Comments: I've had this skimmer for a little over a year now and it is a consistent product. it's in a 29G biocube and i get a full cup of tea colored liquid every 3 to 4 days. i wish I could get it to skim a little drier but it just won't do it. That being said it's a pain to get in and out of the cube, but what isn't? So I gave it 4 stars.

Comments: This is actually my first skimmer. When I set the thing up it didn't really do much at first. I got a lot of micro bubbles and a lot of green tinted water in the collection cup. After two nights I found that the skimmer was almost completely full. This must have been the end of its break in because once I removed the watery skimmate and turned the rate down a bit it has produced nice and dark skimmate since. I did do the airline mod which quieted the gurgling noise it makes. Now it sounds alot like an air pump or air stone. Sufficiently quiet for me to sleep.

Comments: I have this skimmer since 3 weeks in my nano cube 12g (it can fit with few modifications and if you do not have a lid) and it has already produced a lot of dark foam/liquid. Good!! I had the plastic tubes to make it breath better. So far I got 4 problems:1) temperature increase of 3 degree 2)still some micro bubbles come out in the tank 3) the flow adjustment is very hard to use (I had a plastic tube on the bottom to help this task) 4) It is pretty noisy.

Comments: I have been using this skimmer since January on my 10 gallon nano. It is still skimming like crazy! I have to empty it at least once a week. I have to clean it close to every 2 weeks which is the only downside (which comes with every skimmer). I did modify the airline in order to silence the unit. Overall, very happy with it and am debating on adding one to my new 7.5g frag tank.

Comments: I love the skimmer, it fits in my biocube 29g. It fits super tight and is a pain to clean and get out of the rear of the chamber. Also I see people have extended the air hole with air line tube HOW? the air tubing will not stay on the port. Horrible design but skims well

Comments: Works well in my 29g Bio Cube. Fits in first chamber and started skimming within 5 days of break in. I have it set to skim a little wet and get tea colored full cup every three days.
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<br />Took one star away since I had to extend the air line so salt creep would not build up and clog it.

Comments: Good Skimmer after just a few hours the cup was completely filled with thick green sludge. The only complaint I have is that it gurgles pretty loud for the size, other than that it works great and seems to be built well.

Comments: i bought this skimmer about a week ago and its really starting to produce some gunk now. I only had a few problem with this skimmer one being the position of the control knob right beside the collection cup. When wet it becomes really hard to turn. And two, the air intake is almost at the same level as the water, but a small peace of standard tubing did the trick. Overall, its a good skimmer for the price, you just got to work with it and be patient.

Comments: This skimmer while cheaply made is easy to put together and use. It took a little while to figure out where in the water it should sit, I finally found that from another reviewer who had called the manufacturer. Proper placement in the water is key to control of the production of microbubbles, at least in my case. Also the skimmer cup fills very quickly, in my 31 gal I have to empty it every other day or more. Also, the suction cups attach to the body just by sliding on pegs, if the skimmer moves at all they come off. If even one is missing or loose, it will not hold in place. They should find a better way to attach the cups. With that said, It is a very effective skimmer at a very reasonable price. It made a vast difference in my water quality, and even with the faults, I will still strongly recommend this product.

Comments: This is my first protein skimmer and at this point I am very pleased with it. A had a little iffy start but with the help of advice from customer service I was able to get it settled in and things are running great.

Comments: I read the reviews and took a chance. So far I am happy with the product's size, build quality, and performance. I didn't have to make any modifications to the air inlet or the mounting because I have it in a sump with a constant water level. I just stuck it to the side of the sump with the suction cups, and installed the included clip to hold it to the top edge of the sump.
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<br />I initially installed it in my sump per the instructions and let it runs a couple of days about 1/3 way up the cone. It was producing yellowish water with particulate matter. Even though it hadn't had time to break in yet, I emailed the manufacturer and asked how high I should set the unit in the sump. They said to set the water line just below the output. I repositioned it, and after a couple more days it started making a skimmate that is a dirty dark yellow with less water, much more particulate, and now I have foam. I've only had it for a bit more than a week now and I just dialed the level back down now to about 1/4 way up the cup. I'm hoping/expecting to see a darker, less watery skimmate. So far, so good.
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<br />I gave it 4 stars because it hasn't had time to fully break in yet; so I'm trying to be fair. If it starts producing as expected. I'd give it 5 stars. Especially since it is so cheap. Also, the manufacturer emailed me right back and they were courteous and helpful.

