do you reccoment any specific model for the octopus skimmer? also is there anything i can add to get rid of all my hair algae. I think I'm going to buy about 10lb - 20lb more liverock which would make my live rock a total of 25lb - 35lb more but I think i may just set up a 10 gallon tank with my air pump to quarantine the rock when i buy it. I think I'm going to try to either make a refugium or buy one that way i have a place to put the protein skimmer and breed cope pods for my scooter blenny though he has been eating the copepods i put in cant tell if there breeding but can tell he's getting bigger. teh refugium would also be a sump and the quarantine tank would be just for quarantining live rock and maybe breeding cope podsyou dont want the canister filter at all because its a nitrate factory if you dont empty it very often, like daily.
reef octopus are great skimmers for the money. I havent had any problems with mine.
but really the live rock is more important than the skimmer. some people go skimmerless, but thats alot more maintenance because you have to do more frequent water changes.
you want at least 10x turnover, so you can do any combination you want really. just try to get the flow everywhere so you dont have dead spots where there isnt any flow. The detritus and uneaten food will gather there.
as yote will tell you, "you cant have too much flow unless the sand is suspended".
all of my fish are alive and seem to have grown a little