitrates are zero. I only test because I get bored.
Thanks for sharing
Sorry about last comment. I should have gave more info. I bought new api test kit just to make sure and I got approx. 5ppm. And this after over months without a water change. I only top up. It's a closed top tank so maybe a inch a week or two of evaporation I started doing this about 2 to 3 months ago because added a bcb bag in my hob filter. This is a 120 gallon that is heavily planted and very heavily stocked. I use co2 and also of ferts thanks for sharing the best system in this hobby.
Going to try the Hanna Tests when it is time to replace the API Tests. The colors on the API’s are just to hard to read. 👍
Agreed!
Can i use chelated iron fertilizer for bcb ?
Is it safe ? Please give me a advice 🙏
I am from India and i am in this hobby from last 7 years but never heard about anoxic filtration and bcb until i saw your video's. You doing a great job for people like me who can't afford to spend lots of money on the aquarium. Thanks for your work !!!
Yes 100%
Sir, I'm from india. Recently set up a diy all in one tank before watching your videos. It's a 2 feet square tank 45cm height, in which 15cm partition on back as sump for all filter (mechanical, and biological) on mechanical I have Foss and sponge. For biological three types of ceramic rings, ceramic balls and pot scrubber and a seprate section for K1 media. I used 6 inch of substrate of river soil and organic soil. After I watched your videos i realised all this unnecessary things. It is only necessary to have under gravel filter. I wonder whether it is ok for me to place iron diy root tabs 2 inch deep made up of (Fe EDDHA or Fe EDTA or Fe DTPA) I will choose one of above as per your suggestions to induce Anoxic condition in gravel that can go through without dismantling my existing setup. Thank you
Here's what I would do since you don't want to tear down the tank. Do the best with what you have and if it fails then you're going to have to tear down the tank and this time you can do it right.
Hey Doc I just wanted to say I really appreciate your videos! I ordered a Hanna High Range Nitrate test kit and am excited to use it. I find the API too hard to read, I've just been going by "orange = OK" and "Red = Water Change" haha. It'll be nice to properly monitor Nitrate. Especially because I'm going to implement some of your advice into my 125gal and it'll be fun to see how it goes.
That is awesome!
How has it been working for you?
Could you explain better how water has a positive charge? At school we learned that water is a positive/negative dipole
Yes water has a negative and positive charge but most of the charges are positive than negative. Underneath inside the Plenum however it does have a negative and positive charge which are unified together which makes oxidizers.
@@anoxicfiltrationplenums Thank you very much
So... EI is wrong ?
Dr. Novak,
I guess my comments last week prompted your nitrate comparison now. I still don’t quite agree with you that the Hanna and API agree with each other, 10ppm vs 5ppm at this low concentration is substantially different. If you really want to proof your point you could make a nitrate standard solution and spike RO water with 5/10/20/50 ppm of nitrate and do the Hanna test (or both) again. This would really give us clarity about the accuracy of the Hanna test for freshwater applications.
I look forward to your updates
I'll tell you what, why don't you prove your point instead of having me prove any more points. You're the one who thinks it's not good well then prove your point to everybody and I will publish it on my TH-cam OK. otherwise everybody who is going to be reading this are going to see that you're all talk and no action. You go through the time expenditure and everything else that's involved and do your double blind test. We will be waiting for your outcome. Don't have somebody else do the work that you can do yourself as they always say.
I look forward to you posting your test results Albert
Close enough for government work. I wouldn't consider the fact that it matched the API kit and sign out proof of accuracy though. The API kit is very inaccurate and open to user interpretation.