smokeypea

Hi, my biowheel* power filter has quit working altgether, i have tried everything i can but its still not working, have to exchange it tomorrow but i am worried about the fish , i have 2 bubble wand in tank, and i just put in a smaller power filter(that i got with the tank set-up), its better than nothing but it not a Bio wheel, what do i do with my wheel till tomorrow? can i float it in the tank to keep good bacteria alive? or should i leave it out ? and when i get new power filter should i still use the old Bio wheel? I* have just got the tnak nice and clear and the reading ok, now this happens, i even called Marineland but they advised me to exchange the power filter, i have a 20 gal tank. The power filter i am using is ok but i dont think its as good as the penguin* filter. Any advice would be appreciated,, thanks.

Isabella

I don't have experience with bio-wheels and don't really know how they're built and how they work, but I suppose you could keep it (the bio-wheel ... though I am not sure what this bio-wheel is .... is that a sponge?) in a bucket with tank water until you exchange the filter. It would be better than keeping it not submerged in water at all. Keep the smaller filter running on your tank. Does the bio-wheel power filter have any sponge in it? If the smaller filter you hung on your tank was not established, take as much of the established sponge from the bio-wheel filter as you can and put it inside the smaller filter. This will help to colonize the smaller filter (if it's not established) with the beneficial bacteria much faster, and will hopefully help you avoid sudden ammonia or nitrite spikes.

P.S. Did you check the impeller in the filter? Maybe it's clogged so much that the filter stopped working. The little motor / impeller must also be cleaned every once in a while.

Boxermom

Are you sure its seated correctly? Sometimes they need to be firmly pushed into the grooves or they won't run right. I had trouble with mine until I figured out that the guide things on the side weren't pushed all the way down. Once they were, it worked fine.

smokeypea

thanks for replys, yes i checked everything and cleaned the filter and also where the impeller is seated, there is not blockage at all,i have pushed it down as far as it will go, it makes a small sound when you turn the power on, but nothing else, i took it out and checked it a few times , the bio-wheel does not have any sponge so at the moment i am floating it in the tank, just got my ammonia levels good, now this happens, there is nowhere to put the bio wheel in the small filter i am using, but i did put in the filter cartridge from the other filter so maybe that will be ok, should i used some Amquel plus incase of ammonia spike? I also cleaned the power filter with a specail brush so there is no gunk in it at all, it seemd to be better when it was dirty, now its clean it wont work at all