BioWheel won't spin anymore...

[Apota]

Well, I think I've had the bio wheel for maybe 9 months now. It won't turn anymore. I've tried everything to get it to turn but it won't. All the algae seems to have died anyways. I'm not sure what I should do. If I replace the bio wheel will my tank cycle all over again? If I need to replace the bio wheel should I get one of thows high potency bacteria bags to put in the tank to start the bacteria going again? So, what should I do? That guy at PetSmart said I should never replace the bio wheel. LOL

What about the charcol in the filter? Some people said you shouldn't use the charchol for regular use, only to get rid of medications because it takes out beneficial stuff as well as bad stuff.

Thanks for your help and time!!

[Mvjnz]

Surely your filter has a sponge or 2 as well? Then you can replace the bio wheel without worrying about the bacteria.

If you can drink your tap water, then you don't need carbon in your filter. Carbon cartridges need to be replaces about once a month or they will do more harm than good.

[Hairback357]

Is the wheel damaged? What modal do you have? Is the filter media clogged? Make sure the bearings are clean. I have never had to replace a Bio Wheel before. I have had to replace the bearings once on an older 330 modal that I just replaced with a 350B.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Check the axel. You may need to clean the sockets and the pins on either end of the biowheel. That's where I'd look first. Then look at water flow to be sure that hasn't changed. I only mention that one because we had another member with this same problem and that was the cause; decreased water flow.

[jbeining75]

Check where it sits in the filter. Also shake the whhel in the tank. You may be getting a big biuild up on the wheel. This is why I don't use them and prefer the Aquaclears....

[sailor]

Hi and welcome to a great forum and community. That is the reason I have stayed away from them.

[Lady Hobbs]

Not really necessary to even use the bio-wheels. I removed them from the filters that had them.

[Hairback357]

It is big time necessary to use the Bio Wheels. What would make you say that? It is not necessary to use the Pads if you don't want to but if you don't use the Bio Wheels it becomes just like any other HOB filter. You would loose the huge advantage the Bio Wheels give you.

[Futureboy]

It is big time necessary to use the Bio Wheels. What would make you say that? It is not necessary to use the Pads if you don't want to but if you don't use the Bio Wheels it becomes just like any other HOB filter. You would loose the huge advantage the Bio Wheels give you.

And all the other HOB filters work just fine without them.. they arnt necessary or even needed in most cases

[Hairback357]

This is absolutely not true. There seems to be a lot of misinformation on this site about Bio Wheels. This is not the first time I have read things like this. It seems many of you guys don't understand the function of the Bio Wheels or think they are a gimmick or something. Bio Wheels are the best filter technology we have right now hands down. No other type of filter even compares to the bio filtration capability of a Bio Wheel. If you don't use the Bio Wheels in a filter that has them you loose all the advantage you would have gained. You would then just be left with a filter that relies on out dated filtration methods. It just makes no sense at all to not use the Bio Wheels.

Now I understand that they can be a pain to keep running especially on the older models. The newer ones have a much improved set of bearings but to tell someone they could just take out the wheels and run their filter without them is just simply not true. Most of all the beneficial bacteria in a filter like this is on the Bio Wheels. You would cut your bio load capability drastically by doing this.

[Lady Hobbs]

No one said you must agree with us. A bag of bio-max will work just as well if not better than those wheels. We are quite aware of the upside and downside of the bio-wheels. Most of us have been doing this for some time, you know.

[Pr0eve]

This is absolutely not true. There seems to be a lot of misinformation on this site about Bio Wheels. This is not the first time I have read things like this. It seems many of you guys don't understand the function of the Bio Wheels or think they are a gimmick or something. Bio Wheels are the best filter technology we have right now hands down. No other type of filter even compares to the bio filtration capability of a Bio Wheel. If you don't use the Bio Wheels in a filter that has them you loose all the advantage you would have gained. You would then just be left with a filter that relies on out dated filtration methods. It just makes no sense at all to not use the Bio Wheels.

Now I understand that they can be a pain to keep running especially on the older models. The newer ones have a much improved set of bearings but to tell someone they could just take out the wheels and run their filter without them is just simply not true. Most of all the beneficial bacteria in a filter like this is on the Bio Wheels. You would cut your bio load capability drastically by doing this.

the LIFEGARD FLUIDIZED BED FILTER "for a bio load" is one of the best in my book, better then a Bio Wheel any day.. I am not bad mouthing Bio Wheels, I just have better luck with other setups. the area you get with a bio wheel can be very small. but that is just me. my tank that as a bio wheel in it is the tank I have the most issues with...

