High, but stable nitrates even with NOPOX

[alton]

When I downsized to my 180 I tried bio pellets, in the first picture you will see two large colonies of hybrid frogspawn and regular. In a month they lost 90% of there heads. I pulled the bio pellet reactor and a year later everything is doing great (2nd picture)

 

[IanMauger]

I dropped my dose from the max for my tank of 9ml (3ml/25g) down to 5ml per day. My NO3 still hovers around 10ppm after slowly dropping it. I am no longer seeing any slimy bacteria build up and my water is no longer cloudy throughout the day. My skimmer seems to be pulling a bit more garbage out. I typically skim wet and the color at 9ml dose was the light tea color, now without an adjustment to the height and still skimming wet I’m pulling a much darker brownish/dark green.

I orginally was having issues with my SPS losing color and turning pale. Now my Alk/CA/MG are all in check and don’t swing, temperature hangs between 80.4-80.8°, once it hits 80.8° the fans kick on to drop the temp slightly. So my thinking isn’t chemistry or even nutrients, I believe it’s my lightning. Have 2x Kessil a360we lamps. Due to my hood height, the distance from the water is 4-5”. I knocked them down to 45% intensity at its peak. Down from 50%. Anything above 50% fries everything.