Fighting High Nitrates

[raisemyrent]

Hi,

I have a 10gal nano (should be a mini!) that has been around since April. You can find my tank page for the early parts of the story. It took a while to cycle, but it has been established since May. I have a small frogspawn, a mushroom head and some zoafrags, plus 3 ricordeas... I also have a clown and a yellow watchman. And 2, I mean 3 (one appeared out of the blue) astrea snails.

Last time I tested, sometime in may/june, my nitrates wer 2ppm. Yesterday, I decided it was time to tend to my tank a bit more (I had been playing it by ear all along) and I tested everything possible. Nitrates are through the roof at 10ppm. I have a fair amount of live rock and all the pieces bar one were from established fish store tanks... the sand should be in good shape too.

I am over the gren algae bloom and seem to be recently winning the battle against cyano (had to syphon and cut the lights out for 3 days).

I have a rio nano skimmer at the back that has a surface skimmer attachment (cleans out the surface film)... it runs 24/7.

I immediately did a 2gal water change yesterday, but I didn't restest.

Any ideas as to why I may have such high nitrates? I feed every other day in small amounts (confirmed by my fish).
And also, on how to bring them down? I will keep doing water changes for the time being.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!