yep..not cheap, but then, nothing good ever is. It is in and running...wide open for 48 hours per instructions. Easy enough to run, but a bit of a learning curve I can see to run it at it's peak performance. I don't have it down low enough to keep the middle cover, but that really doesn't bother me. In time, I will learn what does what as far as adjustments go. Not saying the stock skimmer was bad...but really thought this was the best thing I could do for my tank at this point. Time will tell...