Comments: There is a tiny hose leading from the pump to the surface. You will need to add an extension to that and get it up out of the water. This will allow you to submerge the skimmer a bit more. By submerging the skimmer "more" you can avoid making adjustments as the water level drops and also avoid the possible overflow. Just google Aquatice Life Mini Skimmer Mod its on youtube actually. Without the extra tubing you will sit at waterlevel and as the water level drops you loose the adjustment you made. All in all still the cheapest and best in a Mini Skimmer.

Comments: Great little skimmer for price I have it installed on 26 gal bow front inside of a Aquaclear 70 HOB filter. Although I don't have experience with others this skimmer produces good dark skimmate. If you consider buying I highly recommend you look up how to modify air intake because stock air intake can get filled with water and render skimmer useless. I used air line tubing to do this mod took about 5 min to do.

Comments: I hate to write a bad review. I

Comments: Nice looking nano size skimmer and works great. Works right away and very little fine tuning required.

Comments: I have had it for a week now and I am still working through the bugs. It looks like it is working great then I turn my back and look again and it is overflowing or not flowing at all. I called customer service and they told me it takes up to two weeks for it to find its groove. I will give it another week.
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<br />I agree with some of the other reviews. Placement of the adjustment knob next to the collection cup does make it a little harder but not impossible. The suction cups are basically worthless so the hang on attachment is totally necessary. It is really easy to get started; it is basically plug and play but again, it doesn't work until it has been running for a while.
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<br />I disagree with the issues with the micro bubbles; they go away steadily and completely after it runs a while. I got frustrated after three days and called customer service to see if I was doing soemthing wrong. I thought it was supposed to be good to go in a few days, like the other reviews said. The rep said to rinse teh unit out really well before pacing it in your tank and give it up to two weeks to find its groove.
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<br />The online directions are pretty lame. They only tell you a fraction of what you need to know if you are a beginner. For example, they don't tell you exactly where to place the unit in terms of the water level. It appears the best placement is right at the water line. The tower fills with nice thick bubbles that just reach the top. Anywhere else and the tower fills halfway with water and overflows after a while. I gave up trying to maintain this after a few hours. It is just too touchy. I adjusted the knob to where it would not overflow and left it at that for a couple days. It has been a week and it has become more predictable. It's still not pulling out any skimmate but then, I only have snails and one urchin in my tank so far.
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<br />I will give it another week and then update my review. :-)
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Comments: I'm really pleased with this product. This skimmer keeps my aquarium water clean likes its suppose to.
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<br />Product is made of high quality material unlike other
<br />cheap imitations I've seen at pet stores for the same
<br />price.
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<br />I would highly recommend this AquaticLife Skimmer 115.

Comments: I have a 29 Gallon Tank and for it to fit i had to get a saw and cut out a spot in the lid for it to fit. Works Great!!

Comments: 29 gallon reef, with a 10 gallon sump. This little guy sits in the middle of my sump and a bubble trap separates it from the return pump. I have to use it elevated almost 3 inches above the water line or the cup just fills up with water. Works great and I have no complaints. I would recommend using AZ NO3 in combination with this skimmer. That is unless you have 0 nitrates. Skimmer excels with the AZ NO3 nitrate reducer.

Comments: I purchased this skimmer for my 29 gallon Oceanic Bio Cube. It fits a little tight in the space where bio balls go. Skimmer took about 2 days of adjusting it, to get it producing foam. It now produces some wet skim mate about the color of hot tea. The skimmer does the job very nicely for the price paid, and such a small volume tank. I do not have a problem with bubble since it run through the post filter sponge before being pumped back into tank. The only complaint is the air flow knob it hard to turn.

