Product Review JBL CristalProfi e1500 Review (Picture Heavy)

[Antipofish]

I had a e1500 in my 180 and it was fine. You might have to negotiate the tube and cables depending where your power socket is but I had no problem with the door. For removals I simply unplugged and took to the sink.
I also ran co2.

Thankyou for the quick reply, didn't want to get a e1500 home and have to perform major cabinet surgery just to get the filter in and out.

Did you made use of the rear cut outs in top back of the Vision 180 tank, to get the 22mm inflow and outflow pipes into the tank ?

I might have to get both pipes via left hand side as I still have the original Jewel in tank filter fitted (but with upgraded powerhead) which would get in the way of using the right hand cut out ?

Ian if you are going to get an e1500 then DONT. Get the e1501 Greenline instead. Its a fiver more but uses 40% less power !! 20w instead of 35w.

 

[ian_m]

Yes I used the rear cut outs and it fit fine. ....

Brilliant just the info I need. Will be getting e1500 soon then.

Reason all this has come up (and I have signed up) is that I have had a Vision 180 since 2003 and have always fancied a planted tank with small fish. The tank came from Ebay (£180) Ebay along with fish and equipment, as owner was moving to Germany (army move). My mistake was to take the owners fish, as this really limits what else could be done with the tank. Finally the two Plecs that came with the tank (which were about 30cm long at the end and nearly 9 years old !!) departed to the council organic recycling container in the sky.

These two had a habit of ploughing up any plants that managed to gain a hold. I was reasonably successful with plants, I still have pen marks on the side of tank indicating how much the weed grew in a day !!! but these two plecs usually eventually battered and uprooted any plants to death (whilst scraping leaves for algae usually). Family liked the plecs, hanging onto glass, lazing around etc so they stayed.

All that is left now is 3 clown loaches, sand about 3cm deep, plastic and silk plants and hood with new 35W tubes.

This weekend I am adding more sand, and will attempt a few basic plants to to see if the loaches cause "trouble". I am going to protect the plants, like I watched my brother do 20-30years ago, by planting the plants through a "circle" of filter pad (bought a monster sheet to £7 today) buried in the sand. This allows water movement through, maybe roots to grow through but protects the roots from being dug up.

Also started on CO2 equipment, got a 2Kg extinguisher for £10 today. Phoned number on our works extinguishers, as wanted someone local, found out the service person lives down the road where I work. Hour later I had an extinguisher.

Now need rest of equipment and a suitably sized credit card

 

[ian_m]

Ian if you are going to get an e1500 then DONT. Get the e1501 Greenline instead. Its a fiver more but uses 40% less power !! 20w instead of 35w.

Only found this at Zooplus so far. Any other supplier recommendations ?

 

[skeletonw00t]

The e1501 has less flow

 

[Antipofish]

Ian if you are going to get an e1500 then DONT. Get the e1501 Greenline instead. Its a fiver more but uses 40% less power !! 20w instead of 35w.

Only found this at Zoopus so far. Any other supplier recommendations ?

reptilica.de do it too i think. you get a first time discount of 10% with zooplus, whether you go to the uk one and pay £35 more than Europe or buy from the european sites. you only get it if you register though. 🙂

 

[ian_m]

e1501 Greenline is on its way from Zooplus. Now to sneak it into the cupboard without my wife noticing 😀

 

[mlgt]

Haha. its very simple to set up once you put it together. The only small issue you face is that because the tubes are new they wont flex that well compared to an older tube. I found flushing it with some warm water made it more pliable and then simply cut to size.

Then you prime it by pressing the button and away you go. Shake a few times after its turned on to release the air bubbles.

 

[ian_m]

... I found flushing it with some warm water made it more pliable and then simply cut to size.
...

Been there done that..

When I fitted a shower in the bathroom had real difficulties with the 22mm plastic piping supplied in a coil, trying to stay in a coil, making installation across loft space very difficult.

So, cut length of pipe, insert wine stopper at one end, pour boiling water in other end and straighten out. Allow to cool, undo wine stopper and hey presto an nice straight easy to work with length of pipe.

