2 month old 40 gallon reef tank

I started my 40 gallon clear view acrylic reef tank 2 months ago i was STUPID and rushed when first setting it up.... i filled the tank with 30lbs of live sand and 10lbs crushed shells (found out that it was bad to add crushed shells after i did it) bought 50lbs of what i thought was cured live rock off someone from craigslist. levels tested normal for a week so i added six damsels from the advise of the lfs. they did fine for a week and a half so i decided i was tired of looking at them. i took them out and replaced them with a paired black and orange clownfish. and a coral beauty angle fish my wife wanted. well about 3 days later my wife calls me at work saying the coral beauty had died under one of the live rocks and the clowns were acting strange. she tested the levels and ammonia went up to 20 and all levels were high very very high. i found out that the LR i thought was cured really wasnt cured after all like the guy i bought it off of said it was. so my wife went out and bought a tank for a hospital tank set it up and transfered the fish. the next day i checked my clowns and the black one was just taking its last breath. so i lost 2 of 3 fish. now about a month later my tank is going quite well. the only exception is the nitrates are at 20 ppm and wont drop. i currently have the remaining clown and a blue hippo tang in my main tank. i have some corals currently i have green star polyps, brown button polyps, a elphant ear mushroom, chalice and some other coral my wife bought but not sure what its called. i will post some pictures let me know what you think. 8)

 

not bad, but tangs need at least 100 gallons. To lower nitrates, use RO water; if you use regular tap water, then ur nitrates wont go down. trust me, i learned the hard way

 

The blue tang will out grow your tank in a short time so be prepared to remove it and take it back to the LFS. Nice rock work.

You didn't state what kind of filtration you have. If you are using any filter media and carbon they need to be changed every two or three weeks to prevent nitrates from building up in the tank. Feed lightly and change your water weekly.

 

right now im using a ehiem canister filter seems to be doing well i also have a octopuss protien skimmer. the tang is a baby right now and loving the tank he and the clown swim side by side they seem to be best buddies i do expect him to out grow the tank sooner or later but i plan to upgrade to a larger tank in the future

 

some coral pics in my blue light

 

some more tank pics with white lights on sorry i have to use my cell cause the pictures my digital camera takes are too large to upload

 

a few more pics of the corals. my clown (nemo my 4 year old named him lol) is hosting my mushroom coral

 

to answer about the water i use RO water all levels are tested and are fine before i add it to the tank but the nitrates just dont seem to drop im kinda at a loss for words i know that 20 ppm nitrates wont hurt fish but i also know anything over .25 is too high for corals.

 

IMO the canister filter is one of the causes of the high nitrate. They need to be cleaned very regular, and if not they will produce nitrate.