Skimmer questions.

Hi guys, a while ago I had bought an used Skimmer from a 3reefer. It worked 'ok', but since skimmers are temperamental, my mother would sneeze and the skimmer would shut off. Me being in college, did not have the ability to come back and fix it and mom says " I only agreed to feed and add water ".

So my tank would go months without skimming. Having a FOWLR, this wasnt a HUGE problem (albeit I've always ran my tank in the higher level of stock).

Long story short, Im back home and skimmer had been off for 2 weeks. (since I last bought my LEDs and new fish). I tried washing it, but I think this time is dead for good. (there is a needle thing in the pump that looks like its broken). It made some crackling noises and then never turned back on.

My zoas are dead ( although having a flame angel, he might be the suspect- they were tiny frags so im not TOO bummed).

I havent been reading and I've forgotten quite a bit of things. So please take a minute and enlighten me.
Having a Skimmer with high Bioload is important because it removes organic materials which in turn should maintain nutrients that give rise to Nitrates, Ammonia and algae to a minimum correct?

My Nitrates have been through the Roof lately (i keep getting red on the kit). I've done a few water changes, but no changes? (3----35-40ish gallons each) My tank is 150G.

Most importantly, I am going to purchase a new Skimmer ASAP. I believe the one I have was rated for 180 or 220 I forget. For a fully stocked, possibly over stocked lol 150G tank with a 55G sump/fuge. How big a skimmer should I get?
I read some threads and people say to get something rated around 220-300? I've heard Octopus is great, how true is this?
Do you guys think that having a skimmer running 24/7 will eliminate my nitrate problems? (I am also continuing water changes and twiking my amount of feeding).

For those of you who dont know, here is my current stock in the tank.
5 Batfish, 6 Chromis, 1 Garibaldi, 1 porcupine Puffer, 1 saddle back Clown, 1 yellow tang and 1 sailfin tang, 1 Flame angel and 1 Foxface. I was thinking on returning the saddle back and purchasing a pair of Maroon clowns and call it. Ofcourse since my tank is already stocked to the max I will probably refrain. Unless you guys think it might still be ok?

I feed around 6 Cubes a day. (3 of them the puffer swallows whole) and the other 3 is for the remaining fish. Given the metabolism of the remaining fish, Im reluctant to reduce feeding. I know the thread is a mixture of Skimmer and stuff, but the main question is skimmer choices.

 

things you can do to help your skimmer keep nitrates at bay are the following
NOTE: these are to be used in combination with a good reliable skimmer

1) seeing as you have a fuge/sump, try setting up some macro algae for nutrient export. cheato works well for this.
2) you dont mention how much live rock you have in your system, might be worth while upping this should there be the need.
3)(this is a personal suggestion) consider carbon dosing, I use Nopox, in combination with the points mentioned above, and it keeps my parameters in perfect check....in fact, and im getting ready to be hit over the head for this...., I only do water changes once a month now. no longer to reduce P04 or N03 but rather to replenish trace elements that have been consumed during this time....sooooo much better as we all know wc can be a pita....on a side note i also dose alk to keep that in check.
4) finally I haver a deep (10cm) sand bed in my sump/refugium which i beleive helps in the filtration process as well....

of course the best prevention to all this is to NOT overstock......

 

If you can afford it, get a super reef octopus. If not, an eshopps. I would go for one rated around 300g as you said. A bio pellet or biomedia reactor would help tremendously too, however both of which take a few weeks to really see any effects.

5 batfish? Are you sure you're not thinking of Cardinal fish??

 

Crazy amount of FISH you have. I wouldn't recommend that to anyone.

 

Pretty sure theyre bat fish. At least thats what the LFS said they were. He knows my stock and he said they would be ok? They are still juveniles though. Theyre about the same size of my adult Chromis. I know they can get quite big though as I am stocking my tank similar to what he has in his Display 150. I am also thinking on upgrading to a 220G tank but thats probably going to be much later down the road. 1-2 years but thats another story.
LFS seemed pretty sure it be ok though?

 

You can see all my fish in the tank as of now. Ignore the fake plants lol, the tank looked too empty and the lights were bought 3 days prior. So I am barely attempting to get the coral i lost back eventually

 

Update: I went to the LFS and got the Reef Octopus. (its a 200T?). Its rated for 200ish gallons I think it was. Its the biggest one I could get that would fit on my sump.

 

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-octopus-classic-200int-8-internal-protein-skimmer.html

I think this is the exact one.

 

This is new skimmer working away..
Also, the water is kinda eating at the wall.. if some pieces are falling in the tank can this be detrimental? any fixes for this?