 

[Antipofish]

The e1501 has less flow

Well, the 1500 has a maximum flow rate that is stated as 100lph higher, but when it comes to actual flow rate I doubt there would be a significant enough difference to worry about. Being a later model, the real flow rate could even be better. Its a small price to pay for the hugely more efficient power usage eitherway surely ?

 

[ian_m]

Its arrived and its on my desk at work, and its a monster. Well done Zooplus.

Won't be able to fit it this weekend 🙁 as the supplier I ordered a replacement tank background from hasn't delivered today, despite ordering a day or two before the filter, and I don't fancy draining down and moving my tank more than once...so will just have to be patient. 🙁

Will just have to spend all weekend researching plants instead... 😀

 

[Antipofish]

Its arrived and its on my desk at work, and its a monster. Well done Zooplus.

Won't be able to fit it this weekend 🙁 as the supplier I ordered a replacement tank background from hasn't delivered today, despite ordering a day or two before the filter, and I don't fancy draining down and moving my tank more than once...so will just have to be patient. 🙁

Will just have to spend all weekend researching plants instead... 😀

Did you get it from the german zooplus site ? And did you get your 10% off ?

 

[ian_m]

Did you get it from the german zooplus site ? And did you get your 10% off ?

No from Zooplus UK.

I can confirm that it will fit into a Vision 180 cabinet and allow the door to close.

Have to remove the internal shelf, though.

Will hopefully be fitting this weekend.

 

[Antipofish]

Did you get it from the german zooplus site ? And did you get your 10% off ?

No from Zooplus UK.

I can confirm that it will fit into a Vision 180 cabinet and allow the door to close.

Have to remove the internal shelf, though.

Will hopefully be fitting this weekend.

Any reason you wanted to pay £135 instead of EUR135 ? They are all the same company and if you email the german site, you get a reply from the UK office invariably. I would be that if there was a problem they would even let you deal through the UK team. Either way, you got a good filter 🙂

 

[ian_m]

Well all fitted this weekend, along with substrate (sand and Fluval Stratum), CO2 and numerous plants.

Got the e1501 into the right hand cupboard, of the Jewel Vision 180 cabinet, with pipe to spare, so that you can pull the filter forward to remove the pipework for filter cleaning etc.

Also managed to get a 4 way non switched electrical socket for lights and 4 way switched socket for pumps, heater and CO2 screwed to the cabinet above the filter. Bit cosy, but fits OK.

For future reference:

- Got the e1501 primed first time, whilst tank was 3/4 full, worked fine, masses of water from spray bar. Turned off filter to fill tank and heards lots of bubbling inside filter as the rest of air settled out. I then had real problems re-priming the pump as I could not get rid of the air in the filter, but got there in the end. Resisted "sucking" on outlet hose to remove air as didn't really fancy a drink !!!

- Had issues with CO2 bubble counter, basically when bubbling slowly I got very little coming from diffuser. In the end dunked bubble counter in jug of water and bubble counter was leaking between the "jar" and its lid, so that is going back today. 🙁

- Bought another bubble counter from LFS, yesterday, but my CO2 piping wont lock into it as it is too thick and thus leaks, so that is going back today. 🙁


Need to fiddle around with water flow as if not careful some of the plants will be growing at 45° due to water flow. Appears to have flow all round the tank.

My clown loaches have not destroyed my planting, they do not appear to be affected by the CO2 (managed to get green on drop counter before timer turned CO2 off) and have taken up residence in my home made loach cave and under some of the big plants.

Anyway time will tell...

 

[skeletonw00t]

Anyone have the spraybar for the e1500 that they don't need & would sell?

 

[Antipofish]

Anyone have the spraybar for the e1500 that they don't need & would sell?

Do you really want that horrid black thing or would you rather get a clearer one like the Tetratec EX1200 uses ? 😉

 

[skeletonw00t]

How much is the tetra one though? An could i buy the complete thing includung all of the parts & intake?

 

[Antipofish]

How much is the tetra one though? An could i buy the complete thing includung all of the parts & intake?

Yes mate you can buy both intake and return. Do a search on ebay for tetratec ex1200 intake and outlet.

 

[skeletonw00t]

They are a bit pricey :/

£15 each...

 

[Antipofish]

They are a bit pricey :/

£15 each...

🙄