bio wheel 350?

[Soupysteve]

So I am in the middle of my morning smoke and I see your post.
Very good luck - I own 2 biowheel 200s and 2 biowheel 350s. One (the older) of my biowheel 200s did the same thing to me a couple of months ago. I just bought a new bio-wheel assembly. It cost $6. I thought I had just got a flawed one - as I thought they were supposed to last for all eternity.
Yesterday I noticed the OTHER biowheel 200's wheel was stuck.
This is my hypothesis; the wheels CAN last a long time - but they are only supposed to be weighed down with bacteria - not with particulate matter. If we were to follow the manufacturer's suggestion that we change out our "C" sized filter pads every two weeks, and service the entire filter after breaking it down completely, the biowheels would spin a lot longer before getting so weighed down. The two that I have seen get "too heavy" have been from initial set up (a LOT of junk in the water column) with the first one I replaced. The second one occured after I did some re-arranging in the tank - again, when a LOT of particulate gets in the water.
I second, third, and fourth the suggestion to make sure the purple colored "bearings"/slots are free and clear. Your water may also be hard enough to leave deposits that may accumulate until they keep your wheel from spinning.
I am going to see if the problem is with the wheel or how it sits on/in the filter itself.

 

[excuzzzeme]

On occasion waste or other will build up in and around the impeller. Thoroughly cleaning the impeller and cavity may help as well as the intake tube.

 

[foolishfish]

I've got quite a few HOB's and AC's, Penguins and Emperors figure prominently among them. Most of the Penguins were purchased from a local woman who was changing all of her red devil tanks over to the Emperor type even though the Penguins still worked fine.

When I started to reassemble all of the parts from the boxes of mixed parts I ran into a few that just didn't want to work right once reassembled, but eventually all of them proved repairable.

Inadequate water flow will slow or stop the wheels and usually starts with the intake. Pull the intake tube, impeller cage and impeller and soak in white vinegar before scrubbing inside and out. Check the impeller to make sure that there isn't hair or plant fibres wrapped around the shaft. While your at it soak and scrub the HOB resevoir paying special attention to any build up in the impeller well.

After the vinegar I usually wash with soap and water and then rinse repeatedly. After a several hot and cold rinses I give everything a final rinse and soak in water that I treat with Prime or equiv. The soap and water wash (since the soap is a base) tends to help neutralize the acid from the vinegar.

While I've also encountered the snail problem the tiny little purple bio-wheel bearings are also a typical suspect. These I switch for new ones and soak the old in vinegar. Now since I use a lot of these filters I keep a spare set of bio-wheels. They are usually ridiculously priced as replacement parts go but the spares are handy. The lady that I got mine from was a fan of bleaching everything, including the bio-wheels, and then rinsing and soaking with dechlor.

I can't get behind that idea mainly 'cuz I won't let bleach anywhere anything having to do with my fish. The vinegar is dangerous enough, but she swears by it, especially for de-gunking old bio-wheels.

I would stress at your own risk, but I guess it makes sense since chlorine is such a strong oxidizer and will most definitely break down excessive organic build up.

Just make sure that you protect your filter cartridges' good bacteria colonies while you're burning the bio-wheels clean since it'll help repopulate the bio-wheel after you're done cleaning

. I would try the less aggressive wheel cleaning method mentioned by Weezer before the bleach. Don't try brushing the wheel pleats 'cuz the fibres will start to fall apart (voice of experience on that one). Lastly I take a stiff tooth brush and clean the axle of the bio-wheel. Just be careful and cover the rest of the wheel well if you're trying to remove mineral deposits with vinegar or lemon juice on that part.

My AC's work fine too, but every filter has it's issues. I'm becoming a bigger fan of sumps and canisters personally. My breeder tanks with common sumps and UV sterilizers are a huge improvement over dozens of HOBs maintenance wise, but the bio-wheels and AC's are probably my 1st choices among the HOBs.

I'm not as experienced as many on these forums but I do care for a lot of tanks and equipment and these are things that have worked for me.