# I HATE my bio-wheel



## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*I have a Marineland Penguin 150 and the bio-wheel doesnt not spin anymore. I have not had the filter for very long; maybe about 2 months. The inflow of the filter also is slowing down. I cleaned everything I can think of, the impeller, intake tube, changed cartridges, shook the bio-wheel underwater, I even filed the 2 knobs at the each end of the bio-wheel down to half the size to make it spin more effectively. I heard so many good news about this filter and now im starting to hate it.

Anyone know what the problem is? I need to increase the inflow is the main thing, to keep the bio-wheel spinning, I cant let it dry out. *c/p**


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

I have a similar issue as well. Haven't broke it down and cleaned it though. I should look into it one of these days. ;o)

I does occassionally spin. I'm wondering if the groves where the wheel sit are messy.


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## squirrelcrusher (Sep 23, 2009)

I'm also dealing with this problem. Some how one part of the filter is heavy and it will spin slowly until that part gets over the top then speed up. I've also found it stopped 3 or 4 times now. I removed my filter to help increase flow to keep it going.


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## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*Yea i even cleaned the groove out and everything. even if its running with no cartridge.. the biowheel doesnt spin. I think its somewith with the impeller.. like the magnet got weaker or something. Why cant they just use a big magnet instead of a little one. my other cheap smaller filter even has a magnet twice the size of my penguin's*


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## MediaHound (Jul 19, 2006)

Thats a bummer. Did you let Marineland support know about it and see what they say?


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## mk4gti (Jun 15, 2010)

i had issues with the 150 i thought it sucked personally, i used 2 penguin minis on my 20 gallon, works much better


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I have 4 of the 400's and they did the same thing, I ended up pulling off the wheels and putting media in them. Flows a lot better and the tank is a lot cleaner.


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## Tim Wheatley (Jul 21, 2010)

MediaHound said:


> Thats a bummer. Did you let Marineland support know about it and see what they say?


The instructions which come with it say it doesn't have to spin and not to worry if it doesn't........


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## NursePlaty (Feb 5, 2010)

*Wow this is a very old thread that I started 5-6 months ago . I wonder how it got pulled up. To update on my "bio-wheel" issue. I filed the 2 nodes on the wheel down to a point. This allowed it to spin continuously and never stop. It has never stoped since. 

And for the company saying it doesnt have to spin. It MUST spin in order to keep the beneficial bacteria alive on that wheel. The purpose of the wheel is to harbor BB that breaks down ammonia and nitrite, without spinning, water flow cannot reach all parts of the wheel. 

I dont even think I need the wheel because my substrate I believe harbors all my BB. I just use the wheel for looks now . The only thing I use my Marineland for is mechanical filtration and its impeller to break and dissolve injected CO2 bubbles. *


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## Bulleyhead (Jul 16, 2010)

i have a biowheel filter that has 2 in it and i dont have the wheels in currently bcuz im replacing them...but i took it all apart and created my own holders for the pray nozzle things, and now they spin all the way and spray the cartridge filters, so the flow is still continuous and all the water is being filtered...granted im also using 4 15gallon cartridge aquaclear filters and a UV sterilizer in my tank haha, so this breaking down isnt affecting much in my 55 gallon


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