Tired of your Penguin Bio wheel not spinning?

[Lobo.]

I cleaned the filter, I cleaned the magnent, I even increased the amount of water it can hold, but nothing I did made that **** wheel spin for more than a week. I could have just ignored it, but it just kept bugging me... so i attached a C cell battery to it and forced it to spin!
http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/9524/motor27vg.jpg
top view showing battery, switch (with paperclip holding it in the 'on' position), motor and rubberband
http://img285.imageshack.us/img285/610/motor4kk.jpg
front view

heres how I did it...
remeber those kung-fu hamsters that wal-mart sold. well I got one from my b-day a few years ago (lousy present) and my brother then promptly slide-tackled it, from the wreakage i salvaged the switch, and two motors. I took the small motor (the one that ran the numchucks) and attached it to a C cell battery (I may end up attaching a larger or multiple of them) safetly away from the water and from frying my fish. the motor is attached directly above the wheel. I tore a hole in the top cover and took off one of the blue axels and attached a small rubberband that looped down from the motor to the white pet that was attached to the wheel. after attaching the paperclip to the switch, i now had a solution to my pesky problem.

just thought you gues would like to know... any1 else have the same problem that i did with the bio wheel? and if so what do you gues do about it?

[f8ldzz]

That crazy!
What happens when the battery gets loose and falls into the tank?

There was a thread I found when doing a search that tells you to gently sand the "bearings" on the ends of the bio-wheels - this increases the clearance on the bio-wheels bearings that hold the axle ends.
I've done that and had ZERO problems with my 170.

[cabbspapp]

this is a cool idea, but u probably could have saved yourself the trouble of going through this by either cleaning the axles and bearings, or getting new bearings if they are replaceable, or doing what f8ldzz did

[Lobo.]

i just enjoy makeing things.... ive got too much time, but just so you know.. the battery is not over the tank, if it fell, it would go on the floor

[schiejr]

A for effort, F for appearance. Thanks for sharing :clap:

Perhaps if you sent a pic of that to Marineland, they would come up with a less finicky design. :)

[mvigor]

Perhaps if you sent a pic of that to Marineland, they would come up with a less finicky design. :)

That would be priceless! They would LOVE it around the office at Marineland!

[schiejr]

That would be priceless! They would LOVE it around the office at Marineland!

I imagine you are right. They have good customer service, helped me get some replacement parts over the phone and sent me some free redesigned tubes for my HOT Magnum, and would probably enjoy a look at it.

I emailed them a link at techhelp@marineland.com :laugh:

[Left C]

I cleaned the filter, I cleaned the magnent, I even increased the amount of water it can hold, but nothing I did made that **** wheel spin for more than a week.

Did you clean the "J-shaped" intake tube with a flexible brush. I doesn't take much build-up at all in the intake tube to slow the flow down enough that the Bio-Wheel stops turning.

When I had Penguin filters and the Bio-Wheel would stop, I'd clean it and it'd start back up. You may have the turn the Bio-Wheel by hand a little while in the reverse direction to get it good and wet all over so it'll stay spinning. I never had one that wouldn't start back up.

[ashlyjames]

Ingenious Lobo! :) .....love those DIY fixer uppers....

I have noticed for my penguin Bio Wheel 200 if I lift the right side of the filter
by a millimeter or two it improves the spin. IMO due to the angle in which the water hit the Bio-wheel fins.
Ofcourse this will work only if :
a) The Flow is enough to generate any spin at all.
b) No obstructions exists where the Wheels anchor to the filter.