Hooray for cheap Chinese imports! I got this handy little UV sterilizer off eBay for $27 (of course I got killed on shipping, but isn't that just the eBay way?) and I must say it is probably the second best money I've spent, the first being upgrading the lights from stock lights. It's not bad quality for a Chinese manufacturer. We've all heard horror stories about the Chinese aquarium products that leak uncontrollably or break in a week due to poor quality. But this seems solidly constructed. The UV bulb itself sits inside a quartz tube which sits inside the black housing. Two o-rings seal the quartz tube and the whole unit. Some people have complained about leaking here, but I think that's just because it may be easy to misplace one of the o-rings. The hose barbs screw in easily, though I've heard if you over-tighten them it can crack the housing, so be gentle. I had no problems. Mine weren't black, but a translucent bluish color, probably because people were complaining that they couldn't tell if the light was on or not. Or it was cheaper. They do glow when the light is on, which I admit is reassuring when you only paid $27.
So I immediatley took it out of the box, assembled it, and put it on my tank (I was suffering from pea-soup syndrome a.k.a green water). It can be hung right on the back of the tank just by the tubing, but this might kink the tubing eventually, so I made a custom plumbing kit out of PVC. This also allows me to easily move it from tank to tank if need be. It can also be installed in-line and it has mounting brackets to do so which handily double as a brace when it's used hanging on the side of the tank. Mine came with a pump included, however I'm not sure if that was just the eBay seller's promotion, so they may not all come with pumps. Don't worry, if you don't get one, you aren't missing out. The thing is a beast, pumping over 275gph. This is WAY too fast for the UV sterilizer to kill anything. It can't be adjusted at all. It also sounds like it must use 30W of power. It doesn't come with a strainer or any sort of protection to prevent fish from being sucked up into it either, which is very likely considering it's got the suction of a category 5 tornado. I had it hooked up for a day with no clearing of my green water problem. I then moved it to my Eheim 2213 output, a meager 100gph, and the water cleared in a few days. There were no leaks or issues and it worked like a charm.
Overall, this sterilizer is a great value for your money if you can find it. It's way cheaper than other UV sterilizers that often sell for $50-100, and the quality isn't half bad. I give it 5 out of 5 fish!
Pros: Rediculously cheap, but fairly good quality. Gets the job done.
Cons: Powerhead provided could toss around even the largest Oscar and is of no use due to its high flow rate.
