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JBL filter problems

alan'67

Member
Joined
30 Nov 2015
Messages
43
Location
Essex
I have two JBL filters, a 1501e and a 401e running on 180 & 48 litre tanks respectively and I wonder if I'm the only person to have the same problems.
Firstly, the quality of the plastic pipes and particularly the way they fit togther is a bit disappointing to be honest.To be clear, I mean the black plastic ones and not the grey hose pipes.
The small elbow piece that journs the outflow to the spray bar cracks very easily if your don't handle it with kid gloves which, if it does on the 1501e, means water spraying everywhere except the spraybar!
The 401e is whisper quiet, but the problems start when you carry out routine cleaning and introduce air into the unit. The 4 Watt powerhead means great economy but it can't pull the skin off a rice pudding let alone push an air bubble out of the inlet pipe. Pumping the air bleed button is useless and in fact the only way I can get it to pump water is to lift the unit out of the cabinet and up to the tank height!.
They are very good filters overall and its just small yet important points that stop them being great ones. If anyone has had similar problems and has found a solution (especially to the 1501e plastic pipe) I would love to hear it.
 
The Eheim installation kits might fit the hoses, if the hose diameters are 12/16mm or 16/22mm. They're made from very sturdy plastics, but not cheap. Both inlet and outlet kits would set you back around £35.

Priming buttons on all makes of external filters are a bit hit and miss for releasing trapped air. I sometimes have to rock the filter side to side to release the last bit of trapped air.

Could it be that the e401 is over packed with filter media.? Maybe the impeller is a bit mucky thus not operating to its full potential?
 
I've got a e1501, I've never had a problem with it, any air that get trapped as a result of full teardown and clean quickly gets pumped out of the filter after a few minutes I don't even need to use the primer button unless the water level in the tank is a bit low. If you want a cheaper solution for the pipe you could look at getting some 20mm or 25mm pressure pipe and make your own spray bar, if you have a LFS which stocks the pipe it's about £4 for 1m and the end caps are 50p as are the elbows. if you go for the 20mm pressure pipe if you put the end of the flexible pipe in boiling water for a few minutes you'll be able to fit it over the pressure pipe then just use a jubilee clip to be on the safe side.
 
I've got two e1501 running and have never had that problem with the elbows cracking despite frequently messing around with the connections so I'm not sure what's going on there. As for the e401 issues, whenever I have air caught in the filter I either leave it to sort itself out or rock the filter from side to side. So far my JBLs have been very reliable and worthwhile purchases. As suggested maybe try cleaning and checking media quantity in the 401.
 
Thanks for the reply's lads. I guess I can be a little heavy handed but the plastic does feel a little bit cheap on the water spout/spray bar to me.Don't know if it will help but after cleaning duties are completed and before trying to push the spray bar elbow back onto the outlet, I might try soaking the elbow in some hot water for a couple of minutes beforehand.Hopefully this may make the plastic a little bit more flexible?.
Certainly those are good suggestions to look at alternative fittings at my local LFS and from different manufacturers like Ehiem however.
Last one I managed to break on a Sunday afternoon!, what fun that was.

The 401e is setup as standard with only the basic sponges and ceramic filter media as supplied by JBL.In truth, it's always been a pain to remove air bubbles from the pipes from new.Pumping the bleed button has never worked for me and only syphoning the water using a spare length of hose has ever cleared it.
Only tried the lifting idea last week in desperation after a filter clean.Shame really because once it's cleared of air it has a pretty decent flow to it.
 
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