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If you have cloudy water most likely you have an bacteria bloom. Cloudy is not the same as dirty water. You can have a lot of detritus but the water is still clear. To fix this problem, you can add a skimmer or add some live rock for the bacteria to colonize on. UV can be used short term as well.
I have the octo 130 as well and it works well. It came with the tank. However compared to a skimz it’s kind of cheaply built. I also have bubble magus, not that great. If I were you I would get an A/C pump skimz and call it a day. BRS is running 15% off skimz now.
Looking for a couple of fish for my waterbox 100.3 . It’s a 3’ tank. I think I can get away with a small tang (zebrasoma preferred). Somewhere around central/north jersey.
You mentioned the white film is hard and must be scrapped off, could it be alk precipitation? I see both alk and cal are on the high side. If it’s bacteria or algae the film would be soft.
Its normal for a 2 month old tank. Just give it time. In the meantime, cut your lighting level to half. At 2 months I suggest running the XR15’s at 25%. Zero phosphate means whatever growing fast on your glass is consuming it. And outcompeting the corals. I see you have the tank in front of a...