hi, i hvae a biowheel that was runnin for a few months, it turned brown, i got a new filter so it got taken down, put in the basement and it dryed out, do you think if i used it again, the bacteria would come back to life? or what?
using an old biowheel
- Thread starter Hans
- Start date
No they won't. atleast any of the good ones anyway...
I am unsure how all the dead bacteria would effect your new tank, ie: if they would help (as a food source for new bacteria), harm (all that dead stuff gunking up the works) or be indifferent to 'healthy' bio-wheel...
Contact marineland and ask, but they'll probably tell you to buy a replacement wheel...
I am unsure how all the dead bacteria would effect your new tank, ie: if they would help (as a food source for new bacteria), harm (all that dead stuff gunking up the works) or be indifferent to 'healthy' bio-wheel...
Contact marineland and ask, but they'll probably tell you to buy a replacement wheel...
if you wanted to reuse it would just wash it and do a bleach soak and rinse it out really good. then just let it recolonize, its not going to do anything helpful after all the bio already died.
Just toss it back in there, it'll be fine. The old bacteria will have died already, but it should gain a new colony quickly. I'm not a big fan of bleaching stuff ersonally, I always swear I can still smell bleach no matter how much I rinse.
I agree... I'd skip the bleach, give it a good overnight soak, then a vigorous rinsing, and back into service.
Jim
Jim
yea you probably dont need the bleach if you dont want to, it does get rid of all the stuf stuck in the pleats, probably would only help the micron cartridges instead of the bio wheels. so if its not totally beat up just toss it back on.
agreed
most of the stuff is "inside" them not outside anyway, or at least in mine. not much to clean so i just tossed mine back on and ran them.
soaking and rinsing isn't a bad idea either tho. just skip the chemicals.
*this is assuming it's dried and not "fermented". if it got moldy or anything, toss it.
LMOUTHBASS
My hypocrisy goes only so far
Some people are on a tighter budget than others though. I know as a student, I have to save up for my fish purchases, so if I don't need to buy something I generally won't (well, okay I might if it's a nice plant for a good price, but then I *needed* it, lol). The old wheel really should be perfectably servicable.