Yea. I think I'm going to try a little vinegar here soon. I got a good Costco deal on some tasty white stuff but I'll never use it all for pickles. I've got an empty chamber now that I'm not auto dosing dosing mag.I agree that high nitrates are not okay or normal although there are tanks out there that have higher (160 on some I read) that are absolutely beautiful and the tank owners don't seem concerned about it. I've been trying to get mine down almost since the beginning. Even fishless, it was high. My point was that it most likely wasn't her nitrates that were an issue with the toadstool. I do WC's, tried nopox etc. and about the lowest I get them is 20. I don't run a carbon reactor and when I used fluconazle and had the skimmer off for 9 days, everything hummed along merrily. Even my acros don't object. My phos bottoms out to where I have to dose but the nitrates remain between 20-40. I am now rinsing all frozen to see if that improves it.
I do need to remember to take some water to the lfs and have em test or with another kit.
I did once have the fabled unicorns of live rock once. Leaking Po4 and no3. Has to toss it. And naturally is was the most money I've ever spent on one rock.