Filter question?

[kaz]

http://marineland.com/products/consumer/con_penguinfiltersnew.asp
on the 150biowheel, on their site it shows a very short suction tub, on mine i have an upper section that has up to four to five line of opening and i have it set to only show two short lines to suck in thru, then an extension and then the end sucker at about one to two inches higher than the gravel. Should i take the extension off? should I make it short nearer the surface? should I open up more my higher suction? or should i leave it as is? changing any of this would it matter on anything that has to do with cleaning, filteration etc? I have my water drop at center back of my tank and the suction tub is towards viewers right and my powerhead is on the left back corner half way down the tank blowing towards the suction tub of the biowheel. does all this have to do with the process of filteration, cleaning etc in my tank?

 

[kaz]

 

[Tolak]

Most all of my hob filters are Aqua Clears, I extend the intake tube down, and sometimes off to the side, with clear tubing from the hardware store. Water safe tubing is much cheaper than extension tubes, and you can customize it to whatever length you want. If you look at the bottom 10 gallon inthis picture, you can see the white hose that hooks down to the left;

Here's a couple of 29's with a little shorter extension;

I figure the more flow you can get across the tank, either vertically or horizontally, the better water circulation & filtration you will get. Those intake tubes in your link are horribly too short for my taste. I would extend them, it seems as soon as the water exits the filter, it goes right back in.

With an intake tube that short, you will have to shut off the filter for even a small water change. With a longer tube, you can do a pretty good size water change without unplugging & having to restart the filter.

 

[kaz]

the picture I provided is what I have now, my tub runs down to almost one inch off of the gravel so from what you say I think it is good then what I have but maybe I can get another powerhead or one that I have is good enough?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I have the input for my biowheel about an inch off the gravel. My larger tank with pool filter sand it's a little higher, as the sand sucks up into the filter if it's too close.

 

[kaz]

if any how many times a month do you clean totally your filters inside out?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Once every 3 months I pull my filter out, keep the biowheels in the tank (you should never clean the biowheels or run it under tap water), and give the case a quick rinse. Never thoroughly clean them. Monthly I turn it off, pull off the spray bars, and run the spraybar brush through the spraybar and put it back in. But if you don't have a spraybar, then you don't need to do it. I also pull the impeller unit out monthly and just rinse it off, not thoroughly clean it.

 

[kaz]

what is a spraybar?

 

[kaz]

also last two days ive been noticing my biowheel making loud noise from the curculation suction mechanism.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The spraybar is what sprays water onto the biowheel. I believe the Penguin doesn't use one, it uses water flow in the path of the biowheel.

If your filter is making a noise, you have 1 of 2 problems.

First is it lost suction. To solve this, just open the top of the filter and pour water down where the impeller is.

Second, it could be the impeller unit wasn't completely in place when you started up the filter, and it came loose.

First try water. If that doesn't work, unplug the filter, pull out the impeller unit, take the impeller out, put it back in to reseat it, then put the impeller unit back into the filter. Then fill with water and plug back in. The instruction manual shows how to do it as it's the regular maintenance with the filter. You shouldn't have to pull the whole filter off the aquarium, just take the top off and you should have access to the impeller unit. That's how it is with the Emperors, just the only difference is the Emperors use a spray bar to operate the biowheel rather than water flow.

 

[kaz]

another question is my biowheel does it matter on speed or rotation? I notice sometimes it gets really slow so I move around the filters behind it and it starts rolling faster but then it makes a pattern of couple of fast rotations then a slow one then a couple of fast ones etc.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Speed doesn't matter, as long as it's rotating. Mine does the same, sometimes faster, sometimes real slow. In the manual it even says if it stops, and then goes, you are fine. There is no set parameters on it as long as it's not permanently stopped. If it is, you then take your biowheel out, use the brush if one is supplied and brush out the bearing area gently (the part where the 2 ends of the biowheel go down into, and gently brush off where the ends stick out of the biowheel and then put it back in. I've never had to do it though, and going on a year of it's operating on my Emperor 280.

 

[kaz]

My filter is making a vibrating noise from the motor anyone had this problem before?

 

[gheitman]

I had that same problem on my Penguin BIO-Wheel 170. I replaced the impeller and that did the trick.

 

[kaz]

do they sell those at the local fish store?

 

[Guest]

Most all of my hob filters are Aqua Clears, I extend the intake tube down, and sometimes off to the side, with clear tubing from the hardware store. Water safe tubing is much cheaper than extension tubes, and you can customize it to whatever length you want. If you look at the bottom 10 gallon inthis picture, you can see the white hose that hooks down to the left;

Here's a couple of 29's with a little shorter extension;

I figure the more flow you can get across the tank, either vertically or horizontally, the better water circulation & filtration you will get. Those intake tubes in your link are horribly too short for my taste. I would extend them, it seems as soon as the water exits the filter, it goes right back in.

With an intake tube that short, you will have to shut off the filter for even a small water change. With a longer tube, you can do a pretty good size water change without unplugging & having to restart the filter.

Two quick questions:

1) Don't you think those white extention tubes you are suggesting look very unnatural and plain ugly?

2) How come you don't decorate any of your tanks?

 

[gheitman]

do they sell those at the local fish store?

If your LFS doesn't stock the impeller then see if they can special order it for you. Otherwise, check one of the mailorder companies like www.drsfostersmith.com or www.bigalsonline.com.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I got an impeller for my Emperor 280 at Big Al's Online for like 10.00. They aren't very expensive at all. There is no real motor, it's run by a magnetic impeller. Your power cord operates a magnetic unit which spins up the impeller unit.

 

[kaz]

could it be the magnetic unit is making the noise and not the impeller?

 

[gheitman]

Most all of my hob filters are Aqua Clears, I extend the intake tube down, and sometimes off to the side, with clear tubing from the hardware store. Water safe tubing is much cheaper than extension tubes, and you can customize it to whatever length you want. If you look at the bottom 10 gallon inthis picture, you can see the white hose that hooks down to the left;

I figure the more flow you can get across the tank, either vertically or horizontally, the better water circulation & filtration you will get. Those intake tubes in your link are horribly too short for my taste. I would extend them, it seems as soon as the water exits the filter, it goes right back in.

With an intake tube that short, you will have to shut off the filter for even a small water change. With a longer tube, you can do a pretty good size water change without unplugging & having to restart the filter.

Two quick questions:

1) Don't you think those white extention tubes you are suggesting look very unnatural and plain ugly?

2) How come you don't decorate any of your tanks?

A lot of fish breeders don't use any tank decorations at all except perhaps for some PVC tubing or breeding cones. It is usually more efficient this way and it is easier to clean the tanks.