What are we doing wrong?

Don't forget about checking the salinity. To keep corals, you should really have a refractometer.

 

No offense taken! I'm the first to admit that we are VERY green in our learning about this hobby! We live out here in the desert, for goodness sake, and the only authority we have is our fish guy. He's very good, but as someone said earlier, he has a product to sell! I am doing a water change as we speak. I will buy a test kit of my own tomorrow.

We didn't acclimate the tank to the new lights. We were told just plug them in and you're good to go. I've always felt that acclimating is where we mess up. Our guy has told us just 1 hour to acclimate.

I'm sorry to be so stupid, and I realize my stupidity shows greatly!

 

LeslyeC - Repeat after me, I am not stupid! And you came to get help - that is a really, really smart move! Don't be too hard on yourself. We are all learning new things about this hobby. Even the ones that have been doing this for years!

Let's take things slow and see if we can get your tank healthy so that you can enjoy it! Doing regular water changes is a great start. Get the test kits tomorrow and post your results. There is always someone on here to help you!

 

K+ for this comment.

and well, everyone pretty much said the rest.

 

To all my wonderful helpers:

Last night I did a 25% water change. today I bought my own water testing supplies. It looks like the ammonia is taken care of, however, the nitrate is still high. Should I do another water change now or is there another treatment?

 

How high is it?

 

Well, now I'm going to show my ignorance again. The tests I bought show color. The chart says if it's hot pink that's too high and it was hot pink. I didn't even see a test at the store that wasn't color-based. Is there a particular test that you recommend?

 

There should be a number next to the color.
What brand test kit did you get.

 

Did you get test strips or liquid tests?
Test strips will not tell you your levels and will only go with "good" or "Bad". They are also horribly inacurate.
Liquid tests have you fill up a test tube to a certain level, add so many drops of chemical and you match the colors to get a number. (ie Nitrate 10, ammonia 2) These are better to use.

 

Yep, avoid strips like the plague.
I would recommend API liquid test kits. They are readily available and easy to use.