Tired of skimmer

[mattr]

I am kind of new to this. I have had a tank for a year and a half now so this is the only skimmer that I have ever had.

My setup. I have three chambers in my sump. In the first one; my skimmer,
second one some cheato (msg me if you want any for free) and in my third the return pump.

Now my issue is that cheato gets stuck in my skimmer in the middle where the bubbles are supposed to separate(the plate with the holes)? What I end up doing is adjusting the skimmer to raise the foam until it completely stops and I have to take it out and clean the whole skimmer out (about once a month)

Sometimes I adjust it and it collects a bit then next thing i know it overflows on me dumping everything that it collected right back into the tank. I ended up putting a fish net in over the inlet for the skimmer but the same thing. Its just very inconsistant and very frustrating.

Any ideas anyone?

Thanks in advance!