[Lady Hobbs]

My 5 tanks have had the bio-wheels removed long ago and never once had an issue. Personally, I hated them due to the problems with them such as the author of this thread is now having.

[Hairback357]

No one said you must agree with us. A bag of bio-max will work just as well if not better than those wheels. We are quite aware of the upside and downside of the bio-wheels. Most of us have been doing this for some time, you know.


This has nothing to do with whether I agree or not. If I were an astronomer for 20 years and I told you that the sun was about the same size as Jupiter. It wouldn't matter how long I have been an astronomer. I would simply just be wrong.

Now I am going to tell you something you may not believe but I suggest to research what I am saying and you will see I am right. No bio material of any kind, be it bio balls, ceramic noodles, scrubby pads or any other material known to man. If I take any of those materials you all think will out perform a Bio Wheel and place them under water where all of these filter medias are designed to work. They will have lost hands down right out of the gate.

The most oxygen content you can possibly have under water is 10ppm. Most of our aquariums will never come close to this number but just for the sake of this conversation lets say they did. So obviously any media that is sustained under the water is at a huge disadvantage. A Bio Wheel in compairasion it exposed to open air and can grow biological material at virtually unlimited levels. Around the neighborhood of 200ppm of O2. This is why no other biological medium can even come close. Any of these statements you guys are making to the contrary is just opinion based on your experience not based in science. It won't matter one bit how many of you say this media or that meadia is better than a Bio Wheel because it simply won't be true. This is why Bio Wheels are used in huge comercial apllications. Commercial Bio Wheels are used more often because they have way more advantages over other types of filtration.

If any of you can answer the first question I asked when I read the suggestion to ditch the Bio Wheels. Who can explain to me why one would be benifited by removing a Bio Wheel from their filter? Just because you thought they were nothing but trouble is not sufficient reason to tell a beginner fish keeper to through out 80% of his biological capability of his filter.

I read a thread you started recently Lady Hobbs where you were frustrated by when you Googled Fire Mouths how you found so many contradicting answers. Well I have news for you this is exactly how that happens. Some how misinformation just spreads like wild fire when the listening ears are eager to listen.

It doesn't matter how long you have been in the hobby by the way. When you decide you have learned all there is to know and can't be taught anything by others. I guess you just misinform new hobbyists. I hope I never get to a place where I reply to someone who is trying to correct a mistake I make with a snide "You know I have been doing this for sometime"

[travie]

Scientifically you are right, but if the wheel stops spinning for some reason, science doesn't matter that the bacteria gets more O2. In my opinion, the frequency of the wheel not spinning out weighs its advantages.

[Hairback357]

Now that is a very good answer. I agree with you. This is also why for me I run an Aqua Clear and a Bio Wheel on all my tanks. The Aqua Clear is a great mechanical filter and if for some reason the Bio Wheel stops spinning It will be ok until I can come home and restart it. I would say at least for me I have to restart a Bio Wheel every 6 months or so. Once I learned the trick to keeping them spinning I have had very few problems. It is a bummer that the hobbyists Bio Wheels are complete crap compared to the commercial ones but then again they are also a fraction of the cost.

It may appear from my posts that I am a Bio Wheel fan boy. I am really not. I just happen to be one of the lucky ones that because of what I do for a living I get to see water chemistry in action and get to learn from professional minds far superior to my own.

[Lady Hobbs]

I fail to understand why you must appear so snippy and think no one else knows what they are talking about. I would never give bad advice to anyone on this forum or offer up advice not tried and proven.

To simply say "gez, Hobbs, I have to disagree and this is why........" would certainly be more acceptable than the way you approached this topic.

A far superior filtration than any bio-wheel would be a canister that has the bio-max but if talking of superior filtration for HOTB filtration, then you would be talking AC that has bio-max and a sponge and no bio-wheel at all.

20 years ago, it was thought to be impossible to have a fish tank without UGF. That was the king of filtration back then and now is nearly obsolete. Now in the last year or so, the bio-wheels have come down dramatically in price as those are also being replaced with better means of filtration.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

I'll throw my $.02 into the mix here. Hairback, you do appear as very snippy and as though you have all the answers and the rest of us are ignorant fools. I assure you, we are not.

While a bio-wheel may be one of, if not the most efficent forms of bio-filtration, it does not automatically follow that it is the best period. Sure, a canister filter has to have a lot more media in it to get the same filtering capacity, but the fact is, certain canister filters can have far more filtering capacity than any non-commercial bio-wheel. I happen to have an Emperor 400 along with 3 Eheim cannister filters (2215, 2217, 2026) and I have found filtering capacity of the Eheims to be equal to, and greater than in some cases, my Emperor.

