Leopard SL183 DC Internal Protein Skimmer

First off this skimmer works very well, is easy to set the skimmer level and almost produces as much as my super reef octopus 3000. Now this is a long time use review I have had this skimmer since Nov of 2014 I bought it because I was having issues with my super reef octopus sump saver 3000 skimmer randomly overflowing, was very frustrating but in the end I figured out that the motors on those skimmers pull so hard it was pulling so much air through the double inlet silencer that it would cause inconsistent air flow, which is why you see all of the newer models with one of the air inlet ports plugged. Once I figured that out the reef octopus worked amazing and is now my favorite skimmer but anyways back to this review. The issue I ran into with this skimmer after just over 1 year of use was the dc motor would randomly shut off and I would have to unplug and then plug back in again to get running again. It became very annoying and only got worse as time went on. So now it was time for a new pump and at over 100$ for a new one and the fact that it only worked for a year I was very hesitant to replace it with the same thing so I decided to look at the jabeo pumps if you don't know what these pumps are do a search on Amazon. I've used these as return pumps on my reef tank and also my freshwater stingray tank for many, many years with zero issues I absolutely love them and the cost can't be beat. After a little research and comparing between the skims pump and the jabeo DCT-4000 i decided that the jabeo seemed to be a good replacement and at 62$ was worth a shot. When I went to put the jabeo in I found that everything about it was basicly the exact same as the skims pump, it was a perfect replacement, I just pulled the needle wheel out of the old and installed it into the jabeo and have been using it ever since dec 2015. I want to make very clear that this skimmer does work very well I'm just not a very big fan of the dc motor that it comes with and maybe since I bought it they have improved the motor I can't say on that but since there is a cheap replacement I wouldn't hesitate to buy this skimmer again (which is why I still gave it 4 stars) and for anyone who needs to replace the motor on this skimmer (sl183) I recommend getting the jabeo. Happy Reefing :)

This is my second review because this skimmer deserves a better review. The problem, I was trying to get small bubbles by restricting the air flow. It looked good but was not effective. and sometimes the skimmer would overflow. Finally, when I left the air valve wide open and adjusted the height of the foam to where it should be, the skimmer became more reliable and produced a better quality skim. This skimmer is quiet.