I use a Red Sea Prizm deluxe - it's fairly quiet (maybe slightly louder than the HOB powerfilter it replaced)... I don't know how 8) it is, but it fits perfectly on the back of my tank, was reasonably priced (got a deal from a friend who sells drygoods), and i like it.
And as incysor said, the whole point of a skimmer is to shoot out bubbles. It Aerates the water, and the junk sticks to the bubbles which float up and out into the collection cup so you can just throw it away, rather than have it sit in a sponge still in your water-flow...
I have also heard good things about the remoras, and CPR makes a nice Backpack model that will hang on a nano - and from what i've heard CPRs are supposed to be really good.