# Cleaning a biowheel filter



## TKC747 (Dec 5, 2008)

Every time I replace the cartridge on my penguin and this will apply to all biowheels with cartridges, the water on the other side of the cartridge, once I take the old cartridge out will spill past the biowheel and pollute the water. It doesn't take long for all the muck to be sucked back into the filter where it belongs but it looks disgusting when it happens. I want to avoid this but if I take the whole HOB off the tank and dump all the water, will the bacteria go with the water? The biowheel of course will be safe. *How do you clean your biowheel filter?*

thanks


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

I do the same method you are doing TKC on my emperor 400. I just remove and rinse the cartridges on my water changes, replace them on the last week of the month. I know that I hacve dual slots since I have the 400 and I don't have the spill/splash effect you do. I would just be very careful removing it. I also rinse my biowheels 2 times a month in the water I removed from my tank during the water change. All my water tests come up zero and my nitrAtes are always between 5 to 10 ppm. Good luck :thumb:


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## Yajna (Oct 20, 2009)

I have an old dual chamber HOB that I don't think is even being made anymore. I run into the same problem with "muck" collecting in the filter and flushing back into the tank when I remove a cartridge.

Whenever I clean, I take the entire unit off the tank and dump the water and muck down the drain. After all, that muck is decomposing organic material--not a help to keeping nitrate levels low.

The bacteria you want to keep are going to be on your media and the walls of the filter. Any small amount of bacteria in the mucky water you dump out is not going to have a significant impact on your nitrogen cycle.


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## Totalimmortal363 (Jan 10, 2008)

I don't think I ever actually bought those cartridges. I just filled the chambers with plastic pot scrubbers.


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

every month i toss the wheel into the tank, dump out and scrub the filter and replace the media


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

with my weekly waterchanges i of course shut off emp. 400s and take out the cartridges and either rinse the floss or replace. once every couple months i will dropp the biowheels in the tank and completely tear down the filter to clean. when i do a tear down i just dump the water thats in the unit in the sink or on my plants around the house. never a spike.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Mine were very similiar to *steelers fan*'s way ... turn off the filter, rinse under the tap or replace the media weekly ... and once a month plop the biowheel into the tank and rinse out the whole filter under the tap. Never in my years and years with biowheels (I've had them since the late eighties) have I cleaned the wheels themselves.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

Once every month or so I shake out the biowheels themselves in a bucket of tank water.

As for the cartridges, I don't use the stock cartridges, I use the Drs. Foster and Smith Bio3 clamshells, using only the blue sponge that comes with the clamshells, substituting blue bonded padding cut to fit the cartridge (instead of the carbon pads). This way you spend $10 for a pair of clamshells plus the blue bonded padding and your set for years, no media replacement cost and filtration is actually improved, both mechanical and biological. The biological component is especially of benefit with the Penguins because there is some bypass of the biowheel as water flows under the wheel.

Weekly, I pull up the intake tube so that it is removed from the impeller (no longer sucks water) then I pull the cartridge, squeeze out the sponge (in a bucket of tank water), and replace the blue bonded pad with a clean one, then push the intake tube back down and it starts sucking water again. This eliminates the "gunk in the tank" issue.

The blue bonded padding is then taken to the sink, rinsed out with the dish sprayer thingie in the sink, then boiled. Boiling serves multiple purposes. First, if "fluffs" the blue bonded padding back it (like new), it kills off any bacteria on the pad (heterotrophic bacteria can survive being dried out, nitrifying bacteria cannot, so I want to level the playing field for the nitrifying bacteria when I reuse the pad), it removes the fish odor from the pad (don't want my supply closet smelling fishy), and it further cleans the pad. The cleaned padding then goes into a stack of clean pads ready for reuse.

It's all part of an overall strategy to manage nitrates. Remove the gunk build up on the mechanical filters before the heterotrophic bacteria can break it down into ammonia (need to remove/clean the mechanical media weekly to accomplish this) while removing a food source for the heterotrophic bacteria, which limits the colony sizes of the heterotrophic bacteria, which limits the competition threat to the nitrifying bacteria.

Once a month (or thereabout) I pull the filter from the tank and clean the filter casing, impeller, and impeller housing in the sink with an old toothbrush.


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## Totalimmortal363 (Jan 10, 2008)

I don't think I ever bought those cartridges. I just stuff mine with plastic pot scrubbers, might have cleaned it out every few months. My nitrates never drifted past 20ppm with bi-weekly water changes.


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

I'm maintaining 10ppm (or less) on three tanks on weekly water changes, and zero nitrates on the Oscar tank. But most of what I do is in effort to manage nitrates. For me, it's part of the hobby, trying slow down nitrate accumulation. Except feeding, I still feed more than I probably should at twice daily feedings.

Mechanical media plays an important role in this. Getting the gunk removed from your tank before the bacteria can break it down into ammonia serves the same role as a protein skimmer in a salt water tank. Eliminating the organics before they wind up as nitrate.


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## Totalimmortal363 (Jan 10, 2008)

Was that in response to my post? I just refuse to waste money on filter cartridges. It's just that, a waste. If you want a cartridge in there, get those empty pastic frames and stuff them with filter floss. Just my opinion, and what's worked for me for years, YMMV.


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

thats exactly what i do...i have emp 400s with the grey clamshells(4 in each emporer) stuffed with floss


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## kmuda (Nov 27, 2009)

It's what I do as well, using Blue Bonded Padding (cut to fit) in the clamshells along with the thin sponge they come with.

I agree, standard manufacture cartridges are a waste. If you use them, fine, but rinse them clean and reuse them until they are falling apart.

But I emphasis the cleaning/replacement of the mechanical media on a weekly bases to minimize both nitrate and pathogenic bacterial concerns.


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