Here is my response:

Sure I remember who you are. Yes, the high nitrate battle. I am going to copy your email into MAAST for more help. Fish can tollereat this, corals cannot. Have you taken a water sample to a fish store to be tested? Or is that your home test kit? I agree with the refugium. I think they are very beneficial to an aguarium. Almost as much as a skimmer. And you need a big refugium and a big skimmer. My buddy has a mixed reef. So he has corals and agressive fish. The agressive fish are very messy eaters and big ****ters. So he has levels higher than he wants. He has a refugium but not very big so he is going to build a bigger one. How do you skim? Does it come out dark in small amounts or light in large amounts. Light in large amounts is called skimming wet. You should do this. You remove more waste this way. All you have to do is turn your skimmer up to allow more air in and more output. But you will lose saltwater this way so you need to top off with RO sometimes and saltwater other times to keep the salinity in check. If your skimmer is not that big, get another. And build the biggest refugium you can. Get Dan or Pete to custom make it. And continue with the water changes, big ones.

Quick side note about water changes. You have 135 gallons at 160 nitrate

If you do a 50 gallon water change that is 50/135 = 37% water change = 63% old water remaining

160 x .63 = 101 nitrate = still way too high

do not bother with any water change less than 50 gallons and try to do even more. Bump it up two twice a week until you get it under control

Hope this helps,

Steven