Review on 🐠 H2Show Aquarium Ornament Kit by Hydor: Enhance Your Aquarium Experience by Julie Parker

UPDATE 10/2014: Pump is still running! During a general overhaul of my aquarium, I found that the volcano pump was clogged with algae and plant debris. After thorough cleaning and reassembly, it worked perfectly again! It looks amazing! I replaced the manufacturers crude bubble regulator with an in-line air control valve for much better control. I added a star to my rating. 4.5 stars. UPDATE: The supplied air pump has not worked since November 2013. Now I am supplying it with air using a conventional external air pump, a check valve and a volume regulator. I miss the better looking effect of the smaller bubbles created by the bubble generator. Product rating downgraded from 4 to 3 stars. ORIGINAL REVIEW 12/2012: This is a very interesting aquarium decoration, but the instructions included could be a lot more helpful if I adjusted them a bit. I opened the box and tried to read the instructions completely. , but the imprint is almost microscopic. You can't read them without a magnifying glass. Not surprisingly, some reviewers here seem confused by the assembly required prior to underwater installation. It would be much easier if the manufacturer used a format similar to the IKEA assembly diagrams without words. no need to provide dozens of different translations of the same assembly instructions. Then all those pages of tiny text could be replaced with a sheet of drawings big enough to be easily seen and understood. But this little erupting volcano is the most amazing decoration I've ever seen in an aquarium. Let me get this straight; It's a little weird during the day with a fully lit tank, but when the lights go out in the tank at night, it's AMAZING! I placed mine in the corner of a planted fountain, four feet long, 65 gallons, partially burying it between some live plants. It's looking a little out of place at the moment due to its light blue and white appearance, but after it's been covered in some seaweed it's sure to blend in better with the surrounding gravel (a 50/50 mix of very fine granite with salt and pepper ) and black plant substrate "Eco Complete"). The included black suction cups make it easy to route the two power cords and intake pipe in the back corner of my tank and are less obvious, but the wires need to be carefully aligned so the silver lettering doesn't face backwards or become clearly visible. (Again, nothing some algae and tall plants can't eventually hide.) The coarse air regulator works decently enough to vary the bubble generator's power output from a fine mist to a busy column of obnoxiously large bubbles (like champagne as the smaller bubbles do the trick). better, IMO ;-). But the bubble generator emits a slight intermittent hum that coincides with the appearance of several larger bubbles amidst a stream of smaller bubbles. And when you blow up bubbles, it buzzes constantly. Although barely audible, it is a bit louder than the almost silent external filter in my aquarium. When the aquarium is fully lit during the day, the "lava" at the base of this volcano doesn't seem very bright, and it's hard to see how well the red LED lights up the bubbles. But at night my light switches to a blue "moonlight" LED and DAYYUMMM, it's like watching a really hot cloud of lava and volcanic ash erupt from something I saw on Jacques Cousteau's program as a kid! For example a night light with a lava lamp in my aquarium. Very hypnotic and breathtakingly beautiful, with or without the blue moonlight. I wish I could give this product 4.5 stars as it looks and works well, but the poorly designed instructions make assembly and installation an unnecessary chore.