New Picture need some opinions & Nitrate High

Steve,

YOu have a 45 you stated, and I counted 8 fish in the first pic?

How many fish do you have in there?

 

good eye, there is one other a goby that lives with the pistol shrimp.

consolidated two tanks into one to move.

 

Thats gotta be a big part of your nutrient problem. i only have 10 fish in a 125.

 

That's the one part of the consolidation that I wasn't prepared for. I'll add the skimmer if I can't get it down with that then I'll begin elimination.

All of the fish are relatively small and I was hoping I could get away with it based on that. I've not lost anything and nothing seems to be acting stressed but it's not something I want to get it right.

 

You could also have detritus in your live rock crevices. Before you do water changes, use a turkey baster to blow junk out of the rocks. Then change water while detritus is suspended in water. You could also have waste buildup in your filter box along the bottoms.

 

Another problem since I've moved is that I can't use my Python to clean the tank as I used to directly vacuum the bottom of the HOB filters previously and now I can't.

Instead I've been doing a sort of okie method of pouring a few gallons of water into them to flush them and by virtue of disturbing everything the rock to some degree prior to water changes.