What is a bio wheel

[ShellBeaumont]

Hey, could someone tell me what a bio wheel is? I've seen it mentioned a few times and I'm curious! Thanks

 

[Brookster123]

It's a water wheel that grows bb!

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

A biowheel looks like an old fashioned water wheel. Water is pumped over it and it gently spins (like an old fashioned water wheel). The purpose of the biowheel is to provide an oxygen-rich surface for bacteria to colonize. These are the waste-processing microbes which are necessary for a healthy aquarium. The biowheel provides a lot of surface are for them to latch on to and keeps plenty of air flowing across the wet surface, ensuring they have lots of oxygen. The more oxygen, the more waste they will eat.

In this picture, the wheel is on the lower left.

 

[ShellBeaumont]

It sounds like a pretty good piece of equipment! Thanks for your help!

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

All aquariums require a surface of some kind for bacteria to colonize. Some filters use sponges, others use ceramic rings. Marineland uses the bio wheel. While a biowheel isnt a necessity, biological filter media is. What does your filter use?

 

[ShellBeaumont]

I understand about the bacteria etc, I made the mistake of adding fish to an uncycled tank when i first started keeping fish so I've had to do a lot of research in that area!
My filter has a sponge, it's a Cristal Profi i60 I think (not at home right now so can't double check)
Would it be a lot more beneficial to get a bio wheel? I want to get a bristlenose catfish or something similar but I read that they double the load on the tank with regard to waste etc. Would a bio wheel be the right way to go? Thanks again!

 

[Brookster123]

It's doing it's job, if I had known better before I got it I would have done a aqua clear or fluval instead, better media options, marine land media is for the ducks.

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

You dont necessarily need a bio wheel, but you do need a good filter which moves lots of water and has a large capacity for bio media. Your filter seems to be on the low-end, so an upgrade might make sense depending upon your tank size and fish stock. Tell me more about your tank.

 

[ShellBeaumont]

I have a 55 litre tank which I think is about 15 US gallons. At the moment I've got a male betta and two Corydoras. These are the fish that survived the uncycled tank distaster and I haven't added anymore as my water wasn't perfect quality but it's getting there!
In the next few weeks I'm going to move my betta to his own tank and then get 3 or 4 more Cory cats.
I don't have any live plants, I tried that and failed!
Anything else you need to know?
Thanks again for your help! I've only been doing this for about 6 months and it's a lot to learn!

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

Get yourself a brand name hang on the back filter. There are good ones from Hagen, Marineland, Penguin, ATI. There are many and they are all fairly cheap, just get a good one and you wont replace it. Make sure its rated for between 50-100% MORE than your actual water volume. The filter will consist of a filter pad and ceramic media or sponge. The ceramic / sponge is where the bacteria will live. The pad is the part that traps debris and gets replaced regularly. If you can get somebody's old filter pad it would help in kick starting the bacteria in your tank. If not, they will appear eventually any way.

Until you have a working, thriving bacterial colony, you should do lots of water changes. 25% every other day would be good to prevent the buildup of poisonous ammonia. Test your water daily for ammonia, and reduce the water changes once the ammonia spike disappears.

By now you should should be familiar with cycling a tank. If not find those posts and read them. The bettas are very hardy fish and will be fine, hopefully the corys will be as well. Just go slowly.

 

[ShellBeaumont]

Do you mean something like this....?




I bought this for my new betta tank a couple of weeks ago, it is only a cheap one but looks okay.... Am I supposed to put something else into this filter? It has two of those filter cartridges and a dense piece of sponge, I think it said that was to stop back flow of water. So do I need to put something in it for bacteria to grow on?
Thanks

 

[Affordable Aquatic]

I am not familiar with that HOB specifically, but from what you said, the dense sponge is the bio media (bacterial colony). You should try to schedule your filter cartridge on alternating schedules. Bacteria will colonize that area as well, and removing both at the same time will greatly reduce your bacterial levels. Also when the sponge becomes very dirty, its ok to rinse it off using tank water. Dont run it under the tap because the chlorine will kill the bacteria. Also please be sure to dechlorinate your water when you do water changes.

You have a very small tank with a light bio load and while being a little casual with your maintenance schedule would probably be OK, it makes sense to get into good habits now because when you grow into a larger tank or you get more fish those things will matter.