New to Hobby, Inherited tank with new house, boy do I need help.

[ponokareefer]

I would look at getting a better skimmer for sure. An aqua c remora pro would be an upgrade over what you have. You could keep the filters, but only have filter floss or carbon running in them, and then make sure you keep the filter floss clean. You could also run Purigen and Chemi-pure in them, both of which I use and work good. As for the substrate, that is a matter of great debate. I use a DSB, while others use crushed coral, and still others use nothing. I would do some more reading on which one you prefer. The crushed coral shouldn't be affecting your system a lot unless it is full of food/poop. The phosphates are an issue, and probably getting into your system from tap water. Look to either use bottled water, which I started with, and then went to a RO unit. Without doing something about the phosphate, you will have some sort of algae issues. There are certain chemicals/media you can use to take it out as well.
Finally, do a couple of large water changes with water that has no phosphates in it. Good luck!

[Fellow]

Thank you all for the replies. Ill take some time to read over these tonight and post a few follow up questions with pictures of my setup to provide some additonal contex.

[Fishward]

Your skimmer seems to be a bit under-rated for the system. http://www.redseafish.com/Prod126.asp the website says its good for up to 40 gallons, which means its actually good for 30. +1 to tossing the canisters and upgrading the skimmer. what size powerheads do you have? some more flow may help with the algae problems..

[don.ald]

i would cut the light period down to 5hrs a day or even less to battle the algae problem.
maybe even a day or two of no light to start with. cloudy day never hurts the coral or fish. just hurts the algae