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I have 4 total tanks.

2 gallon for one beta and tiny snails - Biowheel works perfectly
15 gallon with about 7 fish, filter changed on monthly basis (for all tanks) and the biowheel is stopped completly.
26 gallon bow tank with a few aggressives and the biowheel is stopped completly.
55 gallon with maybe 15 fish has two biowheels. One works fine and other moves slightly at times. All the filters face the same way (blue fuzzy part towards the wall (black plastic piece facing tank).
The Biowheels don't appear bent and there is no blockage in the tubes for the filer. If I take the filter out the biowheels move slightly more and 1 normally.
Could all of the wheels be bad?

Thanks

Joe

I just did a water change and added a new filter and cleaned the biowheel again to the 15 gallon just now (at work) and the wheel is moving good again. Weird. Still open to suggestions as to other possible problems. Tanks.

Sometimes mine get algae or a buildup of hard water deposits which stop them, those annoying pest snails will climb up into the filter and sit under the biowheel, or within a month the cartridges get so dirty that the water is flowing out the middle of the filter and not enough is flowing past the biowheels to move them. I rinse cartridges every other week and replace them monthly as well as rinsing my biowheels monthly. With nonchlorinated well water I would just hold them under a running faucet. With chlorinated water I would swish them through a bucket of tank or dechlorinated water. Don't worry about knocking the bacteria off. They stick really well and all you'll knock off is the junk that collects on the wheels. Last if it's the removable plastic parts of the wheel that have problems dump the pieces in some vinegar for awhile and scrub all the round turning parts. Just don't dump the whole wheel in vinegar or that will kill the bacteria.

Last edited by sham at 11-Aug-2005 13:43

Guys? Biowheels will slow down and eventually stop as bacteria builds, a good thing! If it does stop completely, you should gently rinse it waste water from your aquarium. You don't want to be over zealous and kill the bacteria. When you clean your filter, float the bio-wheel in the aquarium to maintain the bacteria culture.

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

I'm aware biowheels slow down. All mine may not turn for a minute or 2 at a time but if I don't follow all the things I listed then they stop completely for days. Rinsing gently would just have them stop again in 2 days. I've had no problems being more agressive and the biowheels are still coated in enough live bacteria. It's no worse than changing filter cartridges and removing all the bacteria that was living on them. The bacteria will multiply fast enough to make up for what was lost.

also try using a fine bristle brush to do the inside of the spray rods.

In all the manuals it tells you to do this with your maintinence.



Angel Eel

I just threw the wheels out. Problem solved.

To be honest I don't think they do all that much. I've used filters with them, filters without them, I really haven't seen that much benefit. They just tend to get stuck after a while, I get frustrated with them and as far as I can tell they really don't make much difference anyway. Now if I'm buying new filters I tend to save the extra $$$ and go with a cheaper HOB like an aquaclear or something. The cartridges on the penguins IMO are also a PITA so I don't use them either.

i done away with my biowheels there a pain in the butt i have a aqclear hob on my 15 and 10 they do great with min maint on my two bigger tanks 75 and a 125 i use canisters i have a jebco on my 75 and two filstars on the 125 had biowheels on all for backups but im lazy and there just to much maint ditch em]:|]:|/:'

What I found with mine when I replace the wheel is that it didn't work at all' The axle guides came out of the filter and when I tried putting them back in they didn't go in all the way, so I had to cut them down a bit to get the wheel to even rest in the current of water coming from the filter. Until I cut the guides down the wheel never even touched the water. Once they were cut down tho, the wheels spinning like crazy. Oh, but they do gum up with bacteria now and again and need a swishin in the old tank water.