Marineland Penguin 200 wheel problem

I have the penguin 200 hob filter with the bio wheel, I really like the concept but have trouble with it, I have a intake sponge and I use one of the filter cartridges made for it, the bio wheel seems to run almost at a rhythm, it’s not a constant speed and sometimes barely spins at all even when I clean out the debris in the intake sponge and filter cartridge. Is there anyway to help it spin better? Or would it be a better idea to replace the bio wheel and put some bio rings inside the filter after the water goes through the cartridge?

I’ve had it running for about a month and have fought to keep the bio wheel spinning ever since I got it really, I’ve tired lowering/raising the water, cleaning the imperial, and even putting petroleum jelly in the hinges. I’ve finally had enough and imma take the wheel off. Imma put a intake sponge in the filter and I’ll have the blue cartridges that you can buy for them. What else should I put in the filter to act as a replacement for the bio wheel?

 

I have the 150. I think the wheel speed depends on the volume of water behind it. I've played around with various filter media and sometimes you have to raise or lower them in the box to increase water flow over the wheel.

Right now I took out the standard cartridge and replaced it with a bag of matrix and two sponges.

 

That was one gripe I had with the Marineland filter. Oh...and the expensive cartridges.
Marineland says "no issue". But I wanted it to turn.
So, I cleaned it and you are not supposed to clean it. It worked and spin around fine until it got dirty again.

 

I struggle to keep the bio wheel spinning in my HOB filter, it’s the marineland penguin 200. I put just a dab of 100% petroleum jelly on the end rods of the bio wheel before putting it back in place, I made sure to take of the excess with a toothpick once it spun awhile, it helps it spin and make me feel better about it but is this safe? Will it harm my fish? I did make sure no water would run over it and get it in the tank and it doesn’t seem like it will

 

I think you're good. Many lubricate impellers with petroleum jelly with no problems.

 

I dont think it will hurd the fish.
But if the wheel gets to making noise or not spinning right, you can just take them off. It won't affect the amount of BB hardly at all, and solves the most annoying thing about this filters

 

U can get one of the cheap bags of fluval bio media, the ceramic pieces, it will fit in the hob with the coarse sponge.

 

I had the same problem but I found a way to keep my wheel spinning after a while I noticed that when I took the filter pad out it went fast again so like every 2 weeks or so when the wheel stops spinning I do a light rinsing on the filter pad to unclog it and it runs fine again