I have owned several of these skimmers and enjoy their performance, small size and ease of operation.
There are 2 problems that people often complain about with these skimmers, though...some noise and microbubbles in the tank.
Well, there are few skimmers under $400 that dont have these minor issues, but luckily there are a few simple modifications you can make to the remora to help with this and hopefully enhance its performance.
First and foremost, there are 2 Remoras...the regular Remora and the Remora Pro. The Remora runs great on a Maxijett 1200 pump, but I have found exceptional performance with a Mag 3 pump as well. It all depends on what sort of room you want to use up in your tank. The Remora Pro runs great with a Mag 3 but can handle up to a Mag 7! I tried a Mag 9, but the water level is too high in the skimmer to get adequate foam.
There is a pre filter box available for these skimmers as well and it works to decrease microbubbles in the tank. I never used them only because I found them clunky and bulky and never found them to enhance the performance of the skimmer as much as I felt was worth the additional tank space.
You will see that most of the noise from this skimmer comes from the spray injector on the left hand side of the skimmer. An easy fix to this would be to get a piece of 2" thick foam about the size of the rectangular slot above the injector and slide it in there. You can easily cut a "U" shape to fit around the injector, as long as the foam is not interfering with the spray of water through the hole. This should cut the noise down considerably.
As far as the microbubbles go, you can place another piece of foam on the right hand side of the skimmer just behind the waterfall outlet. This will trap microbubbles before they have a chance to enter your tank. Make sure you clean this piece of foam every time you empty the collection cup.
Speaking of the collection cup...empty it OFTEN and clean the neck well. This will insure the optimal performance of the skimmer. It is not necessary to clean the entire skimmer more than once every 2 months, but when you do a 1/4 mixture of vinegar and water works well. Just dont be worried if the skimmer wont skim properly for a few days after a thorough cleaning...this is normal.
Keep the pump, whatever the model, clean and running smoothly to help with the performance of the remora.
Some people want to know if you can put a bag of media inside the skimmer. Well, there is one problem with this. A media bag will slow the exit of water up the skimmer and back into the tank. This causes a backup and therefore too much water in the skimmer so it cannot adequately produce foam. I would not recommend placing a media bag in the skimmer for this reason.
Hope this has been helpful to those of you who own remoras or are considering one. A great skimmer for the price. I am not affiliated with the company in any way but I thought I would post this because these questions pop up often in the hobby.
You can also find out more about the remora and remora pro at
www.proteinskimmer.com