I bought this filter after battling ick a few times and I wanted a filter that had the sterilizer built in. Now 2 mo. Later my tank looks great and last week I found a couple of fry so this sterilizer/filter is amazing. Great product well worth it.
Happy with the unit, cleared up our algae bloom problem, but cannot find replacement filters
in local stores or via Amazon.
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As far as flow goes the filter is excellent on my 10 gallon feeder tank. I purchased this so that I wouldn't need to worry about quarantine when adding new feeder fish to my feeder tank that I keep for my snake. The water is crystal clear and I haven't had any in tank deaths even with the lack of fungal checks and quarantine. The only problem is that the filter media clogs fast and doesn't rinse out well to be used for even 3 weeks. Nor does Amazon sell replacement filter cartridges for this filter. But overall it is well worth the price and I would buy it again even knowing about the filter media issue.
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Update 4/9/13 Today I took delivery of my 5Th AquaTop UV sterilizer and my 2nd AquaTop PF15UV hob/uv sterilizer.
As usual, the unit was simple to setup. However, I noticed better attention to detail with the way this unit was packaged. The uv bulb was in a separate USPS box which was included in a larger box that also contained the PF15UV's box.
Perhaps AquaTop is taking to heart what some of its customers are saying in regard to the company paying more attention to its quality control.
I hope so, because AquaTop is a very innovative company with a number of cleverly designed products that do make the fishkeeping hobby easier, and thus more enjoyable.
This author has found AquaTop's hob uv sterilizers to be extremely helpful in keeping the water in my aquaria crystal clear.
My plants and fish have never looked better.
If these filters turn out to be as durable as my Aquaclear hob filters, I will be even more impressed with them. As it is, given their use for uv clarification alone, they are terrific.
Moreover, they also offer some benefits for uv sterilization, even if there are better uv sterilizers on the market.
However, any uv sterilizer which offers significant improvement in regard to germicidal capabilities is going to be far more expensive than the AquaTop uv sterilizers.
In this author's opinion the AquaTop uv sterilizers are a genuine bargain, and the company's hob/uv sterilizers also function as very good mechanical filters when a foam prefilter is installed on their intake tubes.
Earlier...
If you're a fishkeeper who's become completely frustrated
with your regular filter's inability to keep the water in your aquarium clean, you should really consider purchasing a uv sterilizer.
Most uv sterilizers are expensive, and some with higher wattage and better quality uv bulbs can be very expensive.
However, companies like AquaTop have developed a line affordable uv sterilizers which do an excellent job of keeping your aquarium's water column nice and clean.
And while the debate continues to rage on in regard to whether or not an inexpensive uv bulb offers germicidal benefits, many aquarists who have purchased these affordable uv sterilizers continue to find that their fish
are healthier than ever, and their aquariums' water is noticeably cleaner than when using just a standard filter alone.
This author purchased my first AquaTop uv sterilizer the better part of a year ago, and it has remedied a very serious algae problem that existed in one of my community aquariums.
This AquaTop is an inline 10 watt unit (IL10UV) which has worked so well, that I have since purchased another one as a spare, and three AquaTop HOB/UV sterilizers: the PF-15UV, PF-25UV and PF-40UV.
These AquaTop hob/uv sterilizers are great for killing off algae and bacteria. However, they should not be used for anything but that and mechanical filtration.
The user will also need a separate filter to establish biological colonies in, such as a canister or another hob filter.
This is fine since redundant filtration is always beneficial to an aquarium.
As for the AquaTop PF-15UV, I use it on my Mr. Aqua 12 gallon long aquarium along with an Eheim 2213, and the tank's water remains crystal clear.
I am growing dwarf hairgrass and microsword in this aquarium under T-5 high lighting conditions, with injected CO2 and Flourish plant tabs in a sand substrate.
This would ordinarly create an algae bloom resulting in green water. However, the PF-15UV has prevented this from occurring.
In fact, this little filter kills off algae and bacteria that would normally compete with the microsword and dwarf hairgrass, so that the latter can propagate even faster.
In this author's opinion, this filter saves so much aggravation in growing plants that it is worth every penny of its $49.99 price.
If it turns out to be as durable and reliable as my Aquaclear hob filters, I will consider it to be an even better value.
Affordable uv sterlizers are really starting to catch on within the mainstream aquatic community. And the more recent addition of the hob/uv sterilizer (at present a market completely dominated by AquaTop) will likely encourage other filter manufacturers to include these in their lineup of aquarium filters in the future.
Highly recommended!
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I have had this product running on a 12 gallon freshwater aquarium for two months now. Not only have I had to completely disassemble this filter three times now, but cleaning is nearly impossible due to the shape of some of the plastic pieces. It stopped working again today so I will be finding a new filter. This is my second and last Aquatop product. The first broke within a month. The only upside is that the UV bulb is still working.
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