My Elegance and open brain doesn't look good

[JMALACHI]

First thing I notice is your nitrates at 160 ppm, that is extremely high. Phosphates are quite high as well, most shoot for .03-.05.
I would double check these values again, possibly take some water to an LFS and have them triple check. What's the expiration on the test kits you are using and brand?
What kind of fish are in the tank? How long has the tank been set up? How long have you had these particular corals?

I did notice this happen after I bought this polyfiber filter. I cut two to size and put them in my baffles then a couple days later i took them out to rinse, checked my levels and that's when I noticed it was high. Could that have been the issue?

I then took it to the lfs who said i was fine. I had a funny feeling that he may have not did the test right so I bought a new kit that tested at ppm. Did the water change and then tested the next day and the results were what I put up.

As for fish, I have a yellow tang, coral beauty, mandarin goby, scooter blenny, lawnmower, diamond goby, 3 green chromis, a maroon clown and a zebra dart goby (remembered the name). Then some hermits, snails and nassarius.

The tank has been running for six months and the corals have been in my tank for a couple months and doing great. Full bodied, full color, eating well (elegance)...

I plan on checking the levels today and hoping the levels went down.

Can a skimmer be the cause if its not working properly?