heres something real simple i did when i had an aquapod, replace those crappy plates designed to block flow into the back with a piece of plexiglass. you can get it lowes for a couple of bucks, make sure they cut it very accurately. My aquapod always had surface skum but after that it cleared it up and i noticed my nitrates dropped a lil as well. I know theres much bigger/better things you can do with the aquapod, but thats something real simple you can do.