Hello so I'm new to ARC and also to saltwater aquariums always had a freshwater growing up and my dad had 2 saltwater tank. My question is my nitrates are high in my 14g BioCube since last weekend. Long story short girlfriend thought the fish may get hungry while we were out of town for 2 days and that all the copepods and such wouldn't be enough for them for such a short period of time. Well during the week i have done numerous water changes roughly 7 to 8 gallons total have been doing roughly 2 to 3 gallons every other day or so. Well the nitrates have lowered slightly and i have also removed the filter pad going from the 2nd to the 3rd camber as i have read in numerous threads on nanoreef.com. I have also heard that the bio balls can cause nitrate issues in these tanks. Is there any advise to remove the bio balls besides slowly. Also don't see anything dead all are accounted for except for 2 peppermint shrimps but i honestly think something is eating them.