Can this be correct?!?!

Had a friend call yesterday and asked if I could come over and check his water, said his test kits are playing up.
Talk about a shock! Po4 measured at .25 ....hmmm yeah ok nothing to lose your mind over.
Nitrate 160ppm WHAT THE HELL!!!!!
What would cause a spike like this! And everything looks happy - toxic green torch and hammer are huge, candy canes bright and fully inflated, softies looking great, branching hammer looks better than mine and cataphyllia's thriving! fish happy as pigs in mud
I don't get it
It's a 24x24 cube, oversized skimmer, sump etc. pretty standard stuff
He uses API .... Ok not good
Checked with salifert

 

That test kit has gone bad. Get another one

 

Both are showing high nitrates :/

 

has he very recently fed something different or started dosing something new? dont take this the wrong way but....are you sure you followed the testing instructions correctly? i would triple confirm with a fresh new test kit.

 

You could also take a sample to the LFS and have them confirm your reading. Also make sure your test viles are clean and there isn't any residue in them.

 

Assume you used your test kit on your tank and reading is fine?

Very strange indeed and like others another test from outside source would be good.

What has he done lately? Add rock, disturb the sand bed completely? Does he have an RO/DI unit? Does he buy his RO water? When was the last time he tested and what was its reading?

160 is off the charts so that must have been something drastic.

 

How overstocked is the tank with fish? What and how often does he feed? How often does he do water changes and what is the source of the water? How much and what type live rock and or sand/substrate? How old is the system and how established? How long since anything major was added to the tank? What protein skimmer, how well is it dialed in and how much skimmate does he dump a week?

 

I have a hard time believing Nitrate is 160ppm when corals are happy.
Either a bad test kit or operator error.

Different tests can require different ml of test water. ie, 2ml or 5ml or 10 ml

Using 2ml when you should be using 10ml would give you a jacked up reading like that.

I haven't tested Nitrate in ages myself...

 

The corals he listed are softies and LPS, most of which either like or can tolerate high nitrates, SPS would be a different story. My softie and LPS tanks get abused and never seem to mind it but the SPS is more demanding. I have had softies exceed 400 ppm nitrates and thrive, not that I would recommend anyone doing that.

 

400ppm.. really!!! what kind of test do you have that reads that high