From 1-10 I would say.....20!
I love the remora on the aquapod. My water stays crystal clear and right away I got good skimmate.
It's not loud at all, in fact I never notice any noise from it.
It was really easy to set up, basically plug and play like you said.
Hanging on the 24g aquapod- you can be using the stock pc hood, mine hangs on the right side, it goes about 8inches above the top of the tank, but is basically hidden by the HQI light fixture.
the bottom of the skimmer is about 5 inches from my "stand".
I hope this helped with your questions.