Comments: I've had this unit for about 3 months now and so far It has exhibited great performance. My tank is a 20 gallon FOWLR with a 1 1/2" sand bed. Live stock includes 1 true perculla clown, 1 purple pseudochromy, 1 pygmy angel and 2 turbosnails. I placed the unit in the corner of my tank with the air intake above the water line which was underneath the rim of the tank. I noticed upon start up that air bubbles would leak out the chasis so I pulled it out and made sure the brackets were tight. Still were bubbles leaking out, so I took 2 zip ties and used those to tighten the unit up. I experienced no more bubbles after that. Not pretty, but the light-dark green skim I pull and reliability have far exceeded what I have expected of this small device. I've only removed once for cleaning and I get a very small quantity of micro bubbles back into the tank, it's negligible though. Noise level is tolerable, for me and my wife, but occasionally gurgles. I use a turkey Baster to collect the skim about every 36 hours. The knob is a bit small and hard to turn, especially if fingers are wet. I personally find for the price you pay is well worth the product you receive. If you're on a budget, going to run a small tank with a light to medium bio load it recommend this skimmer. I have a HOB filter, cannister and UV on my tank with near perfect water conditions and the fish are loving it. I believe this little skimmer augments the system wonderfully.

Comments: As for customer service, AquaticLife is GREAT and assisted me over the phone to my satisfaction. They 2x replaced defective parts at no cost to me. However, the problem: the small pump's propeller stopped stopped rotating, due to Ca+ deposit build-up, under normal reef water conditions (high Ca+ from dosing with kalk). Removing the propeller from the pump casing proved most difficult and required the use of pliers. I've never seen a pump stop working so fast (within 2-3wks of use). I truly believe the problems are do to a manufacturer's defect = the chamber holding the magnetic propeller is too small, creating too tight a fit.
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Comments: Micro-bubble galore, after several days still no skimming (tried vaious adjustments), water and bubbles leak from around collection cup, no cup drain. I wish I could return it, save your money and buy a real skimmer!!!

Comments: Design is simple and easy to clean. After reading up on this unit on RC this unit performs best with the inlet 1"-2" below the surface if you are looking for dark thick skimmate. Bubbles are an issue especially in a small tank, you will want to put some thought into adding a sponge or other material to the outlet to keep the bubble action in check.

Comments: I bought this skimmer to fit inside an Eclipse 3 hood for a 37 gallon tank. It fit inside perfectly. There are not alot of skimmers out there that will fit inside an Eclipse 3 hood and there are even fewer skimmers that fit that are any good. This skimmer fits and works great. This skimmer pulls out nasty dark green skimmate. I empty it about twice a week using a turkey baster so I don't have to remove the collection cup inside the Eclipse hood. I also would have to say that AquaticLife's customer service is excellent as well. I had a question about setting it up and the person I needed to talk to was on the phone but I got a call back within 20 minutes with great technical help on how to setup the skimmer to get the best results. This skimmer does take about a week or two to start getting dark nasty skimmate but this is pretty standard with most skimmers. For the price you can't beat the value of this skimmer. I am very happy with my purchase and would definitely buy another Aquaticlife product in the future.

Comments: New to salt water aquariums. Purchased this skimmer on reviews alone. Not to mention a great price. Does the job very well in our 34 gallon cube tank. Amazed at the almost instant results. Only problem I have come across is reinstalling the collection cup after cleaning, even with the mounting bracket I still have to hold the skimmer in place so it does come free from the suction cups.

Comments: Most of the nano skimmer market is a grey area. I purchased this skimmer thinking that if it doesn't work I could return it. Well after the slime up period (Break in) it produces very good skimmate comparable to the Tunze 9002 unit(which I own as well). This unit gives good performance and it is quiet ( sounds like a mini coffee maker
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<br />To set this unit up properly. Raise the unit up 1 - 1.5 inches from the factory instructions (air intake height to water surface height) In this configuration the unit will make pretty dry skimmate. Also it will eliminate bubbles after break in.
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<br />Who ever has given this skimmer less than 4 stars is freakin crazy!!!!
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<br />This unit offers value, performance, and its just quiet as hell!
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<br />BTW... It runs in a 30 gallon reef tank, with 4 clowns, 3 emerald crabs, 3 peppermint shrimp, 10 snails, 2 star serpents, and 2 hammer corals, one mushroom, and a clam.
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Comments: I got this little baby for X-mas and it's been doing great. It took it about a week to get fully going but now it's pulling out some serious skimmate. I couldn't be more pleased with it. Plus it fits in the first chamber of my biocube which is an added bonus.

