# biowheel stucks very slow spinning



## fern09 (Aug 30, 2010)

i've this low/moderate light tank setup for 5months now.
i've been using penguin biowheel 150 that came with my 20gal tank.

it had too much splash so i've managed to attach to block the splash by adding piece of plexi where the water flows. now there's less water movement and water passes thru' the side and small gap in the corner.

recently biowheel sometimes stucks and sometimes spins very very slow and water isn't that clear as before....and i've been using this filter for last 5months ..

already cleaned the axle and any gunk underneath but not the wheel.
also i've two pads inside so if i change old one i still hv one more old inside to keep the bacteria.

also, just below the filter i get mostly brown algae in those plants where the water flows.....

i've 2 goldies in it ...

any suggestions greatly appreciated.

thanks


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## nokturnalkid (Apr 3, 2007)

I've always noticed that cleaning the wheels always helped. It kinda seems like when the wheels get chocked full of gunk, they slow down. If you rinse the wheels in some old aquarium water, you don't really have to worry about losing too much bacteria.

Btw, 2 goldfish in a 20gal is a huge bioload. That could be what is leading to your algae issues. If it is brown algae or diatoms, usually silicates are the cause.


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## Gembirdie (Feb 3, 2011)

Well, I've used biowheels for years now, and have never cleaned a single one. What I do clean when the wheel rotates too slowly, is the filter intake tube and the filter media that clean out the particles before the water reaches the wheel. Usually, that corrects the problem. 
Don't forget that most of the bacteria that need to be treated reverently are on the wheel, NOT in the foam (there will be bacteria there, too, of course, but you want the ones on the wheel - that's why you have a biowheel in the first place). So if need be, you can clean the foam once a day until the water clears up again.

Another thing - for the splash - I've used 100% silicone to flatten out the "drop" side of my filter without reducing the water flow. It solves the splashing problem but seems to introduce more air into the water (I see bubbles). I'm thinking that siliconing a piece of gently upturned plastic should solve that second problem.

Anyway.
Hope this helps.


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## fern09 (Aug 30, 2010)

thank you all.
yes i did clean the intake propeller or axle ....regularly..
if i usually see like overflow inside the filter then i know its intake, now its fine.

but i did see there's lot of gunk near where the water flows ,should i clean that as well?

Gembirdie: can i see how you attach silicone....is it possible...







Gembirdie said:


> Well, I've used biowheels for years now, and have never cleaned a single one. What I do clean when the wheel rotates too slowly, is the filter intake tube and the filter media that clean out the particles before the water reaches the wheel. Usually, that corrects the problem.
> Don't forget that most of the bacteria that need to be treated reverently are on the wheel, NOT in the foam (there will be bacteria there, too, of course, but you want the ones on the wheel - that's why you have a biowheel in the first place). So if need be, you can clean the foam once a day until the water clears up again.
> 
> Another thing - for the splash - I've used 100% silicone to flatten out the "drop" side of my filter without reducing the water flow. It solves the splashing problem but seems to introduce more air into the water (I see bubbles). I'm thinking that siliconing a piece of gently upturned plastic should solve that second problem.
> ...


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## fern09 (Aug 30, 2010)

Is aquaclear produce too much current like biowheel


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

If you pull the biowheel out, there's usually some bearings either on the sides of the biowheel or in the filter where the biowheel axle sits that need cleaning because they'll get gunked up. A pipe cleaner or very small brush (toothbrush, etc) is what I'd use to clean mine.

I agree however that your water quality issues are due to the fact you've got 2 goldfish in a 20gal tank. You'd need a filter that holds at least 30 gallons of water to keep up with that bioload (in other words- upgrade to at least a 55gal tank if they're fancy goldfish, and a pond if they're comets...)

What type of goldies do you have that you're worried about filter current?


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## Gembirdie (Feb 3, 2011)

Ok, I just ran over to my tank, unplugged the filter, and took a picture, gunk and all.
I thought you'd see it best where the silicone meets the plastic, on the side of the filter.









I built up the silicone layer in three steps: one layer of silicone, waited 30 minutes. Second layer of silicone, taking care not to overfill, waited overnight. Third layer of silicone, smoothed it down with an old credit card, waited two days before using it in my tank.
As I said, the splashing noise is eliminated, but it does introduce air bubbles into the water:


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## fern09 (Aug 30, 2010)

Gembirdie,
thanks for doing all this.
i see you've added layers of silicone to bring about close to wheel level...
so you've covered bottom flow part complete, is that right?

so now you see only bubbles and the flow rate is low?

thanks much.




Gembirdie said:


> Ok, I just ran over to my tank, unplugged the filter, and took a picture, gunk and all.
> I thought you'd see it best where the silicone meets the plastic, on the side of the filter.
> 
> 
> ...


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## Gembirdie (Feb 3, 2011)

No no, the flow rate isn't affected at all, since the silicone is only on the lower part of the outspout. Hmm. How can I explain this. Maybe I can draw something. Ok. Here goes:










See, I've drawn the unaltered biowheel on the right. The splashing noise comes from the water sliding down the plastic and breaking on the lower rim just before falling into the tank. So to eliminate that splashing, you just need to fill up that lip until it's smooth like glass, and that's what I've tried to draw on the right. It doesn't affect your flowrate at all, and it makes the biowheel almost noiseless.

The downside of it is that now that the water hits the tank as a sheet, and with much higher speed than before. And I've noticed that it pulls bubbles of air almost 3 inches into the tank (of course, I don't remember how many bubbles it made when it still was splashing). That's what I tried to take a picture of. So the ultimate solution would be to silicone a piece of gently curved plastic onto the flattened rim of the biowheel, deflecting the sheet of water to hit the tank almost horizontally, and ideally, below the waterline. Of course if I didn't have plants in that tank, I wouldn't mind the air bubbles so much...

Here is a drawing of what I mean as ultimate solution. Myself, I haven't yet found the sheet of plastic I could use to do that.










I hope this is a little more clear than my garbled explanation before.
Does this help?


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## Thihal (Jun 2, 2011)

Gembirdie, you are awesome! I spent 8 straight hrs on various forums trying to figure out how to rectify that noise problem & couldn't find any real solution until I came across your thread. Your detailed photographs & schematics have helped a lot. Thank you.


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## DvsDev (Dec 7, 2010)

I saw the same kind of mod done to a aquaclear hob filter for a Betta tank, the guy (or girl) used a cut down drink bottle and looped it around the whole filter into the tank.
Couldn't you do the same thing here?
But make it convex so the water flows gently downward instead of forward like you will get making it concave like that.


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## lipadj46 (Apr 6, 2011)

Gembirdie said:


> Here is a drawing of what I mean as ultimate solution. Myself, I haven't yet found the sheet of plastic I could use to do that.


people use plastic from a clear disposable plastic cup. I just fill my aquarium up further myself


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## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

lipadj46 said:


> people use plastic from a clear disposable plastic cup. I just fill my aquarium up further myself


The best solution to splashing with BioWheel filters is to simply raise the water level in your tank. An earlier post that suggests cleaning the bearing area is also right on point. I actually prefer the Marineland Emporer BioWheel HOB filters over the Penguin versions; the improved BioWheel system spins more freely and easily with less maintenance problems. One thing that I can mention, though, is if you are in any way impeding the outflow and the water is backing up into the filter THAT will drastically reduce the wheel movement. I have noticed that if my filter carts are gunked up, this will also cause problems with spinning efficiency.


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