Wolfenrook’s Fishy Journal

Seriously impressed by JBL! Mildly impressed with ZooPlus.

I have always said that the acid test to whether a company is any good is to send them a support email. 

As I put in my post about my recently purchased JBL Crystal Profi 250, when I bought it it came without a JBL Lily Pipe, which was in the description both on JBL’s website and ZooPlus.  So, I sent them both emails, telling them that their descriptions needed updating as this filter no longer comes with a lily pipe.

For those of you who don’t know, lily pipes are a special type of nozzle for the outflow of filters, used by planted tank enthusiasts.  They are designed to minimize surface agitation, whilst still creating a nice current around the surface, helping to keep the surface of the water clean.  They also help to create good currents throughout the tank, without creating a maelstrom.

ZooPlus responded that they were contacting head office to get the description changed, and gave me a voucher code for £4 to use on my next purchase for my trouble.  Fairly impressive.

JBL on the other hand impressed me greatly.  Basically thanking me for telling them that they had missed the need to change the description on their site, and telling me that they had managed to find one of the very last JBL lily pipe they had in stock (they have apparantly stopped making them) and have mailed it to me!

I will certainly buy JBL products again in the future, and will have no problem using ZooPlus.

Wol

JBL CrystalProfi 250 running.

It’s been running for a couple of days now, and I am still quite pleased with it.  I have the outlet coming through a spray bar mounted vertically, with the flow directed along the back of the tank.  It’s doing a very good job of keeping the tank clean (cleaned out the top layer of floss today, as the tank was seriously mucky thanks to problems with the old filter), and runs silently, which is a nice change from the noisy old Sicce.

Ade

JBL Crystal Profi 250

This arrived today from ZooPlus.  First impressions are that this boy is BIG!  If you don’t have much space this filter is not going to be your first choice, it’s pretty darn huge.  For me however this is a good thing, as big body means lots of lovely space for media, not least the biological media.

My second impression was quality, this filter oozes it.  The plastics feel solid, and the construction quality feels good to.  The clips have a nice firm action, and the canister body feels nice and weighty.  In fact the filter as a whole is far from light, and made of good, thick, and I should think strong plastic.

 Sadly the next thing I noticed was not something I was please about.  NO lily pipe, and no lily pipe listed on the packaging or instructions as been included.  This is contrary to the descriptions both on JBL’s own website and the description on ZooPlus’s site.  As such I have sent an email off to ZooPlus asking them to supply the promised lily pipe, and to amend the description on their site to remove the bit stating that it comes with one.

Back to the filter though, did I mention that it’s big?

The packaging says that the capacity of this filter is 7 litres, and I can easily believe it!

The pipework is all of a nice quality (despite the absence of the lily pipe):-

Included with the filter is 2 shepard’s crooks, 2 right angle bends, 1 pipe extension, 1 filter intake strainer, 2 screw on taps, a spray bar, lots of suckers, a narrow jet outlet (no way is this a lily pipe though! Along with the spray bar this is another no good for planted tanks part) and 2 lengths of grey (apparantly this is the best colour for supressing algal growth) pipe.  None of these feel flimsy or brittle.

This filter is described as coming complete with media, and this is true.  However if you, like me, like sintered glass media then you are going to need to make another purchase as it’s not included.  What you do get however is:-

• A net bag filled with plastic bioballs for use in the sediment part of the filter.
• 1 Basket load of porous ceramic tubes.
• 5 Layers of coarse sponge.
• 1 Layer of fine sponge
• 1 Layer of poly pad style filter floss.

All of this goes in 3 seperate baskets (apart from the bio balls which sit in the area under the baskets).  The baskets are quite nice, with handles that pull up for easy handling.

I was please to notice the absence of any activated carbon, something that most manufacturers (even ones who provide little else) seem to put in with gleeful abandon, despite the fact that carbon isn’t always a good thing to use.

