[mseepman]

The Prizm skimmer is unfortunately a real piece of garbage. I had one and ran it for a long time before realizing this.

You didn't mention how much room you have on the back of your tank...but this will influence what type of HOB skimmer you can use. I've had good luck with my Aquamedic Blue1000 which cost me about $199US. I know you probably don't really want to pour more money into this but a decent skimmer is pretty important. You might also look into the Eshopps skimmers for a low cost alternative.

Ditch the filters unless you can just use them for things like carbon and phosphate re-mover.

Otherwise, just keep the faith and make slow steady changes.