Help, New Tank

[Rich D]

A few years ago my dad and i developed a nice reef tank, when we went on vacation somehow both the main overflow and the backup overflow got clogged, and the auto-refill filled the tank with fresh until it became unclogged and dumped about 40 gallons into our basement. We are now trying to develop a new tank but are having numerous problems, we have been noticing a huge drop in pH and calcium that would continue even after adding more. This problem seems to have stopped and we think it may have been because of a red algae bloom but have now noticed that the water is full of copper. We are having a Rodi unit shipped right now.
Any advice for developing a new tank would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bwest]

Has the tank that you're using ever been used for copper treatments? If so, the best place to start would be to get a new tank that has never been exposed to it.

Other than that, look around the forums to get an idea of what type of coral/invertebrates/fish you'd like to keep and their requirements such as lighting and water flow to get the appropriate equipment. Then once everything in your system is cycled and stable, start adding what you want.