bio-wheels
- Thread starter stessman
- Start date
hermitkrab
Member
There was a thread about this a while ago. I believe the conclusion was that they are fine as long as you clean the regularly like all other filters. I have an Emperor 280 on my 40g and it is working great. All my levels are 0 but I haven't had it even a month.
wax32
Active Member
The wheel never gets cleaned. Its a micro-porous surface for bacteria to thrive on. The idea is the added highly efficient bacterial filtration makes more nitrates than your nitrate eating critters/algae can utilize, thus causing a high nitrate problem. Now, whether or not this is a valid concern is not something I want to give an opinion on! If you don't overstock and don't overfeed you shouldn't have a nitrate problem, period. 
hermitkrab
Member
Well I meant clean the thing that holds the wheel not the whell itself. Also when you clean the filter just let the wheel float in your tank.
ophiura
Active Member
The wheel can be rinsed in tank water, just like bioballs. The arguement with biowheels is the same as with bioballs, the basic idea is that the bacteria that consume nitrate (they live deep in a sand bed or in LR) preferentially use nitrate produced nearby in the surface layers of sand/rock...and not more distant sources (the biowheel).
BUT, nitrates are FAR less toxic than ammonia, so the trade off is this question "do you want the security of having an efficient filter to quickly act on ammonia, or the risk of having a longer ammonia spike?" The disclaimer, IMO is that this pertains primarily to young tanks that still face instability issues, without a lot of LR, and with the high potential of overstocking and overfeeding. In mature tanks, I don't think it is as much of a question.
There is, IMO, no harm in them BUT, they may not be necessary if you have significant LR in the tank and the tank is mature. If you develop a nitrate problem, then the biowheels may be one of several things to think about...but first things would be feeding, overstocking and maintenance.
BUT, nitrates are FAR less toxic than ammonia, so the trade off is this question "do you want the security of having an efficient filter to quickly act on ammonia, or the risk of having a longer ammonia spike?" The disclaimer, IMO is that this pertains primarily to young tanks that still face instability issues, without a lot of LR, and with the high potential of overstocking and overfeeding. In mature tanks, I don't think it is as much of a question.
There is, IMO, no harm in them BUT, they may not be necessary if you have significant LR in the tank and the tank is mature. If you develop a nitrate problem, then the biowheels may be one of several things to think about...but first things would be feeding, overstocking and maintenance.
bseth90
Member
I've had one for years, but I just primarily use it as a power head. I rarely change the filter pads and haven't cleaned the thing in years. My grazers will pick at the algea that grows from the water return. My tank is old, eight years, and I do have a four to five inch sand bed with plenty of live rock. The wheel is at least four years old, my first one lasted about as long. Good Luck with whatever you decide....I like mine.