I wanted to know if anyone has ever tried this or thinks that it is a good idea. I have heard about how the bio wheel can trap a lot of nitrates. I was thinking about removing the bio wheel and filter and adding small pieces of live rock and creating a small refugium. If not do that then install at least the carbon filter back in there and leave out the bio wheel. Or is there anyone out there that thinks I should just get rid of the bio wheel. I do have a CPR bak pak protein skimmer. I am just tossing some of those ideas around in my head. I will try and post pics tonights.
bio wheel transformation?
- Thread starter Rambo64
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I too have a bio wheel fiter (mostly for running GAC when needed) and have since taken the bio wheel itself out. It works well for what I need it for, but yes, I would say remove the bio wheel as it can became a nitrate factory.
roka64
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I agree, you can remove the boiwheel and replace it with LR rubble. I would leave the carbon out, unless you need it.
Kurt_Nelson
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OK... I'll be different!...
My tank is only 5 months old or so, but I've been running a Penguin 100 Biowheel on my 46 gallon from day one. I've got plenty of live rock for my biological filtration, but I'm running the biowheel so that I can swap it over to my QT and theoretically have a seeded filter ready on a moments notice. Except for a little bit of nitrates in the beginning, I've never found a trace of nitrates in my tank. Granted, I only have one fish in there right now (O. Clown) and a couple cleaner shrimp, but I do feed once a day. (I keep telling myself I'm going to cut down to once every other day, but then I look at my clown going nuts at "dinnertime" and cave in.)
Anyway...I think the "nitrate factory" statement is one that is definitely true if you don't keep up on your maintenance. If you run the biowheel without the filter pad, then everything the pump sucks up is going to get deposited on the biowheel. Little bits of food, fish poop, etc will get stuck there and if not rinsed off in your old SW when doing a water change that biowheel will become a little nitrate factory. Same goes if you're using the filter pad/cartridge... if you don't rinse it off, it'll become a nitrate factory. (But at least when using the filter pad, your biowheel itself will stay pretty clean.) BUT... if you're diligent at rinsing off any media that can collect debris, I think the "nitrate factory" won't be an issue.
I also run a Marineland HOB 250, just for housing a bit of carbon. I run that with the blue sponge around the canister, mainly to protect the pump. I rinse out that blue sponge, as well as the biowheel filter pad every week when I do a PWC. Every other week, I change out the sponges that guard my powerhead and skimmer intakes. So far, I haven't had a nitrate issue.
So I guess I'm just saying, if you're not having a problem, I wouldn't mess with it. If you are, well... then I'd probably get rid of it too!
My tank is only 5 months old or so, but I've been running a Penguin 100 Biowheel on my 46 gallon from day one. I've got plenty of live rock for my biological filtration, but I'm running the biowheel so that I can swap it over to my QT and theoretically have a seeded filter ready on a moments notice. Except for a little bit of nitrates in the beginning, I've never found a trace of nitrates in my tank. Granted, I only have one fish in there right now (O. Clown) and a couple cleaner shrimp, but I do feed once a day. (I keep telling myself I'm going to cut down to once every other day, but then I look at my clown going nuts at "dinnertime" and cave in.)
Anyway...I think the "nitrate factory" statement is one that is definitely true if you don't keep up on your maintenance. If you run the biowheel without the filter pad, then everything the pump sucks up is going to get deposited on the biowheel. Little bits of food, fish poop, etc will get stuck there and if not rinsed off in your old SW when doing a water change that biowheel will become a little nitrate factory. Same goes if you're using the filter pad/cartridge... if you don't rinse it off, it'll become a nitrate factory. (But at least when using the filter pad, your biowheel itself will stay pretty clean.) BUT... if you're diligent at rinsing off any media that can collect debris, I think the "nitrate factory" won't be an issue.
I also run a Marineland HOB 250, just for housing a bit of carbon. I run that with the blue sponge around the canister, mainly to protect the pump. I rinse out that blue sponge, as well as the biowheel filter pad every week when I do a PWC. Every other week, I change out the sponges that guard my powerhead and skimmer intakes. So far, I haven't had a nitrate issue.
So I guess I'm just saying, if you're not having a problem, I wouldn't mess with it. If you are, well... then I'd probably get rid of it too!
roka64
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Kurt does bring up a great point about leaving the biowheel for emergency seeding.
Rambo64 said:
No it will not screw up your water parameters. I run one on my seahorse tank. I do not run the bio wheel now. Before I added the SH`s I ran it to get it started. I now have it in my reef sump to keep the beneficial bacteria alive. I dont run a skimmer because of the danger of micro bubbles which are harmful to SH`s. I run the regular GAC pad with a pouch of chemi pure resin in front of it.
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