My rock was brand new too, all cured. My nem is very healthy in spite of the algae bloom, there is no algae on the sand or rocks, just in the water column. I cannot do a sump for sure. I was running activated carbon, but stopped because it didn't seem to help anything. Thank you all for the advice, but I'm still very confused about what to do.
P.S. I bought a brand new skimmer, the brand is unknown, but it takes out alot of bad stuff, it does a good job.