I can't figure out what's going on with my puffer and my water

[WtksBlondie104]

I have a 29 gallon tank, which is the tank that I first started with. I had it down for awhile, and now it is up and running again. The water is cycled, I have 0 nitrites, about 20 Nitrates, Ph 8.2, Salt 1.023, no ammonia, etc..

The LFS says my water is good. But, for some reason the water is so cloudy, it's almost like powder floating around. I can see the stuff swirling around in the water.

The filter I have on it is a Skilter 250. I can't figure out how to get the "protein skimmer" part to work right without making tons of noise, and putting lots of bubbles in the water. But that's the filter I have.

I do not have a protein skimmer partially because I can't find one that is just for a small tank like the 29 gallon, and I can't afford much at the time.

Anyway, I also have a very big green algae issue, and I can't get that to go away. But, I'm not sure that is the reason for the cloudy water.

I have no corals, and only 2 fish. A small Dog faced puffer, and a Dmonio damsel.

The only changes that have been done recently is I added a Phosphate pad next to the Carbon pad in the filter, and also added a small section of a Poly Filter pad. Otherwise, everything else has been stable.


Also, here are pictures of my Dog faced puffer. He has some white splotches by his tail. I doesn't look like Ich to me, it's more of a large area.

Can anyone help me??