The flow through the canister is a bit different from what I am used to.  Previous filters I have used the water enters at the top of the canister on the outside of the media baskets, and then is (supposedly) pulled down to the base of the baskets, and then flows up through the media.  The problem I have seen with this kind of set up however is quite often the seal between the top of the baskets and the pump isn’t that great, so a lot of water just comes straight back out unfiltered.  On the JBL Crystal Profi range however, the water is pulled down through a ‘pipe’ that runs through the baskets (each section has a rubber seal to prevent bypassing) to the bottom of the stack.  It then has no choice but to flow back up through the media stack.  Not only should this avoid problems with bypassing, but it also means that there is very little wasted space inside the canister.

One thing that may be a down side with this filter is the absence of any real self priming facility.  Instead the filter has a plug/bung in the pump head (this is also used to vent air from the pump head), which will be very familiar to anybody who has ever owned a Hydor Prime filter.  The instructions say to prime the filter either by sucking water into the inlet pipe and then connecting it, or by pouring water into the filter through the bung hole.  From experience with a Hydor filter I prefer the first method as it puts less strain on the impeller.

Finally, one of the best features of this filter has to be the 4 year manufacturers warranty/guarantee!  Even Eheim (who have the reputation of been one of the best filter makers there is) only give 3 years.  JBL say they are able to do this as these filters have proven themselves in use in europe, and I can believe it.

So, in summary, prior to installation I would give this filter 8.5/10.  It loses .5 of a point because of the absence of the lily pipe, and 1 point for not been self priming.  To be honest though my experience of self priming filters is that it’s one more thing to break, which is why it’s only 1 point and not more.  I will score this filter again once I’ve had it running for a short while.

Wolfenrook

Shrimp Shacks

After seeing a number of images of half a coconut shell used to make a gave for aquarium use, Gadget and myself decide to save ourselves some money and make our own.

What you need

1. A coconut (each nut makes 2 caves suitable for small fish or shrimp).
2. A saw (a coping saw or junior hacksaw would be most suitable)
3. Something to make 2 holes in the coconut (to drain the milk, we used a corkscrew put you could use a hole punch or drill just as easily, or even just a hammer and nail.).
4. Something to scrape out the meat of the nut.

Making The Cave

1. Make 2 holes in the coconut, the is easiest to do in 2 of the 3 ‘eyes’ on one end of the coconut.
2. Place the coconut, holes down, over a glass, cup or bowl to collect the fluid from inside the coconut.
3. Now cut the coconut in half along the equator of the nut.
4. Scoop out all of the flesh, and set it aside for whatever use you wish to put it to.
5. Cut or carve a door of the chosen size into the flat base side of each coconut half.
6. Boil the coconut halves a few times as this helps to remove the tanins in the nut that will otherwise stain your water.

We did a little bit more to our caves, sanding the edges smooth, and on one I engraved the words Shrimp Shack.

We’re planning to attach plants to our caves, probably java moss.  They should make ideal homes for our shrimp.

Wol

Re Juwel Reflectors

After the fun we had trying to make the Juwel reflector designed for 30watt T8s and 45 watt J5s (Juwel T5s are different to normal ones, been of a different size to wattage ratio), we decided to give Arcadia another try.  So we ordered one rated for 39 watt T5s (the T8 reflectors are a seperate line).

I have to say that I was very impressed with the quality of this reflector.  The edges aren’t rolled like on the Juwel, but they are polished nicely and don’t feel particularly sharp.  To the naked eye they also look very well polished, seeming to be slightly more reflective than than the Juwel one.  Oh and here comes the best bit, they now come with tube clips and the nuts and bolts you need to attach them to the tube!  Even better, unlike Juwels plastic clips that slip onto the reflector, the Arcadia ones were nice metal clips with nice metal nuts and bolts.  Having seen what even T8s do to plastic over time (11 years of T8 lighting has turned the plastic of my Juwel lamp holders to putty! And I have had to replace the reflector clips a number of times as they get fragile and snap off.), and knowing that T5s give off even more light and so are even harder on platics, metal clips are a very GOOD idea.  Unlike Arcadia, Juwel sell the metal clips as a seperate purchase to the reflector, so yes the reflector is a little less expensive, but if you want the metal clips (which I would recommend, as it will be cheaper in the long run) it’s probably going to work out about the same price.

