complaints about jbj ato..

A

aktopjian

Member
Well bought a jbj ato back in April and have not had a good experience with it since. The thing never works and has completely stopped working a few weeks ago. Ive been using one of those aqua doser pumps with it that they sell on brs. It was working fine when I first bought it but slowly started not working how it should. I would alway have to mess with the float switches ( yes i have cleaned them on a regular basis). Recently the thing stopped working all together. It wont even notice if the float switches are even being activated.

I have contacted them about this problem and they sent me the RMA paper work last week and a filled it out and faxed it the minute I received it. Jbj has not responded to any of my e-mails or sent me any e-mails on whether this unit is covered under warranty (dont have the box so dont know what the warranty is) I know it is the holidays but , what they have from before Christmas to after Christmas off? I dont want to go out and buy another type of top off if the unit is under warranty and I dont have to. (even though it might just go out in another few months)

For a product that is a major component to keeping a salt water tank going and the quality of the product, I would not recommend it to anyone. I know for 60 bucks it isnt to expensive but if you sell a product that is supposed to keep the water in my sump at the same level and it doesn't, Well then its a waste of money.

Don't buy this product. It will let you down. :furious:

I really wish I read up more on there products because I also have a heater and controller from them and if that goes ill be really screwed. At least now i can manually add water all the time to keep from letting my pumps from going dry. (****ing pain in the ***) If the heater I bought is the same quality of this there is no way to keep my system going but to buy a new heater.

sorry for the run on sentences and bad grammar, I'm a carpenter not a English person.
 
Also I know there is a pot in side the thing to turn up if you are using it with a smaller pump like I have been using it. turned it up from the stock setting to 14 mins.
 
just really aggravates me that they sent me the rma paper work and I faxed it back and no response from them. Kinda has me waiting on what to do. Ive already had a small flood from my ro/di unit when I forgot I was filling up a smaller container to dump in my sump. (by small I mean I wrecked a ceiling on the first floor of my house:furious::furious::thumbdown:headwallblue:)


Really bad quality product. I had it on the outside of my sand so it wasnt even exposed to salt or moisture ( which it should be able to take a little bit of seeing what its purpose is.).
 
IME the JBJ is junk. IMO the whole product line needs to be revisited with an emphasis on quality. It is one brand you will not find in my house.

I have been using an autotopoff.com topoff for years without an issue. I soak the floats in vinegar once a year.
 
Unfortunately I have one also. Will work great for a week or so and lull you into trusting it....then you will notice it hasn't pumped any water for a day or two...... I would not recommend it either.
 
Used a JBJ for years with no issues at all with both an AquaLifter pump (had to change the dial inside the JBJ) and a MaxiJet. I use my RKL now with the float switch kit, but would use a JBJ again if I didn't have it.
 
I'm glad I saw this thread. I've been looking at ATO options this week. I set up my tank last week and didn't realize JUST how much water evaporates from our tanks. My tank is only a 29 gallon, so it looks like getting an ATO will be non-negotiable.

From what I have been reading, Tunze is the way to go. I'll just have to plop down that serious coin to get one and do it right the first time instead of going with a JBJ.
 
I used a jbj ato for at least 3 years. It only failed me when a snail from my fuge would climb across the sump and turn it on. I solved that problem by putting some bird netting over the float switch. I used a maxi jet to send water to the tank.

I think that it is not a bad product. I got a new aquarium and decided to give the tunze a shot because the reviews are so good so I sold the jbj with the old tank. It seems like a much better product and it has not failed me in the couple months I've used it.
 
Been way over a week and have not gotten one response back from there RMA department. Im not sure what the warrenty is on there ato's but if it is out of warranty just let the person know. Its less then a year old.

Think ill be getting the autotopoff .com one. seems simple. Doesn't look like it really has any electronics that can go wrong with it and the price is right.
 
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If you are 100% against the JBJ, look at the Avast Marine setup. It uses a pressure switch instead of a float switch and is about as fail safe as you can get.
 
I used the JBJ ATO for 3.5 years in my older tank without a single issue! So I don't know why so many people have problem with it.
 
Learn how to not break stuff? Had thing thing mounted on the back of stand no where near sump so no water would get on it. Wasn't like I took a hammer to the thing or kept on dropping it. 5 e-mails later and they still haven't responded to my fax with the rma form they sent me.

Ive ordered the in sump version of the autotopoff.com's ATO, hope it works better then jbj. Been manually putting water in the sump since the jbj went down and it is a real pain.
 
Well finally got something back from JBJ. Guess they sent me a new unit out without telling me. I just received a e-mail from them with tracking info on a package. Did not expect that after a couple of weeks of not hearing from them. Now I wish I did not order another brand top off. Hopefully this one last longer then the last one.

So I don't know what to say about there customer service, I am getting a new unit but didn't know about it and already bought another ato from autotopoff.com. So they stand by there product but do not communicate to well. Not sure if it was because of the holidays or not.
 
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