Interesting stats on CRS tank

[charlie]

I have read several times how toxic Nitrate is to Crystal red Shrimp( including some folks on this forum), as some of you know i had started a dedicated CRS tank back in Feb. of 2011, the tank has done very well by most standards, in that time i have never tested for nitrates the only test was for PH & Ammonia in the beginning.
The shrimp has being breeding non stop & have generated quite a population, today out of the blues i decided to test the tank parameters, PH6.2, Temp 72.5 ,- Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, & here is the kicker Nitrate 20 PPM, there is 3 scenarios to comes to mind (1) the Kit is bad- this i will verify later (2) I have developed a super tolerant strain of CRS  (3) or we as hobbyist read & regurgitate stuff out of context.
Regards
Any input welcomed

[wolfiewill]

Errol, have you been able to confirm your nitrate test result? I have been considering getting some of these but have been skittish 'cause of just this problem. I have never, ever gotten a result from years of testing nitrates and nitrites (all zero), and have been suspicious of the testing kits. So I don't test anymore and can't get the energy up to start again (I do complete sets of parameter test on all my tanks at least once per week - the time it takes... yikes!).

[Fishnut]

I'm curious about the test kit.  When will you confirm the results?

[charlie]

Sorry for not posting on this.
Yes the results was confirmed, i did 3 test @ home using 3 different test kits 2 @ APC & 1 @ Seachem all was pretty close to each other, i was shocked after reading so much on keeping Nitrates close to zero is a must for keeping & breeding CRS, my suspicion is that this must apply to the very higher grades of CRS but so far i have not experienced any negative results both in keeping & breeding, like i mentioned  i never checked for Nitrates in this set up which was started in Feb 2011, so i can`t say if the Nitrates was low & when i got the brainwave to test the tank was spiking?
I will say i have stepped up the WC & Nitrates is running around 10 PPM so i`m not going to strive for the recommended perfection, i always believe when we start doing so we end up going around in a circle like a cat chasing it`s tail.
Regards
P.S i have netted 20 shrimp & transferred them to my 25 Gallon which runs @ a slightly higher temp 74-75 Deg F regular dosing as per PPS with boosted phosphates & so far so good, time will tell.

[charlie]

Errol, have you been able to confirm your nitrate test result? I have been considering getting some of these but have been skittish 'cause of just this problem. I have never, ever gotten a result from years of testing nitrates and nitrites (all zero), and have been suspicious of the testing kits. So I don't test anymore and can't get the energy up to start again (I do complete sets of parameter test on all my tanks at least once per week - the time it takes... yikes!).

I usually don`t test either, the plants talk to you after a while 

[charlie]

taken a short while ago