Feeling a little better about the LifeReef skimmer. This is after about 36 hours of skimming. Skimmate is very dark and the skimmer is producing plenty of foam. At first I was a little worried after I didn't see much skimmate - even during rock curing. A few months later and it seems to be working fine. Obviously there is a heavier bio-load now, so that may be one reason.
I know it's no DelTec, but for the price, I think it is doing a good job.
Also switched a few weeks ago to 250watt ReefLux 12k bulbs. The other 10k bulbs that I had were too yellow for my taste. I like these better.
I had a funky green color to my old rock that came out of my 75 after it perished. The rock had been bleached and sat in RO/DI water for months (with numerous water changes). I started using the PHOSaR HC in a reactor and that all went away - thank goodness.
Stocking is still going slowly. Starting to add a few test SPS frags. A few different monti caps and a couple milleporas. So far, so good. The tank will be mixed, but heavy on SPS at the upper level - eventually.