125 gal SWAMP! Help!!!

[ifoundnemo]

Hi. I am new at this, so please bear with me. I have an 125 gallon tank I am hoping to turn into a reef tank. It has been running for about 3 months and currently has the following in it: base rock, 1/2 inch crushed coral, a feather duster, 2 damsels, a clown, a tang, a chocolate chip starfish, a coral banded shrimp and many snails/hermits.
About 6 weeks ago we changed our lighting to four 160 w VHO 72" bulbs (A local pet shop said we needed to upgrade to have 5 watts per gallon -- is this really true?) Ever since this change, we have been unable to manage the mirky water and algae. I have managed to capture a SWAMP instead of a piece of the OCEAN!
Our current filtration system consists of 1 Fluval 403 and a protein skimmer. I know we need to upgrade, but I don't know what I really need. Local shops are not consistent with each other and are so expensive to boot!
Please, please, please what do I really need and where is the most economical place to purchase the supplies?
Thank you so much for your time and consideration! :help:

 

[turningtim]

First let me say I'm no pro. But I think you need to post in new hobbists. Also need some more info. What are your water parameters? What type of skimmer and are you pulling alot of skimmate? What type of water are you using? What type/color is the algea? What types of tests are you doing on the water? Post pics!
As far as your filters. A good skimmer is nessesary! I have never used a can filter on salt tank and opinions vary on whether they are useful. Some say that they are Trate traps. I also think that your substrate has to go. I know that Crushed Coral will trap nastiness unless vaccuumed a lot. I had a trate prob and changed to live sand and prob went away.
Do a search of sump/fuge in DIY. This would be the most effective filtering system for your tank. It would also be fairly simple to diy. There are many here that could help with flow and such. They will also help with least expensive way to go about fixing your problems.
Lighting all depends on what you want to keep in the tank. Rules of thumb vary way to much to have an exact rule.
The problem I have found with LFS's is that they want to sell you what they have and of course each have the best.
Do some shopping on line. I have found that it is far less expensive unless it's a very heavy item. (auction site)
These are suggestions and please take with a grain of salt but I hope to guide you the right way.
HTH Read and read some more! Welcome to the boards! :happy:

 

[bang guy]

I'm guessing that you use tap water. If so STOP!
What is the flow rate in your tank?
Do you have any live rock or is it all base rock?
Any live sand?

 

[msd2]

Yup sounds like tap water, one great investment is a di/ro filter.
IMHO if you want more flexiblity in your reef for corals you should bite the bullet and throw a few mh in there. To give you an idea I have a 100 gallon that runs 675w mh, then the actinics and I still would not do sps. Good advice to take a look at going with a sump/fuge. A search will yield more info than you will ever want, lol. I personally like euroreef skimmers. After you do lots of reading you will have to decide what works best for you. But your on your way. I personally get my supplies online, they are just so much cheaper the lfs cant come close, but for livestock I almost always get local and food. The best suggestion I can give you is see if there is a local reefer club. They are a massive wealth of info that knows the best places to go locally