Fish Tank Filter biowheel not spinning?

Question

I have a penguin 170 bio wheel filter and it will work for about 2 hours and then completely stop spinning until I push the wheel and then it starts back up. The unit itself is about 3 years old, but the biowheel, the stand it sits on, and the filter is brand new. Anyone have any idea why its doing this? This is a freshly setup tank, well its been cycling for 2 months but it has no fish in it yet. It is a saltwater tank. I took it apart today it ran, then stopped again. Any ideas without buying a new one would help out a lot. Thanks

I tried scrunching it, I tried stretching it, it works great for about 20 minutes then slows down to a halt. I understand that they stop on their own, but it wont start back up again. I did order the wheel and the housing assembly to hold the wheel online so it should be a correct. Match. Possibly the bio wheel is damage or incorrect??

Answer 1

Clean out the sides where the bio-wheel gets held up. that should free it up to spin again. Also there are sometimes settings of different levels to have the wheel, make sure that it is lowered all the way.

Answer 2

Unfortunately, that's a characteristic of biowheels. If you read their manual, Marineland even says they slow down, but still work as long as the spin occassionally. Unfortunately, the ends get gummed up, and the wheel sometimes stops completely, and without constant water and ammonia/nitrites, the bacteria will die.

Apparently another member of this forum who runs and aquarium business has also had bad experiences with them. See this article from his company website: http://aquarium-answers.blogspot.com/2006/12/do-bio-wheels-really-work.html


ADDITION: I doubt it's damaged or incorrect. It's just what these do. Any little bit of junk on the endcaps of the wheel or in the wells that hold the wheel in place can create enough friction to stop it from turning.

The only other suggestion I could give you is to be sure your tank is filled completely to the top. If the water level is more than a 1/2 below the plastic trim, this makes your filter work harder to pull the water up, and lowers the GPH a bit. The decrease in velocity may slow the wheel as well. If it's at full velocity, the pressure from the additional water may keep the whell going.

Answer 3

How can you tell if its spinning once you put it back together ? You shouldn't be able to see it at that point. If its making a grinding sound that means you need to prime it. Plug it in and get a cup of water and the Pour it directly into the filter and it should start. If at that point it doesn't then its bike and you could try and go get a new impeller. P.S. A Bio Wheel is a Marine Land filter add on thing that has nothing to do with the running of the filter, it sits on the outside of the unit. Other brands of filter do not have this.

Answer 4

Bio Wheel Not Spinning

Answer 5

Bio wheels may not spin for up to several days--- just give it some time. I had a bio-wheel that wouldn't start for 24 hrs. and then it just started. I don't know why it does that but it does.

Answer 6

aslo what you can do (on top of cleaning the ends off) is to take the spout that the water comes off of and use a pip cleaner to clear that out, believe me you will NOT believe what build up in those.

and to the comment about plastic decorations, there are ones specifially designed to be in SW (faux corals and such) that dont degrade over time.

Answer 7

Out of the question, but i wouldn't recommend plastic decorations in a saltwater setup. This is because through time the salt dissolves plastic and will dissolve the paint. Also bad algea will tend to grow on it stopping the wheel