I hope others respond for you, but when I had my 36G Bow it too had a HOB skimmer. I had a sump, but a HOB is what I had... It never ran well and looking back at it my mistake was likely the lack of an ATO.
So, I dealt with the nasty parts in the tank and it was never effective. It was hard to see with all that stuff in your talk already if an ATO was present, but if not then I would highly recommend making that one of your near state future purchases.
Have fun!