Bio Wheel

[nattybrack]

I have a 55 with a Whisper 60 and an emporer 400. I've had the tank set up for a year and change, have had the emporer in for 4 months, and everything is great. The thing is... my bio wheels have no biological growth on them. When I put the emp.'s in the tank, I packed the two empty filter containers with a lot of different stuff, smalll gravel, crushed coral, some carbon, some sponge filter (used in aquaclear). Is it possible all of the biological materials are being trapped here, and are therefore not forming on the bio wheels? Any other suggestions/comments?

[JSchmidt]

How do you know your biowheels don't harbor any bacterial colonies? It's hard to imagine they wouldn't...

I know that my biowheels in lightly stocked tanks don't get discolored for some time... is that what you're referring to?

Jim

[nattybrack]

Actually that is what I'm refering to. I thought I would be able to see some growth and discoloration?

[Alex]

They will change in color a little but it takes a while and I think that might be something other than the bacteria.

Alex

[nattybrack]

OK. So it seems like, I may in fact have growth but just don't see it. Many thanks. As I mentioned eveything looks good, but I'm excited to see the bio wheel "get some gunk". :D

[andruboz]

my lfs lady cut a small section out of one of her biowheels and sent it somewhere for analysis. turned out it had less nitrobacters on it than the same size snip of floss from one filter or sponge from another. she doesnt buy the hype. and since she sells them at twice big als price, she doesnt sell them very quickly either..

i think they work but i cant prove it. my water quality is good, but i cant prove its from the wheel or the filter cartridges..

[dave76]

I had a 55 gal with a convict and a gt in it. The only filtration I had on it was a penguin 330. I was doing 30% water changes every week and vacuuming the gravel of detrius, but I still had trace amounts of ammonia, so I added a second 330 and my problems were solved. I have had this filter for about two months now and it is just now starting to turn brown. I think that they work, but how much gunk you get depends on your bio load. I was really feeding them well to encourage growth. What kind of fish do you have in your current setup nattybrack? I dont think you will notice very much growth if you dont have the bioload to fuel the growth of bacteria.

[dave76]

I also know someone who had a peguin 125 that he used with a UGF in a 40 gallon that he didnt even put floss or cartridges in and just used for bio filtration. Do I have any proof that they work? No, all I have is what I have seen and what I have been told.

[JSchmidt]

Originally posted by andruboz
my lfs lady cut a small section out of one of her biowheels and sent it somewhere for analysis. turned out it had less nitrobacters on it than the same size snip of floss from one filter or sponge from another. she doesnt buy the hype. and since she sells them at twice big als price, she doesnt sell them very quickly either..


This strikes me as highly unlikely, for several reasons. First of all, a growing body of evidence suggests that nitrobacter isn't even the important species of bacteria involved in nitrification. Second, unless there were pretty strong experimental controls (e.g., similar flow rates across media, identical titers of ammonia, special handling of the samples to prevent die off during transit, etc.), I don't know how you could make any comparative conclusions. Finally, measuring the magnitude of a population of bacteria (even when you're measuring the correct species) isn't that easy, if my memory of microbiology is correct.

I am highly skeptical that such an analysis could even be done without great expense, and I would bet that your LFS person never had such an analysis done.

Jim

[ROLLIN]

Take one of your bio-wheels out and smell it. If it smells something like garden soil, then beneficial bacteria is growing on it.

[predatorcichlid]

There are actually 2 types of bacteria needed to break down waste. Both will culture where the conditions are right. Becasue both bacteria need oxygen they should in thoery colonize better out of the water like a wet/dry or bio wheels. If you think there is a problem Just test the water. If you have no ammonia, no nitrite and the presents of nitrate then you have bacteria somewhere.

[Tiger15]

I have 6 Penquen 330 filters and I don't even bother to put on the biowheels. My water tested negative for ammonia and nitrite and I know that there is adequate bio filtration in the system. Good water current and aeration is the key to good biological activities.

[Andy16]

Well it takes like 4 weeks to get the bio wheel fully matured, or at least thats what hte box said. Mine got darker in color and slowed down so it doesnt spin as fast.

[mlazuka]

the bio-wheels on my 125 gallon turned brown within 2 months due to the high bio-load the tank was carrying with two full grown Oscars and several convicts. My brother has a 75 gallon with two Oscars and after one year his wheels looked like they were brand new. I told him it may be because of the ammonia removing chips he mixed in with his carbon so he removed them and after about a month his wheels started turning brown

[nattybrack]

mlazuka, I bet you that's what it is. I added so much stuff to those cartridges, I wouldn't be surprised if I added some sort of ammonia removing material. I'm gonna try refilling the cartridges with different material. Many thanks to all for the input. I'm gonna try adding small gravel and some aquaclear sponges (used in the bottom of the filter). Any other suggestions of good media for the cartridges?

[Tightdog1]

here is my 2cents worth. biological colonies only will multiply and grow if there is a need for them to grow, ie a bio-load of ammonia or nitrite, if there is no bioload or a small bioload (from other filters witrh biological filtration) there will not be that much growth on new filters because your old filters already have the bio-load partily taken care of, that is why NATTYBRACK had a small amount of bacteria on his/her biowheels, because the whisper is the established filter and had a lot of bacteria on it already. i would think that if you took off the whisper filter or took out the biological foam then you would receive a growth of bacteria on the bio wheels.