Comments: Was exactly how all other users stated! works really well, except the other users mention challenges on adjusting the height and velcro. I think it is simple, as the collection cup collects it also removes water. this causes the overall water level to lower. the first 2 times it can be adjusted by turning the valve, after that you must either add water to raise the level back or adjust the entire pump to a lower setting however it you choose to do that when you do add water you will need to move it all over again and again readjust the entire unit. this is where having a sump version is really easy the water height stays the same all the time. if you really want to see 5 stars out of this unit make sure your water is set to the right height in advance setup up the unit. and once it is correctly working never adjust it again just add water to tank.
<br />Johnc

Comments: I got this skimmer back in september, worked great! the micro bubbles at the initial start up will go away so dont worry! 3 months into it running i noticed it not foaming. i cleaning the tank and noticed the air intake plastic had broken off. i called aquaticlife that day and recieved a BRAND NEW IN BOX SKIMMER THE NEXT DAY! amazing customer service! wont keep you on hold. i had everything taken care of in under 5 minutes!!!! this is a great buy and they stick behind their products! BUY BUY BUY!!

Comments: I have the RSM 130d and the stock skimmer was running for 2 months and gave me what I thought was "good" skimmate. I started to dose vodka and didn't get the dark skimmate every one was talking about so I decided to replace the skimmer.
<br />It doesn't fit in the back of the RSM with the mounting brackets, so I wrapped the housing with double sided velcro in 3 places to hold it together. The velcro also provided friction by pressing against the front and back plates of the RSM's rear chamber area. This allows me to change the height of the skimmer easily. As other reviewers stated, the adjustment knob is hard to get to when the collection cup is on, but there's an easy fix. I used a small hack saw on the top of the dial to score a 1/16" deep line and voila, instant slot for a flathead screwdriver! Now adjustments are made very easily!
<br />After 2 weeks, my skimmer is producing much darker results than the stock 130d skimmer while using less energy.
<br />My only complaints are the small collection cup (needs emptying almost every day) and the large amount of microbubbles. The bubbles were an easy fix also. I purchased a second RSM coarse filter and put it right on top of the glass divider for the heater chamber and it diffused all the bubbles.

Comments: Excellent product for the price, small form factor, fits into a 5G nano without problems. Personally, I find this to be a more effective skimmer than the Tunze nano but I had it in a different tank, too.
<br />Note that one still needs a surface skimmer for the oils on the water surface and unless this protein skimmer is placed in the back behind the overflow the AquaticLife alone will not be enough. For in tank mounting the Tunze "ReefPack" combines both functions and is visually less intrusive but also much more expensive.

Comments: Well this protein skimmer took some time and minor adjustments to start skimming.
<br />The adjustment I made was to tape off the top four little holes in the collection cup after that it started skimming.
<br />Great skimmer at a great price.

Comments: This is a great little skimmer. Gets the job done perfectly. Very little tweaking to do. Just twist the knob until you get a little foam coming up the collection cup.

Comments: I had just about given up on the reef aquarium I set up in a 30 gallon tank with an Eclipse 3 hood retrofitted with power compacts. I set it up not thinking about where I was going to put a skimmer - and you can't hang one off the back. Needless to say I struggled with every color and strand of algae, poor coral growth and polyp extension...you name it. I finally searched for an internal skimmer and found this Aquaticlife one. I installed it about 2 weeks ago and after a few days of calibrating it began to produce dry skimmate. Today, after just 2 weeks, the results are phenomenal. All of my soft corals are fully extended and thriving! Even my one SPS looks like a new coral because the polyps on it are fully extended and waving around happily! Highly recommend this for small systems or nanos with enclosed hoods.

Comments: This little skimmer is a great little product - it puts lots of the others, even larger ones, to shame. I have a 29 gallon tank, and it's really improving the water quality. As with all skimmers it will take a little adjusting, but then it really does it's job. Definitely recommended.

Comments: This skimmer is great. I have it in a 29 gallon reef. The microbubbles were bad at first, but they died down after about a week. My only complaint is that it makes a slurping sound at the intake, but it's not that bad and I've heard that it can be modded pretty easily.

