Alright, turns out it did arrive busted, but after taking the power supply apart I discovered that some soldering in the pin connector had come undone. I re-soldered it and it fired right up.
After a couple of hours with it, I'm not impressed at all to be honest.
First, the cord between the power supply and the power button is really short, so you need a long, single outlet extension cord to be able to get the space you need, and the prongs on the power supply are so skinney they don't seat snugly in any of the power bars I have. since the power supply basically had to suspend the end of the extension cord, it kept falling out. It's not the end of the world, but it makes using it incredibly awkward.
Second, The rod is so long and inflexible that it's impossible to get at 2/3 of the aiptasia in my tank. Don't even think of trying to get at one under a rock, or behind something, or between something. You also need the steadiness of a brain surgeon because you have to hold the two foot rod with one hand and the power switch with the other. To even have a hope of killing an aiptasia that's securely footed in your rock, you need to get the metal probe practically inside the body of the beast before you turn it on, otherwise the aiptasia will disappear. That's next to impossible with the amount your hand will shake.
More importantly, the second you flip the switch and the juice starts flowing, the aiptasia retreats at lightning speed. Sure, you might singe off a couple of tentacles on the way, but it sure as hell isn't enough of a jolt to kill the thing in the first millisecond. Then they retreat so far in to the rock/crevice that the first issue I mentioned becomes an issue. The little buggers also seem to be able to sense the electricity, so if you start the power running and move the probe towards it, it will disappear before you even touch a tentacle.
This tool would be great for frying an aiptasia that was stupid enough to hang out in plain view on the side of the glass with nowhere to shrink back in to, but a simple scraper and suction cup works just as well for ones in that position. Since that accounts for maybe 0.1% of the aiptasia in people's tanks, I wouldn't bother. Even jamming the metal probe in to the hole the aiptasia inevitably retreats in to and rubbing it around doesn't help. A few hours later they're back out, none the worse for wear. This thing only kills the aiptasia if you can touch the entire body with the probe and make sure the whole thing is melted. Singing off a a few tentacles, or even seriously burning the body isn't enough to kill it.
I spent over two hours with this thing, and I can confidently say that I onlycompletely killed 4 aiptasia. The rest are back out, looking as evil and scheming as ever.
Moral of the story, I wouldn't spend 70 bucks on this thing again.
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