bio wheel help

[acocacolagirl]

What would cause my bio wheel to alternate between moving very slowly to not moving at all? And what do I do about it....I mean maybe thats how its supposed to be, I just thought it was supposed to be spinning.

Thanks for the help.

 

[msjinkzd]

as long as its spinning you are in good shape. I have noticed a few reasons that it slows: 1. the water level has dropped, a higher water level seems to correlate with a faster spin 2. the intake tube is gooped up, i use a bottle brush to clean it every once in awhile (if i notice it slowing dramatically)

 

[acocacolagirl]

Thanks, I'll check the intake tube next week when I clean the tank, I just cleaned it and the water level is very high, so thats not the problem. Hopefully the tube will clear it up. Is there ever a reason to change the bio wheel? I was under the impression that I wouldn't need to.

 

[msjinkzd]

no, you shouldn't need to change the biowheel. there movement can be sporadic, as long as its turning the bacteria housed on the wheel will be fine.

 

[Bobnova]

Two possible causes:

1) Low water flow. This includes plugged things, including clogged up filter floss, clogged intake, impeller damage, low water level in tank, and any other flow reducing thing that i can't think of at the moment.

2) Sticky "bearings" on the biowheel. Take the wheel out and clean the end caps of it as well as the little spikes that poke out and sit in the purple "bearing" cups. Then clean the cups as well. A Q-tip works nicely for that part.


It's worth noting that the biowheel is really fairly superfluous to the filter, you could remove it entirely and never notice the difference.

So don't worry too much if it moves slowly or stops moving.