I fit a aquamaxx hob-1 skimmer on a jbj12 and jbj28. No problems. Just have the outlet and inlet in different compartments. Which works even better imo.
What @Enderturtle said. No need in using a fish to cycle. Besides you run the risk of killing the fish anyways.
I've have alot of success in my previous tanks just throwing in a dead shrimp (raw) from the local store, letting it decompose, remove, and just pouring the whole bottle of biospira...
Look into ScanGauge II. Scans, deletes codes. Can easily program it to monitor various things, engine temp, oil temp, water temp, battery, mpg, etc. Costs the same if not cheaper than other OBD2 scanners.
Buying equipment 2nd hand has saved me some money, but still it adds up..
Like others, I had a spreadsheet going on for how much I spent, but gave up a year later. It was too sad to look at
Don't use a sponge on the output for this skimmer. I tried it before and it got clogged. Is the skimmer new?
I remember when I first had this skimmer, it took a long time for it to break in. Even then it still had microbubbles. Just less.
There's nothing you can really do about this since you...
I've completely had it with the hair algae now. Nothing seems to work. Just ordered some AlgaeFix in hopes it'll nuke it out. Here's a FTS of a before:
Will post a after shot after the AlgaeFix.
After its gone, I'm gonna dig up my old reactor and start GFO. Anyone got pump recommendations...