biowheel

[69steveo69]

My biowheels stopped spinning and I cant get them to start again. Any Ideas? They will spin freely when i push them but the water wont spin them. I have no clue.

[excuzzzeme]

What filter? If it is the Emperor the spray bar might be plugged. If it is any other you may have something in your pick-up tube reducing water flow. You may also have something wrapped around your impeller. Disassemble and thoroughly clean then reassemble. Pay close attention to the impeller and the impeller seat (hole).

[My_Goldie]

Try cleaning the little ends that fit into the slots to hold it into place. Maybe they got gunked and just need to be cleaned... or the slots themselves. Use a qtip to get in there.
Another thing to try is... are your biowheels very dirty, cause if they are, maybe they are stopping it from turning with the water. try cleaning it a little bit and putting it back on.

[69steveo69]

I am using a Marineland Panguine. I will take it apart in the morning and look at it. The biowheel is not very birty at all. I dont know if it is my immagination or not but it seems like the flow is reduced.

[yourchoice]

after clean fill the filter manually with water.

[excuzzzeme]

Checking the water flow is the first best remedy. Thoroughly clean the filter. While doing so let the bio-wheels float in the tank so that they stay wet to maintain the beneficial bacteria. The wheels should never need cleaning no matter how "gunky" they get unless it stops them from turning. (The "gunk" is a build up of beneficial bacteria that you want to keep).

[ITHURTZ]

if the tanks water level is to low it wont spin.

[7itanium]

Chances are its dirty... this is the problem with bio-wheels.. they are really great untill the wheel stops spinning and turns your bio-media into a nitrate factory

[ct-death]

This is common, and is expected to occur. I have been using bio-wheels for years and mine often stop for long periods, or spin intermitently. Other times they will spin increadibly fast.

Certainly inspect the unit and remove any debris, but I have never had a need to 'clean' my bio-wheels in 4+ years

Lastly, if concerned test your water (as I did when this first happened to me), and record any parameter changes. I never saw any. ;)

[KarlTh]

Chances are its dirty... this is the problem with bio-wheels.. they are really great untill the wheel stops spinning and turns your bio-media into a nitrate factory

Biomedia is a nitrate factory. Nitrate is the end point. A turning biowheel will produce just as much nitrate as any other.

Unless I'm missing something.

[sue711]

I gave up on my Marineland bio-wheel. The thing would spin intermittently no matter how high my tank water, or how clean the impeller or those little purple holders were on the sides. I replaced it with an AC, and I am pleased with its performance.

[rsanz]

I gave up on the BioWheel as well when mine was frustratingly intermittent.

You might also consider cleaning the filter media. I noticed that as the media became gunked up, the flow was reduced and the BioWheel stopped spinning.

[SMinNC]

I wish I could help. But I've never had any success with these type's of bio-wheels.
(water running Under it)

I've also given up on the Emperor types. Too much going on with them, which turns into too much that can go wrong.

The only kind I would buy any more will be the ones like this...
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3579+3595&pcatid=3595

[sinner41265]

Anytime I've had problems with the BioWheels not spinning, it's generally be a water flow problem. Make sure your inlet strainer is not clogged. Also make sure your filter cartridges aren't needing replacement. Either of these will make water throughput on the low side. The decreased flow will cause the water level under the BioWheels to be too low to turn them.

Hope this helps :)

[JenniferLynn]

I changed my filter media to a DIY as not to buy as many cartrages and it slowed down my flow a lot. Took me a week or so to figure out why it slowed down. If you changed types of media that could be part of what's going on.