BioSkim DC Protein Skimmer

Great skimmer but this doesn’t last as much as 3 or more month. Mine just stopped working I tried to see if the motor is stuck or anything but still doesn’t work. Sadly, was a great product but doesn’t last as much :(. Also the cap does comes off when the skimmer comes half way on the chamber. But I put something heavy on top of the cap so it won’t spill the waste back into the aquarium.

Pro: great little skimmer when it worked. Small enough to fit in the second chamber of my JBJ 30. Con: pump died two after two weeks; skimmer no longer functions.

Wow, this is an amazing skimmer! It broke in and started doing its work within a couple of hours of having it running. Its effective and efficient for the compact size. Some extre notes about it. 1. You dont have to have the skimmer set at the specific water level said on the skimmer. I have mine sitting higher than what is recommended and it's still working amazingly. You just have to lower the collection cup to adjust accordingly. 2. The air hose assembly was interesting. Mine came with and extra air intake line, an elbow for the lines, and a silencer. Trying to figure out how it is ment to be put together will be interesting. Great pump overall, will be buying more for the rest of my fishtank builds.

Further Edit 9/20 IM sent a replacement pump, which works fine right now. I am already preparing to send my business elsewhere in the future. There is no reason this pump should stop working after just months. Edit 8/29/20 AVOID this little skimmer. I loved this thing from the day I bought it. For once, I thought, a skimmer that actually does what its supposed to do, but I was horribly mistaken. The pump malfunctioned in just 6 months as is not repairable-at all. I should have listened to the other reviews that said this pump will malfunction and there are no words to explain the frustration. It is insane that they charge 45 dollars to replace this pump. It's almost like they know this is not a long term product. I have an email into them right now. If they make it right, as it is under warranty, I'll change it back to 5 stars I purchased this back in February as a replacement for the aquatic life nano skimmer, which was the worst purchase I have ever made. This skimmer has practically zero break in period. Within 2 days, the collection cup has already been collecting a fairly light skim. A week later and it's pulling out moderately darker, but still wet skim. This fits perfectly in the back chamber of my Cobalt CVUE 26. It's quite quiet and I have not experienced the micro-bubble problems that others have. This style of skimmer definitely works well for AIO tanks.

After set up and a few days running, I give it a 2. Did not have a water level indicated on the body of the skimmer and the instructions do not specify. Since this is the first skimmer I’ve set up, this made it fairly confusing and created a lot of extra noise until I realized it was set in too deep. The hanging bracket is very flimsy and broke immediately. I run an intank media basket and refugium in a Biocube 32. With this set up, increasing the water level high enough for the skimmer raised it too high for proper circulation of my filtration. So… instead of giving up on it altogether, I purchased a powerful aquarium grade magnet set for mounting. I put my water level back where I needed it for filtration and mounted the skimmer accordingly with the magnets. This would not have been achievable with the provided hanging bracket. I’ve now had it running for a few days and am still fine tuning it. It is putting out A LOT of micro bubbles but from my research this sounds normal during the brake in period. I will update if the micro bubble situation does not resolve normally.

The product is missing the elbow and gasket out of the box. While that doesn't render the product useless, it is disappointing that I have to make due considering how much this costs.

Just installed, so time will tell. For the price this may be an excellent choice for small tanks. Setup is easy and the skimmer begins skimming waste immediately. Fits well into my IM 25 lagoon tank. The silencer isn't exactly silent, but not bad. Time will tell. I created a diy pill bottle silencer that works awesome. Consider doing so, if unhappy with the skimmer noise.

Currently breaking in this skimmer, all the bubbles are contained in the unit itself so no microbubbles can be transmitted to the tank itself which is a nice plus, as far as skimming goes I'll report back at a later date when its broken in a little more since it's just a bubble generator for now. Edit: Not even a couple days later and its already broken in fully and skimming 100%, no micro bubbles or anything to leak into the main display, adjusting the type of skimmate you want is super simple and user friendly, upgrading my review from a 4 to a 5. Seriously the best nano skimmer you can get for your money as of right now in my opinion. Further edit: a month or two later the skimmer no longer works. The impeller motor that makes the bubbles and sucks air went kaboom inside my tank and I'm extremely displeased. The housing that holds the impeller is completely seized and corroded to the point it can no longer spin freely. Edit of further edit: Contacted the manufacturer, and they are gonna send out a new motor, will update review back to 5 stars if it works properly. Update as of 2/26/20: New motor arrived, works again, hopefully I don't have to replace the motor every couple months, but it's back to skimming and innovative marine atleast tried to make up for the motor. Update 10/5/20 the new motor died again, really disappointed this thing can't even last a full year before crapping out...