Comments: Give it a week to break in. microbubbles will be plenty at first but it will die down. but they will always be present. the only downside. my skimmer is in the back chamber so the most of the bubbles disperse before getting to the display. if you have yours in the display they will always be there unless modded. other than that i get good dark skimmate. ive been running it for a month now. well worth the money.

Comments: For such a small skimmer it works great. It took about 3 or 4 days for it to really start skimming. its also very quiet. I have this in a 10 gallon sump for my 29 gallon tank in my bedroom. I love it, and for the price you cant beat it.

Comments: Easy to assemble, just attach the collection cup. This pulls a lot of skim! I had a nano skimmer before for the same price, and it didn't have a water pump like this one does, and it does not compare. Only problem is the adjustment knob is small, making it hard to grip with wet hands, but i used a small pair of forcepts, or little needle nose plyers to get a grip on it. Only needed to adjust it a few times, and with water level constant, no other adjustment is necessary. I would totally recomend this to my friends.

Comments: This skimmer dumps too many microbubbles into the aquarium. I understand that this will happen with most skimmers but even after a week the bubbles filled most of the aquarium. Once the bubbles make it past the first and only baffle, there is nothing stoping them from being expelled into the tank.

Comments: I purchased this skimmer about a week ago. It's a little tough to dial in, but once you have it it skims great! Fits in my 10g sump just right. The hanging bracket wasn't long enough, but the suction cups hold it in place just fine.

Comments: I received it 2 days ago and it is already pulling out some green and half dry skimmate. It is already quiter than it was yesterday(even if it didn't make a lot of noise on the first place) I had to put it easily 1/2 to an inch higher than the brochure said to get kind of dry skimmate. I'm sure I will have to ajust it a bit in the futur but I'm already extremely happy with it. It really has everything I was looking for. Small, cheap, effective, and quite. Will defenetly recommand to other reefers.

Comments: I've given this skimmer a little over a week to break in and it's produced SOME dark yellow skimmate, but overall in the time it's been running it has produced very little. Initially like others have said it produced tons of microbubbles, but after 24-48 hours the microbubbles are cut in half about. While they are less they are still fairly significant in the display and distracting. The unit seems to require lots of constant adjusting to keep it producing foam, just when you think you have it perfect the next day or so it won't even produce any. One day i had it where it was producing lots of foam and when i went to bed the thing started flooding the cup for some reason and all that sludge it had pulled out was not back into the tank, pretty annoying. While it's a cheap system and you typically get what you pay for. I feel you get a little more with this unit as the build quality is fairly decent. The only real draw backs are the microbubbles and the constant adjusting needed to get the skimmate wanted.
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<br />Also the tank i'm running it in is a 20 Gallon Long with 2 clowns, 1 Yellow Watchman Goby, 1 Sixline Wrasse, fairly heavy stocked so the skimmate SHOULD be plentiful. Also attached is a 5.5 gallon refuge, which i placed the skimmer in due to it's high microbubble production in the display.

Comments: I put this in the 1st chamber of my 29 gallon biocube and it fits perfect. Third day...already pulling dark skimmate. Cant beat it for the price. The only mod I did to it was added a tiny piece filter floss into the air intake to stop the slurping sound. Two thumbs up!

Comments: I have put this skimmer in the first chamber of my Biocube 29 gallon. It has been one week so far. At first, very noisy gurgling, spitting and so on. With a couple of days and a few adjustments up and down it has quieted nicely. The skimmate started off as just green colored water. After a week it is now started to darken. So far it is acting exactly as I would have expected. Hoping it continues to break in and provide a nice dark dry skimmate. It does not come with any written instructions, at least mine did not, but you can download them from the manufacturers site. Well built unit. I rated excellent for the quality a price, instructions do lack though.

Comments: I got my hands on one of these skimmers for the rear chamber of my AquaEuroUSA 28 Gallon. The skimmer was easy to set up and started skimming dark skimmate almost immediately. There initially was a large amount of micro bubbles being introduced to the tank but over the first week or two this drastically decreased. This is a great little skimmer at a great price.

