Just to jump in here. I agree that you should do water changes. I do 10% per week myself.
As long as you are changing at least 25% per month it will help. It is just better to spread it out to bi-weekly or weekly is even better.
Do you have a deep sand bed in your tank?
A lot of testing has been done running a bucket filled with reef sand outside of the aquarium. It must be kept UNLIT and the sand is generally about 8 inches deep. You can use one of those big instant ocean tubs or the ones at home depot. Cut a hole in each side (1 a bit lower than the other). Add a bulkhead to each and feed water from the sump into the bucket at the higher bulkhead and then back to the sump through the lower one.
Most accounts have this reducing nitrates to nothing.
Also Chaeto Algae in the sump can do wonders.
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