First Salwater Tank!

Hello! I Just recently got my first tank a few months ago. I have always loved marine biology since my first class in high school. We got to take care of over 10 tanks and got to frag and grow corals. 4 years later i finally have my own tank so im very rusty. But I'm so excited to learn and grow at this amazing hobby!


I have a 26 gallon bow front tank.
Marineland 350 bio-wheel filter, a 100 W quartz heater, Maxi-jet 900, Marineland coral light (blue +white), thermometer, reef master test kit, Ph test, ammonia test, and a refractometer. Just recently i bought the 5 in 1 test strips as well.

I get my saltwater already mixed from a saltwater aquarium store in my area. They store is highly recommended.

I have a clown fish, a chocolate chip starfish, a damsel, 4 hermit crabs, 1 bumblebee snail, 4 nerites, and 4 other snails that i cant remember the names of.

I did have another damsel, an emerald crab(it was laying on its back and i removed it and realized it was molting((dont know if it was my fault or what))), another bumblee snail that got on top of the filter and died, and a hermit crab that was out of its shell and died.

I got this tank from my cousin because they didn't want to take care of it. Since it was free i immediately jumped at the chance to have my very own saltwater tank so we drove it from Pennsylvania down to Oklahoma. We took out most of the rock and emptied it to about 1/3 and sat the tank with the clown, the star, and the two bumble snails(i added the rest later) in the backseat of our truck. This was around Christmas time so it was very cold and as soon as i got it home i bought a bunch of new things that they didnt have and starting working on it right away. They had the tank with the same rock and crushed coral for about 4 or 5 years. In the beginning i didnt change that but after about a month and a half i threw away the old rock and scooped out all the crushed coral, changed half the water, and put new carribean sand and rock in( the fish were in a bucket with the pump until the sand settled). The old rock was covered in red and green algae. Shortly after putting in the new stuff the rock is getting covered in red algae again. Then my damsel died, my emerald crab, and my snail. I got the new hermit crabs and snails to try to clean up the algae.

Here are a few of my water parameters:
feb 21:
KH+GH-180
PH-7.5
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 160
salinity- 1.028

Mar 24
KH-180
GH-180
PH-7.5
Nitrite-0
Nitrate- 160
Salinity- 1.028

I usually keep the temperature around 73-75F.

I feed the clown and the damsel tetra marine saltwater flakes.

Im hoping that my tank is just going through new tank syndrome and i know that my levels are crazy off.

My questions are:
How can i tell if my fish are stressed?
What temperature should my tank be at?
My starfish always hangs out at the top and lately hasnt been moving much, How can i tell if its hungry or sick? Should i be feeding it?
My hermit crab that was out of its shell, its shell was also cracked. Any ideas what happened?
Do i need a protein skimmer?
In one of the pictures you can see where my hermit crabs have moved the sand over significantly. Anyone know why?


I know that theres alot of questions and if you took the time to read all of this, Thank You! I would love to hear any/all feed back that anyone would like to give me.

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