I think I know less and less everyday.
Thank you all for your replies. I do have lots of coraline algea on the LR but it just doesn't seem to be growing. I am currently leaving the lights on for about 12 hours everyday (getting timers today).
I'll test my parameters again today - I just did a waterchange so the old ones won't apply.
I do know that nitrates are at 10ppm.
I have 25 lbs of LR and 2.5 inches of sand.
I haven't done anything to the cube - the LFS owner said he doesn't think I need a protein skimmer and he told me to take the filter cartridge out. The bioball things are still in there.