As such, I have to change my recommendation from Juwel to Arcadia for reflectors, especially if they are intended for a lamp not fitted to a Juwel light fitting.

Wol

Stage 2

We finally completed the lighting uprade today, adding a 39watt T5 HO Osram Lumilux 865 Daylight lamp to the front of the tank hood.  It has made a HUGE difference, the tank is looking even more bright and vibrant than it did after stage 1!  Plus the lamp was VERY cheap, costing just over £3 +P&P.

Before Upgrade	Stage 1	Stage 2

Next on the list are 10 cherry shrimps (picking them up on saturday evening), repair the Juwel light fitting (have done a partial repair, putting a tube clip in the middle of the tube to help support it better) and to buy some more plants to finish the planting.

Wol

Cheaper flourescent tubes!

In a recent article printed in Practical Fishkeeping I found a note that the Ostram Lumilux 865 T5 High Output is a good tube for lighting a planted tank.  So I did a search and found these tubes for just £3.23 each!  A big difference from the £20 and up you have to pay for the ones manufactured specificly for the aquarium hobby!  Despite the fact that these tubes are triphosphor, 6500k high output tubes just the same.  So I ordered 2 (1 as a spare) from https://www.thelightbulbshop.co.uk/Shop.  Their postage costs are pretty cool as well, costing about the same as 1 tube for 1st class.

Looking forward to delivery now, so that I can compare it with our T8 ZooMed Ultrasun.  We can’t really compare it to the other T5 tube though as that is a plant tube, with more of a pinkish color to it than a daylight tube, which tend to have more yellow/green in them.

Once they come I will see if I can do a photo comparison.

Ade

Normal airstones are useless for CO2!

We decided to try using an airstone for the CO2 as the ladder kept getting blocked by snails, I guess we shouldn’t have gone for one of the blue glassy ones! It’s completely useless! Bubbles are huge and coming out one at a time.

Oh well, we’ve ordered a limewood diffuser now, as used in marine tanks, as these have a much finer pore structure so should give off a cloud of small bubbles instead of 1 big one every few seconds.

Ade

Plans for stage 2, plus repair to light fitting.

Well, the light bar on the tank be broken.  We looked into replacing the bar, but I refuse flatly to pay either £71 for another T8 unit, or £71 for a T5 unit that I would still have to buy tubes for!  Instead we are going to try repairing the fitting with some milliput, if that doesn’t work we’re going to buy a second Hagen Glo 39watt dual T5 controler and milliput the lamp brackets onto the bar, replacing the lamp holders attached that are the bit that has broken, as even this will only cost the same for tubes and starter as it would to buy the fitting alone! We’re also preparing for stage 2 of the light upgrade, which will consist of adding another T5 tube to the front of the tank.  The controler we have takes 2 tubes, so all that we need to buy is another T5 tube, then we are going to follow MrAlgae’s approach (see here right click and select open in new tab/window if you do not wish to leave my blog) for securing the tube, with the difference that instead of just using a tube clip on the bracer bar, we are going to attach one of the hagen glo clip brackets to the brace bar using a cable tie (if this isn’t secure enough we will probably milliput it in place) and then attach the tube clips that come with the brackets to this.  This way the tube should be a lot more stable, whilst still been easy to remove from the tank during maintenance. Wol

Doh!

Well I learned a valuable lesson yesterday, that the Juwel reflector for 30watt T8 tubes is too big to use with a none Juwel 39watt T5 tube.     We had to cut the one we bought in order to get it to fit.  Oh well, no loss, next time though I will use the smaller reflector.

Wol