How to get rid of ammonia & nitrates
 

How do I get rid of these? I can't use prime b/c someone told me it's not good for my skimmer. Do I just do a water change? If so how much and what do I add if anything if it will help? Or is there something I can buy to help me with this? It DOES NOT have to be reef safe treatment.

Ammonia should break down naturally from the bacteria in your tank unless your bio-load is too high or feeding too much. Water changes will reduce the nitrates, weekly 10% should be sufficient. I know a number of people who use prime (myself included occasionally) with skimmers with no ill effects. I don't know how effective it actually is at removing nitrates as it claims however. There is a number of products that claim to detoxify nitrates but I have no experience with them, water changes have always worked for me.

I agree with Jeff that water changes are the best way to reduce nitrates. I use Kent Marine Nitrogen Sponge because my tank is still fairly new and I don't want any swings. When I run out I doubt I will repurchase, not because its not a good product. I won't repurchase because proper feeding, live rock and regular water changes are enough to maintain 0 levels of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates.

i use prime and run a skimmer. always have and have had no issues. many fish stores that run skimmers also use prime in their water!

just turn your skimmer off for about an hour after you add water or do a water change. I have a rsm 250 and everything so far sets off my skimmer so when I add water or anything I shut my skimmer down, then just turn it on after. I also found on some of the more finiky skimmers a.p. water conditioner was way better, not the stuff with aloe but the basic stuff, my old aqua-c used to go retarded over any thing but that stuff

If you always are having ammonia in your tank your load is too high or you are over feeding. How much LR do you have in your tank ? How often do you feed and how are you feeding ? Nitrates are pritty normal . Fish can tolerate them on the lower levels . To have 0 nitrates in your water you will need to run a refug with chaeto in it or have a DSB.
Also like stated before turn of your skimmer when your doing your water change. I turn mine of as well as the lights . Becuase as the water level goes down the light impact will increase and it can bleach out some of your coraline or shock your corals.