I had experimented with other UV sterilizers and had mixed results from two classic problems with these things: 1.) The previous item I tried did not have any visual access to the bulb to confirm its operation and instead used a remote red LED to indicate whether it was on or not and 2.) The unit broke or the bulb burned out right away, and replacement bulbs were expensive.
First of all, what I really like about this item is that there is a clear plastic ring in the heart of the unit that the UV light can indirectly escape out of. This is not a direct view of the bulb itself because the light is traveling down a quartz sleeve and then illuminating the base of the bulb housing. While I get the idea that this light coming out of the plastic ring is still not safe for human eyes and look at it only glancingly, it does DIRECTLY CONFIRM THAT THE BULB IS WORKING. That being said, all you have to do otherwise is to observe if the pump output is working, and mine certainly is. The pump output is nice and steady and strong. I can very easily see turbulence in clear water at the base of the device, which satisfies my inspection.
The device has a large filter housing and filter media to protect the intake. I get the idea that it was originally designed for heavy duty pond scum, because looking at it it appears that this could serve as the primary physical filter of a small fish tank. Regardless, the previous pump/bulb combos that I'd looked at have a minimal filter for their pump, which could clog easily or fail and cause pump death. Here I feel very secure. Also, the filter is easily removed and cleaned when changing the bulb, which the manufacturer recommends once every few months regardless of bulb operation, as the bulbs loose their efficiency after a while.
Based on what I've seen, bulbs for this unit are CHEAP compared to other brands.
Know also that this is a pump / UV combo, so you don't have to buy anything else like tubes, clamps, or a PUMP. It's drop and plug. Comes with suction cups and everything you'll need.
Changing the bulb is a little more invasive than changing the filter, and looking at the double o-ring design I get the overwhelming feeling that the manufacturer does not want to get any of the bulb apparatus wet. I advise you pull the unit and let it dry all day by an air conditioner before disassembling it for a bulb change.
I made sure to do a fake bulb change drill before I submerged my new unit so I could get a good practice run in my head before I ever really needed to do it. I recommend you do the same. It's kind of a multi step procedure and you might as well learn on a good, clean, dry unit.
The unit is a little large, significantly larger than what I was replacing. I use a large sump under my actual fish tank, so cramming it in there required a lot of rearranging but we're all good now. The UV light is concealed in a cabinet and my fish do not come into direct contact with it. Oh, and be sure that this thing is completely submerged if in a fish tank and free of any floating debris sources in a pond.
So far... it WORKS, it had a quick easy set up, and it cost about ten bucks more than the competition offering which SUCKED. It's all one piece, and it has a SUPER long power cord which is really nice. The outlet uses a third grounding plug, which a good safety move for anything aquatic. The other brands do not have this.
Be sure to never turn the item on unless it is totally submerged in water! You want to test it to see if it works? Submerge it first! And don't look into the light any longer than you have to.
This is really nice all in one system. The only reason I didnt give it 5 stars. Was trying to get it to stay on bottom of my koi pond. I finally did like one of the other customers suggested; i used cable ties to connect a brick to it. now it stays where i put it. It comes with suction cups, which every one knows that has an outdoor pond,is to slippery to let the cups get a grip.
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Picked this up due to algae and clouding issues that didnt resolve after multiple chemical treatments in my 135 gallon tank. The addition of this filter to augment my XP4 has resulted in CRYSTAL CLEAR water! (I mean really, I cant explain to you how clear my water is!) This is a great purchase, and eliminates the hassle of inline filter installation.
Update Oct 2012: this filter has now killed an eel and a puffer. The lack of a mesh screen allows fish of small or medium size to enter the output where they get bluggened to death by a plastic rotor. If you love your fish, avoid at ALL costs
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I don't think I've ever written an Amazon review before, but I'm really impressed with this UV clarifier, and seeing that there were a couple of negative reviews, I wanted to have some input to really recommend this clarifier for small backyard ponds. And no, I'm not associated with the manufacturer or anything like that, I'm just a regular person in Ohio with a six year old backyard pond that I dug myself and totally love.
The past few years I've had an external pressurized UV clarifier and filter, which worked reasonably well, but it was a pain to clean, and I was always worried about leaks with running the water out of the pond and then back in. So I looked at a number of submersible UVs that I could just drop in the pond and (hopefully) achieve the same results. I liked the idea that this one was a stand-alone unit, rather than inline and needing to be hooked into the line going from the primary pump to the waterfall. The price was great too compared to the other submersibles suitable for outdoor use.
I took pictures the day I put it in and every few days after that. After the first week, I started to see an improvement, so I would remind anyone looking to get a UV clarifier that these things don't work overnight. (I've had similar results each spring when I started my old one up, so I wasn't expecting a miracle.) Then the weather got bad and I didn't go out for a few days, but when I did, the difference was amazing. You can see every rock on the bottom of the pond and the shadows of the fish, whereas before it was all just a green haze. I'm going to put my before and after pictures up in the customer images section.
It's easy to clean too, just unplug, pull it out of the water and slide the pre-filter housing off; the pre-filter itself you just wash out in a bucket of water or with a hose. The light ring is a nice touch too, although out in the sun you can't see it; you can only see it when it's dark out.
One thing to note; since the UV bulb is encased in a waterproof compartment, there's some air inside the unit which made the intake end float upwards when it was placed in the water. I used a zip tie to attach a weight (less than a pound) to the end and that keeps it from floating up just fine. The main part of the unit I set on another brick to keep it off the floor of the pond.
I think my pond is about 600 gallons (not really sure, because it's so irregularly shaped), but I should think that this unit would work well for anyone with a basic backyard pond or water garden (and a reasonable amount of patience!) I highly recommend this item!
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WE PURCHASED THIS AQUA TOP UVCP-13 SUBMERSIBLE PUMP UV STERILIZER
FOR OUR 500 GALLON POND TO CLEAR AWAY ALGAE.
THIS IS A STRONG PUMP AND DOES A GREAT JOB -CRYSTAL CLEAR WATER.
WE ARE USING A 1000 GALLON PH PUMP WITH FILTER WITH IT.
NICE
I have three of these 24" units over my 72" long 125 gallon tank.
