Bio-wheel not turning, missing bushings - need help

The black tabs on the floss cartridge need to be bent so that the cartridge fits all the way into the compartment. The bent tabs hold the cartridge firmly where it needs to be. It looks as though you didn't bent the tab nearest the wheel.
 
My Eclipse 12 just has the white plastic that sits in the grooves and spins... they do get gunky every once in a great while, but mine spins so fast it sprays water if the hood's not on, and it doesn't look like it has any bushings... I'm not sure mine looks like yours - yours is sort of angled. I can't remember for sure, but I'm pretty sure mine sits in a square box and is not tilted like that.

Also I think your filter cartridge might be in backwards, although that may not be a big deal - I think that flap end is supposed to rest on a little shelf on the filter intake side?

As far as the floss... that's about how submerged mine is?

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If I was you, I'd call Marinelabs. They have GREAT customer service and I bet they'd be able to get you the right replacement part (inside of 2 years usually free, no questions asked) or at least give you an idea on what might be causing it to slide too far to bump on the side.
 
Oh hey I just saw that on the online manual. Dont know how I missed that - I guess Megakitty's right about the bent cartridge. I guess I'll try... bending it when I get home.
 
Could you cut a piece of a small straw (like a coffee stirrer straw or very small drinking straw) or even a piece of airline tubing, and slip it over the axle of the biowheel to keep it aligned? I'm talking a very narrow piece, just as a spacer, not so long that it would cover the part of the axle that sits in the groove.
 
Thanks for all the great ideas! I will mess with the filter cartridge again when I get home from work and if that doesn't help I'll try the drinking straw idea and/or call Marineland. Thanks again, you guys are great!
 
Will it really affect the filtration ability of the filter if the wheel is not spinning?
if the wheel isn't spinning you will in effect decrease the available surface area where beneficial bacteria can reside..causing the filter wheel to be less effective.
.the whole idea with these is to have more surface area .
 
I actually had this problem a long time ago with a 5 Gallon Goldfish Eclipse (which made me ignorant to what I needed for tropical, but that's off track venting...). On the right side (where the axel is "pressed" furthest into the slot, try to prop it up a bit on that side between the tank and the filter assembly. I used some folded neoprene, but I'd imagine most anything would work. Just don't overdo it or the problem will move to the left side... Have you put a bubble level on the back? (Mine was about 2 degrees off and my wheel did the same thing).
 
My husband did put a level on it, actually (he could tell from the water line that it wasn't level) and it's the counter it's sitting on that's not level. Messing with that will be a last resort.

I bent up the tab on the filter cartridge and it helped for a few minutes then the biowheel went cockeyed, hit the plastic side and stopped (again). So now I'm trying the chunk of drinking straw trick. I looked through the manual and there are supposed to be little plastic or rubber bearings on the axle ends (at least for this model aquarium), so if the drinking straw doesn't work, I guess I'll have to contact Marineland about buying 2-three cent pieces of rubber from them, sheesh. I had a coffee machine once that was rendered completely nonfunctional when the tiny plastic latch to the drip basket lid snapped off (I had to duct tape the **** thing closed to get it to work); this is very reminiscent.
 
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