Opinion on this skimmer, Odyssea brand

I have one of these skimmers and i'm impressed with it for $40 bucks.Mine is not noisy at all,it was when i had the air valve opened most of the way,but after throttling the air flow back,it dramatically reduced the noise to near silent and with the air adjusted down,I found it pulls WAY better skimmate.

I had the same issue with microbubbles and all i can say is patience.It's takes a few for this skimmer to break in (just like any other skimmer).But after it does break in,it's great,the only time i get bubbles is when i clean the collection cup or clean the outlet sponge,but the bubbles clear pretty quick.

My review of this skimmer-Is it the best made?No. Does it work?Yes,once broke in and adjusted properly it pulls great dark watery skimmate constantly,and it can easily be adjusted to wetter or drier skimming.
But for a reefer on a budget with a mixed reef and a typical bioload,I couldn't be happier with it.IMO it out preforms the seaclone hands down also does a better job than the coralife super skimmer and any of the airstone driven "nano" skimmers i've had.So for a low end skimmer,I personally couldn't be happier with it.

Edit-I also have this running as a hob,so with constant water levels,mine is pretty much set it and foget it,not tempermental at all,although it did take a little fiddling to get it adjusted,but now i just dump and clean the cup about every other day,other than that,i don't touch it.

 

I am running it hob and as the water level changes naturally adjustments are needed.

As far as micro bubbles go if I were to take the output sponge off it would dump micro bubbles everywhere, which is why i leave it on. I have been running it for about three weeks now.

 

Keep the sponge on and as it collects a "bio film" it will greatly reduce the microbubbles,also try choking the air flow back a bit,made a big difference with mine.

Now when i do clean the sponge,it will have bubbles for an hour or 2,but they seen to quickly clear up.