Couldn't agre more I don't think coralife is a good brand, and most manufacterers "exagerate" on the ratings on skimmers:)

+1 for biopellets, I have been fighting the nitrate problem until i use biopellets. I tried so many different way such as regular water change, reduce feeding, nitrate reducer chemical, etc .... but nothing works wonder like biopellets. I went from 40ppm to nearly zero now (if my test kit is correct). However, i notice my lps also suffer, they seem to grow slowly. I have to increase feeding now

you use Prime to condition your water??? why? are you using tap water??? if so then stop right now and buy a RO/DI unit because maybe your nitrates are in the tap water and you will never get rid of it if you use water that has nitrates to begin with.

IF you use RO water there is no need to use Prime. There is not even the need to use Prime if you only have nitrates and no toxic ammonia etc.. unless you use tap water of course and you want to dechlorinate the tap water.

If you can find totoka liverock, it is very very porous and I am sure it really help my system keep my nitrates at 0. Also try to get some other micro-algae that grow faster than the cheato. cheato is probably not the best algae to export nitrates. The caulerpa frolifera is growing much faster than cheato and absorb much more nitrates.