Chemistry problems - what is wrong?

1) You mentioned growing caulerpa, is it growing?  Are you having to trim/harvest it, or is it just sitting there?  Picture?  With nitrate levels I would expect you to be taking literally buckets of macro algae out of that tank in two months unless something else is off.2) How much gunk is your skimmer putting off, what does it look like (thick and dark, clear and watery)?3) Can you post a picture of the display tank?  Some picture sharing sites are blocked where I work, so I apologize if it is already in the thread.4) If your source water tests clean and the tank does not it probably isn't the kit, but getting it checked with a different test next time it is convenient wouldn't hurt.5) It may already be in the thread, but is this nitrate issue causing you a problem (ie your coral is suffering, your fish are lethargic, etc)?  High nitrates are an opportunity for improvement, but not a direct problem in its self.  I've seen nice tanks that operate in that range.  If you are happy with the way the tank looks, keep working on it, but I wouldn't let it stress you out.  If there is a different specific symptom, that may help us with the diagnosis.
 
1-I have caulerpa and cheato in the sump but doesn't seem to be over gown or much change to it.2-Skimmer is kind of a green/yellowish with brown slug around the sides of the cup.3-I will try to post some pic when I get back home tonight.4-next time I go into Dallas I will take some water with me to get tested.5-The levels did not seem to be a problem before - fish were active and water was nice and clear and everything appeared to be healthy. but in the past week the water has started to cloud (that is what triggered the last water change - but water is still cloudy) the fish appeared to be doing okay this morning but my watchmen goby was swimming around at the top and not looking too good, my mushrooms have all shrived up (a little more open this morning after the water change but not good) and my anemone was completely closed up last night before the water change and a little open this morning. So I have crossed over the line into this being a problem. 
 
If your levels are all still the same and nothing appears to be out of wack, I would say that is a bacterial bloom.  I had a lot of them when my tank was young and was able to slow it down with a UV sterilizer.  The main thing that solved it for me was taking the bio pellet reactor offline.  I had 0 Ammonia, Nitrites, Phosphates, and Nitrates which was the cause for the weird bacterial blooms, so it might not be the same thing you are seeing.  Maybe invest in a good RO/DI unit???
 
1) If your macro is not growing there is something else wrong.  Below is a picture of the chaeto I just trimmed from the middle chamber of a 29 gallon biocube.  Mind you, this was just trimmed a month ago, and I did leave enough for it to populate for next month.  I wasn't kidding about buckets of it.  The ruler is 12".  Please get the lighting in the macro picture as well.View attachment 21762) If you're just having symptoms now, I still don't think the nitrates themselves are the root cause.3) Is the skimmer gunk transparent or opaque?4) Please remind me what your feeding regime looks like again?
 
<pre>got the canister filter up and going, thanks for the suggestions. The water is clearing up and the LS is getting back to normal, I think all I lost was my purple firefish, everything else appears to be recovering. Amonia and nitrates are still up (amonia spiked with the cloudy water. I will test again tomorrow and see what happens after the canister has been up and going for 24hrs. Also tested calcium and it is around 480-500. My ph is low.i am attaching a pic of the tests.View attachment 2185 </pre>
 
Something very wrong happened if you are testing ammonia, although I can't say what.Could still use a picture of the fuge.  Nothing odd looking in the tank.
 
View attachment 2186filter floss, bio balls (submerged), sponge, pump feeding HOB skimmer, fuge with sand, rock, calurpea and cheato, then return pump. Sorry it is hard to get a full pic with my ATOemptied the skimmer this morning (green/yellowish clear) just checked it tonight and cup is half full clear with a lot of white foam on top
 
How many inches from bulb to substrate?I'd find a way to put more light on it.  A warm white (or even cool white) cfl will work just fine.  I don't have any particular fascination with CFL vs incandescent, but I like the fact that 120w or 150w equivalent CFLs are usually safe in 60W fixtures (particularly handy in ceiling lights), so you get more light and it runs a bit cooler.  If you can lower it any without worrying about salt spray that would help as well.
 
 Are all inhabatants accounted for? What are you feeding, how much, and how often?If your amonia is spiking, then you have lost something in your tank. Amonia comes from decay. Your tank has been up long enough to have cycled out any die-off from transfering your live rock. I saw you have an anemone? your tank is way too young to successfully house an anamone. if it dies, it will nuke your tank very quickly.
 
Everything is accounted for (I was missing my purple firefish for a few days but came out of hiding today. I was feeding just a pinch or two every other day but had cut that back to just a couple times a week. I had to leave town for a week and could not find anyone to come by so I put on an auto feed at the lowest setting (but I know even on the lowest setting it was putting in more than I do and every day so that may have been the cause of the spike. I vacuumed the sand bed and rocks really good when I got home but the water was already beginning to cloud.i will try to find a brighter bulb. I can move it to shine through the side of the sump and get it right up on everything - my only concern is the sump is acrylic and I don't want to warp it from heat (the water should insulate it so it doesn't get hot enough to do anything but I just didn't want to take any chances).
 
I won't make any arguments on age of tanks and nems (although from a stability perspective this tank doesn't seem like a good home for the nem at the moment).  I disagree however with the whole "nem will nuke the tank".  I've seen any number of nems die in people's tanks either via husbandry issues, insufficient protection of powerheads, or anything else.  I've yet to see a tank crash as a result.
 
I personally have had a 55 gal reef crash due to a long tennicle dieing behind a rock. it happened within 24 hours. The reason nems shouldn't be housed in a tank less than 4 months is from a stability standpoint. it takes at least 3-4 months to work all the swings out before stability accurs.
 
I do believe what you're experiencing is a alge bloom. If you let it run it's course, it shouldn't be an issue. I'm a believer in leaving the lights on during a bloom, the reasoning is the more light, the faster the nitrates will be consumed. Of course it will result in another swing, but that can be controlled with a decent water change.
 
I never said an alge bloom caused an amonia spike. I said it looks like an alge bloom resulted from over feeding. 
 
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