I've been waiting a while to do this one, as I wanted to be sure these things didn't just fall apart after a week or two.
So here it is:
Odyssea is basically a Chinese based "knock-off" company that makes less expensive products based on their more expensive competitor's products, and I don't think anyone will argue that this is usually at the cost of slightly to significantly less quality material, depending on the product.
But dude, sometimes you don't need the best. Sometimes you just want something that works. I mean, I don't NEED a UV on my tank for any particular reason, and I can't really justify spending hundreds of dollars on one with my income (I'm a 24 year old college student, I barely make enough money working part time to cover living expenses
).
Enter: Odyssea UVs. So let's talk money for a second. You can get a 9 watt Odyssea UV for $35, 18 watt for $40 (only $5 more!), and a 36 watt for $60! Compare that to other common UV brands and you'll see the huge price gap... A Coralife 9 watt goes for about $100, which is $40 more than an Odyssea 36 watt, and nearly three times the price as the competing 9 watt Odyssea.
Now, let's talk quality... Do a quick google search on these things and you will read some pretty negative reviews from a couple years ago. To my knowledge, they changed the design to try to address these issues. All I can say is that the new units are all black like the picture I posted above, not silver like the ones you can find if you google. And I can tell you my personal experience having used them a while now.
They're super basic, just an enclosed plastic black tube that unscrews at one end that holds the bulb. There's no "turbo twist" or anything like that, no on/off switch, no indicator light, it's just plug it in and the bulb turns on. I don't really want to get in to the specifics of installing them, and I don't want to answer a bunch of questions on how to do so... Basically you can hook them up to a canister filter output hose or hook one up to a pump. You will need hosing and some sort of pump to use them (canister filter will act as the pump if you go that route).
I bought the 9 watt about five months ago. I plumbed it to a canister filter output and plugged it in. Not much to say other than I've had zero issues with leaking, and the water clarity improved (it was already pretty damn clear anyway). I got an 18 watt yesterday and plumbed it to a pump and it's working fine as well.
So, in conclusion, if you're curious about a UV but don't want to spend a lot of money, or you just don't need the "best" of something like this, check out Odyssea. I don't expect these to last for decades or anything, but they're doing their job right now and I don't have any complaints. A UV really isn't necessary for the health of a system anyway IMO, so as long as these don't leak (and I've had no issues with that at all), at $40 out of pocket, why not?
So here it is:
Odyssea is basically a Chinese based "knock-off" company that makes less expensive products based on their more expensive competitor's products, and I don't think anyone will argue that this is usually at the cost of slightly to significantly less quality material, depending on the product.
But dude, sometimes you don't need the best. Sometimes you just want something that works. I mean, I don't NEED a UV on my tank for any particular reason, and I can't really justify spending hundreds of dollars on one with my income (I'm a 24 year old college student, I barely make enough money working part time to cover living expenses
). Enter: Odyssea UVs. So let's talk money for a second. You can get a 9 watt Odyssea UV for $35, 18 watt for $40 (only $5 more!), and a 36 watt for $60! Compare that to other common UV brands and you'll see the huge price gap... A Coralife 9 watt goes for about $100, which is $40 more than an Odyssea 36 watt, and nearly three times the price as the competing 9 watt Odyssea.
Now, let's talk quality... Do a quick google search on these things and you will read some pretty negative reviews from a couple years ago. To my knowledge, they changed the design to try to address these issues. All I can say is that the new units are all black like the picture I posted above, not silver like the ones you can find if you google. And I can tell you my personal experience having used them a while now.
They're super basic, just an enclosed plastic black tube that unscrews at one end that holds the bulb. There's no "turbo twist" or anything like that, no on/off switch, no indicator light, it's just plug it in and the bulb turns on. I don't really want to get in to the specifics of installing them, and I don't want to answer a bunch of questions on how to do so... Basically you can hook them up to a canister filter output hose or hook one up to a pump. You will need hosing and some sort of pump to use them (canister filter will act as the pump if you go that route).
I bought the 9 watt about five months ago. I plumbed it to a canister filter output and plugged it in. Not much to say other than I've had zero issues with leaking, and the water clarity improved (it was already pretty damn clear anyway). I got an 18 watt yesterday and plumbed it to a pump and it's working fine as well.
So, in conclusion, if you're curious about a UV but don't want to spend a lot of money, or you just don't need the "best" of something like this, check out Odyssea. I don't expect these to last for decades or anything, but they're doing their job right now and I don't have any complaints. A UV really isn't necessary for the health of a system anyway IMO, so as long as these don't leak (and I've had no issues with that at all), at $40 out of pocket, why not?
