Equipment Review and Discussion

Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 3:31 pm **Filter Intake with Built-In Surface Skimmer**

Hey guys, it's been awhile but wanted to update on a product that I just installed. It's a filter intake with a built-in surface skimmer. It's called the JBL Topclean II. I have it hooked up to my Fluval FX5 in my 75 gallon. This thing is awesome and cleans up a lot of extra plumbing in my tank. There is one big problem though, it is not available in the United States. JBL is a German company, but I was able to buy one on Ebay which took around 2 weeks to get. It was about $45 US. Check out the youtube video on how it works.

Looks like an elegant solution. So its works well with your turtle? My Fluval one was pretty terrible.

steve wrote:Looks like an elegant solution. So its works well with your turtle? My Fluval one was pretty terrible.

It works awesome. I also had the Fluval Surface Skimmer and had a Marineland Magnum hooked up to it because the intake for my FX5 was too much. I was able to do away with the extra canister and the fluval. With the JBL I had to make a few modifications which worked out well. Once again, the FX5 intake was too much for the small vents in the JBL to handle so I drilled a few holes to accommodate the massive water intake. It is now perfectly balanced. Another modification I had to do is retrofit a reducer from the FX5 1" pipe to a 5/8" intake on the back of the JBL. Any smaller sized canister filter with a standard 5/8" hose would be literally "plug and play." I only had to make these small modifications because I hooked it up to my FX5.

And the water quality is still good in your tank? Does your turtle leave it alone?

steve wrote:And the water quality is still good in your tank? Does your turtle leave it alone?

Water quality is exactly the same, just don't have all that extra plumbing and canister filter to accommodate the old surface skimmer. With the JBL it makes it all one clean package. My turtle doesn't mess with it at all. If you look up JBL Topclean II on youtube you can see how it functions.

I watched the video, it looks pretty good. Do you have pics of it hooked up to your FX5?

steve wrote:I watched the video, it looks pretty good. Do you have pics of it hooked up to your FX5?

You see in the top pic how I had to played with some plumbing to reduce the size from the 1" FX5 ribbed tubing to the JBL 5/8" intake. Sorry, don't have exact measurements. In the bottom picture you see how I drilled extra holes because the stock vents were not sufficient in moving the amount of water the FX5 can move. Also, I hate suction cups which the JBL came with so I super glued some strong magnets on the four corners. I love magnets, especially for aquariums. A lot of this stuff is playing with and modifying equipment to your liking.

Very nice job, I think the magnets are a great idea. Have you made any other changes to your tank? I took a look at some early pics, you had a pretty nice setup back then.

Looks great! Is it noisey at all?

steve wrote:Very nice job, I think the magnets are a great idea. Have you made any other changes to your tank? I took a look at some early pics, you had a pretty nice setup back then.

Since then I've changed it up again. See below what it looks like now, all fake plants.

devilduck wrote:Looks great! Is it noisey at all?

Very quite, you have to make adjustments using the long red adjuster to reduce the suction up top. It's all trial and error.

l'm liking the looks of it! This it the kind of ATBA I'm always telling people should make. Can he go into that fake rock?

Equipment Review and Discussion :: Filter Intake with Built-In Surface Skimmer

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