parrothead

I'm looking in to bio-wheel filters and getting rid of my under gravel but am concerned about what will happen to the beneficial bacteria in the wheel if the power goes out when I'm not home. Has any body experienced this and how long has your power been off without the bacteria dieing? I have heard the wheel will dry out and the bacteria will die in 2 hours.

Gunnie

I'm not sure about the bio wheels, but I have heard that the bacteria starts to die off in a power filter after 30 minutes. Not sure if this is correct. If you have power outages quite a bit, might I suggest a sponge filter (or 2) instead? Since they are completely in the tank, I don't think the bio bugs are affected during a power outtage, and once the power comes back on, the filter runs like it never turned off. You don't have to prime them.


P.S. Welcome to FishLore! How about introducing yourself in our welcome forum and tell us the sizes and what you got in your tank(s)!

chickadee

I don't know about ALL biowheels but mine is in an Eclipse tank set-up and those are never completely out of the water. I think they would continue to soak up the water and keep the bacteria alive at least partially. The power filters with bio wheels, I don't know anything about.

Rose