the biggest problem with Tank photography is the multipule colour temperatures in your tank. Actinics through a lot of light into the tank, but most meters do not read that colour temp. Try turning off your actinics.
Also the dinamic range of digital is far narrower that say Film. So with such stronge lighting and high contrast it is impossible to capture white sand and high colour definision in corals. there is just to great a difference in light reflectance. Basically if you meter your sand you get (for example) f 2.8 @ 1/1000sec. Then meter the coral you are attempting to capture. it will meter at f2.8 @ 1/60sec for example. this range is too high. Your best bet is to switch to spot metering and meter your subject only and let the rest fall where is may.
What you can also do is shoot raw. This will give you 16bit file to play with (jpg is only 8bit) you will then need to use a RAW formate tool like Adobe Lightroom or what ever came with your camera. you can then manipulate the 16bits of data into the 8 bits you need to make the best picture you can.
Hope this helps
J
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