Another thing your blanket statement fails to take into consideration is application. Bio-wheels are absolutely terrible on a planted tank. Oh sure, they may do great as far as filtering out ammonia and nitrite, but they also do an exceptional job at removing CO2 from the water.

Would I ever use a bio-wheel on a marine tank? Not a chance! They are nitrate factories, my live rock is a far far better choice.

Finally, you made the statement "If you don't use the Bio Wheels in a filter that has them you loose all the advantage you would have gained. You would then just be left with a filter that relies on out dated filtration methods. It just makes no sense at all to not use the Bio Wheels. " This is quite true and I agree that it makes no sense to run a bio-wheel filter without the bio-wheels, but to say that you absolutely cannot do it is not true either. You can do it, it just becomes a greatly reduced filtering capacity.

[smaug]

Wow,there is almost nothing left to say on this subject that hasn't been said by our fine long time members as well as hairback.There were some fine points made by all.my LFS; "That fish place that pet place" would fall into the category of large commercial operation,I have seen a good bit of that place and there filtration system.I failed to see any bio wheels in use at all.Fluidized bed seems to be what is used mainly.I have seen very large bio wheel type systems used in commercial fish farming ,they are on the order of as big as a cement truck.Even then they are used in conjunction with many other types of filtration in a redundant fashion with the bio wheels almost being used as an afterthought.I know a great many fish keepers who have been at this for a very long time and are some of the most knowledgeable people concerning fish that there is,only 2 out of 10 of them use a bio wheel and they are on small tanks and mostly thought of as unnecessary.I have had one on my 20 gal for about 2 yrs now and before that it was a hob without it,I notice absolutely no benefit from it at all.In a very large commercial fish farming situation the benefits are likely worth there use,my experience as well as many others have proved that they are not.

[smaug]

Wow,there is almost nothing left to say on this subject that hasn't been said by our fine long time members as well as hairback.There were some fine points made by all.my LFS; "That fish place that pet place" would fall into the category of large commercial operation,I have seen a good bit of that place and there filtration system.I failed to see any bio wheels in use at all.Fluidized bed seems to be what is used mainly.I have seen very large bio wheel type systems used in commercial fish farming ,they are on the order of as big as a cement truck.Even then they are used in conjunction with many other types of filtration in a redundant fashion with the bio wheels almost being used as an afterthought.I know a great many fish keepers who have been at this for a very long time and are some of the most knowledgeable people concerning fish that there is,only 2 out of 10 of them use a bio wheel and they are on small tanks and mostly thought of as unnecessary.I have had one on my 20 gal for about 2 yrs now and before that it was a hob without it,I notice absolutely no benefit from it at all.In a very large commercial fish farming situation the benefits are likely worth there use,my experience as well as many others have proved that they are not very useful on small tanks.
I edited the last part ,concerning the small tanks.

[Adrian]

To wheel, or not to wheel. That is the question.

I got a planted tank with co2 injection. My plants are utilizing the co2 and the light at such a rate, that my oxygen levels in my tank are close to 120%. Far better than I ever thought possible. If I had a bio-wheel, I would lose that. As ILMGB has said, bio-wheels are not condusive to co2 in the water column.

HOB's have come a long way since the early models. I personally think it is all a matter of preferance.

Many of us like a quiet filter. Some of us like the sound of running water. Some of us like the ease of changing filter media, and having a low maintence tank. Bio-wheels have their place, they just don't have a place in my situation. If they work for you, great. Keep using them. If they don't work for you, get a different one.

Most of the users in this forum, have really good water quality from their existing filtering capabilities. Their fish thrive. If it isn't broke, we don't fix it. If it is working fine, are water parameters are stable, why change what works?

As all of us here try to keep an open mind, no one is absolutely right all of the time. If we were, we would be gods, and not human beings. So, since we all have our own methods of achieving good water quality, don't condemn those that do it differently.

As the old saying goes. "You can't please all of the people all of the time, however, you can please most of the people some of the times."

Each of us will find our own path leading to our own needs.

[Hairback357]

A couple made the comment that I came across as snide in my reply. Well that is exactly what I was shooting for. I took offense to the comment "Some of us have been doing this for a while" as if my opinion was not valid. I thought that comment was far out of line and it did have an impact n my tone. My comments were meant to help the original poster. Suggesting he remove his Bio Wheels was in no way good advice. I won't continue this discussion as I hope it has served it's purpose to give people some actual information about Bio Wheels.

[sandy_n]

I've used both. The most recent being the AC 110 which I much prefer now over the biowheel. The biomax performs the same function as the biowheel.