Bio Wheel: Good wet/dry or just a Piece 'o' Junk??

[Chucky]

I was telling a customer today about the bio-wheel; how the marineland saltwater kits ship with a penguin filter containing the bio-wheel, and another worker at the store broke in to claim that Aqua Clear is superior for saltwater.

He said any wet-dry system for saltwater quickly becomes problematic, and the bio wheel is apparently terrible. The customer left with an Aqua Clear (we don't work on commisions, by the way).
I never tried the biowheel in my 10 gal nano, so I don't know how good or bad it is. It is supposed to be good.

Any experiences out there one way or the other?

 

[pwj1286]

I do not think that BIO wheels or Wet Dry filters are too popular in reef keeping. They are too good at making Nitrates from what I hear.
_________________
Turkish Forum

 

[Anonymous]

It depends on your set up. The biowheel converts fish waste into nitrate the same as your live rock does. In a small tank with less live rock, or a large tank with a big fish load they can make sense. I would remove the filter cartridge though.

 

[MartinE]

I have had them on my freshwater for years and they work great for that. I was told the leaching of nitrates happens but with water changes never seems to be a problem in freshwater. I never put the biowheel part on my reef tank but the filter is there with carbon and phos. azorbing material works ok for me.

 

[ChrisRD]

One disadvantage to using any powerfilter, biowheel, wet/dry, etc. for biological filtration is that they don't offer any real denitrification like live rock/sand do.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a whisper on my 29 years back. I left out the pads and ran Chemipure. It was rated at 300GPH, it added good flow too.

 

[cjsrch]

no one seems to know WHY wetdrys are "bad" and a bio wheel isnt as bad as a wetdry when it comes to extra nitrate

think of it this way. that ammonia is gonna become nitrate weather you like it or not. might as well make it go faster and take some load off your rock ( inside of rock will still do same amount of denitrification with or with out wetdry)

reasont aht BIOBALLS are bad is build up of living things on them. as they build up in layers the bottom layer will die and all of them will fall off and go into the sump or what every where they will die from less o2 then they had befor.


with a biowheel the water is presurized that hits the biowheel and is actualy for the most part self cleaning. blablablablabla now how many of you read any of that? how many of you actualy cared? anyways . biowheel is a great product any time for any tank.

 

[LA-Lawman]

I wouldn't say they are bad.... they are great filters.... but not suited for reef use...

I have a boneyard of Marineland products... they all still work and are easy to maintain... I would use them on a FW tank in a heartbeat... but not for a reef.

 

[Anonymous]

I would use them on a tank without a sump.

 

[ChrisRD]

no one seems to know WHY wetdrys are "bad" and a bio wheel isnt as bad as a wetdry when it comes to extra nitrate

I think most experienced reefers would agree that neither is the best choice for a reef tank.

think of it this way. that ammonia is gonna become nitrate weather you like it or not. might as well make it go faster and take some load off your rock

How about removing most of the wastes before any of this even comes into play with a good protein skimmer? :wink:

( inside of rock will still do same amount of denitrification with or with out wetdry)

Is this just a theory or can you point to some solid evidence that it's true? Many feel that the denitrification process happens much more efficiently when using solely live sand/rock because areas where nitrification and denitrification are happening are directly adjacent to each other.

 

[cjsrch]

no one seems to know WHY wetdrys are "bad" and a bio wheel isnt as bad as a wetdry when it comes to extra nitrate

I think most experienced reefers would agree that neither is the best choice for a reef tank.

think of it this way. that ammonia is gonna become nitrate weather you like it or not. might as well make it go faster and take some load off your rock

How about removing most of the wastes before any of this even comes into play with a good protein skimmer? :wink:

use both. cant hurt. what happens if somthing fails. its always nice to have a back up. id prefer no3 over no2 . wouldent you?

 

[Anonymous]

They are useful for hospital tanks.

 

[cjsrch]

i had em hooked up to my fw tank for the longest time ( canister filter)

 

[ChrisRD]

use both. cant hurt.

Why bother? It's just something else to buy and maintain...

what happens if somthing fails?

IMO that's one of the biggest advantages to natural filters like rock/sand. They don't break. :wink:

In a tank that is reliant on rock/sand + a skimmer for filtration, if the skimmer goes offline for a few days it's really not a big deal (provided the system gets adequate aeration without the skimmer running).

 

[cjsrch]

more back up systems the better.
i have back up autotopoff on my autotopoff ( as well as a float vaulve that isnt mounted to the sump yet.. but will be soon)