Ammonia in Newly Mixed Saltwater?

So I have been battling somewhat high nitrates (60-80ppm) for a few weeks now. I do weekly water changes on Fridays (20% of total water) and have been having trouble keeping these nitrates down and was stumped. I decided to do another water change today just to try and get ahead of the game. I tested the newly mixed water that had been mixing for 24 hours in a brute tub. Nitrates came out 0ppm. Ok cool good. Just for the heck of it i decided to test the new water for ammonia. It came out green, like 2.0 ppm green! I use API for ammonia since I have a pretty established tank that shouldn't really have ammonia in it so I don't test for it often. The only thing in the brute container with the new water is a small heater, a thermometer and two koralia nanos for mixing and movement. What confuses me is how my display tests for zero ammonia or nitrate even after I test a few hours after a new water change. My thinking is the biofilter can convert the ammonia from the new water into nitrites and then into nitrate fairly quickly so I am just ending up with a lot more nitrate than I started with. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals as my salt. I have some corals in the tank and I am worried if I do not get this solved they could start deteriorating (SPS, LPS, softies). Any input would be great or any idea why there is ammonia in the new water. :-/

 

I use RODI water by the way and the filters were placed a few months back.

 

The test kit is probably bad. Get a better kit and get the results checked against another test kit.

 

Took it to LFS to test to check the kit accuracy. They got the same reading. Also used another API ammonia test I had around to retest. I realize API sucks which is why I have Saliferts for the params that fluctuate more easily (calc, nitrate, pH etc). Just haven't purchased an ammonia one since I figured this should not be an issue.

 

Ammonia forms as part of the process from mixing the salt with water. You can cause it to gas off by heavy aerating the water for a few hours or overnight. Do make sure the lid is not on during this process.

 

Yes no lid is on while I aerate new water. I have 2 koralia nanos (425 gph I believe) aerating the water. About 12 gallons of water in a 14 gallon container.

 

It's funny because I went through this exact same thing months ago, except I was having the issue in a quarantine tank I believe. Kept doing water changes to get the ammonia down but it wouldn't go down. Because I just kept introducing more ammonia into a tank that had copper in it. Anyways, gave up on quarantining and never had a problem in either display tank with the ammonia causing issues.

 

Yeah I am lost..I took the two koralias out and vinegar soaked them just in case but now I tested the new water before even putting them back in and it's still reading around .25ppm. Tank inhabitants look fine other than a few sps who I haven't seen as great of polyp extension. I'm afraid to do a water change again if its just going to add more.

 

Here is your answer.Just keep it mixing until the ammonia off gasses.

 

I have no solution for you, but am curious if the type of salt could play a factor in this or is it a universal problem.

I notice with Red Sea Salt it says don't mix more than four hours before adding to the tank.