Comments: 1st protein skimmer purchase. Ready right from box for use. Instructions must be downloaded online, no paperwork included. After 4 days of use, it's working super. It is somewhat noisy. Using on a 29 gallon tank.

Comments: I rated this mini protein skimmer 5 stars to offset the 1 star rating given by another reviewer simply because it does not fit their Aquapod. You should review a product based on it's overall performance, not because it is simply non-compatible with your tank. In actuality I would give this skimmer 4 stars.
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<br />Anyways, I was rather skeptical of this skimmer when I first installed it in the back of my JBJ 24 gallon nano cube, almost wondering if the skimmer worked at all or if the product was defective. It barely produced any bubbles regardless of how I adjusted the knob, and it was annoyingly loud. Since it came with a 1 year warranty, I thought "what the hell, i'll give it some time before I dismiss it as broken or ineffective". Turns out that after 2 weeks of leaving the POS (or so I thought at the time) mini skimmer on, it finally started working properly and I can now see a ton of bubbles filling the collection cup, in addition to it being practically silent after I close my hood.
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<br />Word of warning though, this skimmer will be a very tight fit on most nano cubes, just as the other reviewer with the Aquapod mentioned having difficulties fitting it into their tank. I ended up not being able to use the mounting brackets it came with because the dimensions of the skimmer was practically flush with the back wall of my nano cube where my filtration was (I had to bend back the plastic wall to fit the skimmer in!)
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<br />Also, having the knob adjustment for the bubbles next to the collection cup is a major design flaw, making it a pain to turn it with your fingers if they're wet from messing with your tank. I find it best to simply adjust the knob after removing the collection cup rather than trying to grip it with the cup still on and using slippery fingers in such a confined space.
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<br />Initially, I would have said that this skimmer was not worth the money because of how disappointing it's performance was. However, now that I gave it some time to kick in, I am quite satisfied :)

Comments: this does not fit into the back chamber of an Aquapod 24!
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<br />it's too tight and the collection cup will not fit..so if you have the hood on it forget it.or want a skimmer to not be in the main tank, forget it....nice looking, good needle wheel, good bubble production.
<br />not good on the amount of bubbles let back into the tank. I installed a 4 inch section of blue sponge material in the output side and this thing and it is just pouring out bubbles into the tank. starts to pull skimmate right away. The color of the skimmate is skim milk so far, and I have standing detritus in my tank I blow around with the turkey baster. Putting skimmer under a light to hope the protein development will speed up with reducing the bubbles. overall not a very good skimmer, save the money and buy a real skimmer may cost at least a hundred dollars extra but it will be worth it in the long run.

Comments: You can not complain for roughly $50, but the collection cup is a bit small and they (I bought 9) are still over skimming but noticeably different now that the have been running. Personally I think this is the best on the market for this price. By the way never ever buy a Sea Clone of any kind they SUCK! I have 30 salt and 10 fresh setups so I have tried most. Need to suck it up and plumb everything. Rob

Comments: Everything was easy to install despite the poor instructions. I'm still getting too many micro-bubble(Tons).My water is clear despite the bubbles. There are no trouble shooting ideas or tips. Also the instructions only come by CD, should be a hard copy to read.

Comments: I've gotta hand it to AquaticLife and their great little nano skimmer. I'm using this on a 29 gallon tank and needed something that didn't take up too much tank space since a HOB unit is out of the question for this setup. This pump is small, quiet (after adjusting!) and powerful. It looks great in the tank and has a very small for it's power profile.
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<br />Within only 2 days, this pump started to provide a dark skimmate. I'm on day 6 of using this and the micro bubbles emmitted into the tank are about 1/4 of what they were before. I'm confident they'll be gone soon or it'll be just as easy to open up the tool-less casing to add a sponge in the return to diffuse them.
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<br />My only complaint about this pump is that the adjustment knob is hard to grasp. It tends to get a little wet and it's location right next to the collection cup make little room for fingers to grasp firmly.
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Comments: It took about 18 hours before it started working right, just like any new skimmer I have ever used. Now it is working great. Easy to make adjustments to. Since it started working the only thing I've done is empty the cup.
<br />The only thing I would change is the collection cup. I would add a connector for a hose so the cup could drain into a larger container.