I have a 10 gallon tank which has been running for a little over a month. I am using a Top Fin filter with "White Diamond" crystals to help control ammonia. I was wondering if I should ditch this and get a bio wheel? Use both? The less-than helpful people at Petsmart advised me to use the crystals, but I don't know if I really need them. Is there any use in putting a bio wheel in a 10 gallon tank? If it helps, I have a male betta and 2 African dwarf frogs in the tank and by all of my tests come out perfect except my ammonia count is 0.5. Any advice would be appreciated.
Bio Wheel
- Thread starter dcbluemeanie
- Start date
heck if that's all you want in your tank you don't need much filter at all.the fact that you have any ammonia at all is suprising.unless you don't want real plants or are willing to add co2 to your tank a bio wheel is great,but don't go out and buy a penguin.check on the bio-wheel pro,magnum350 pro, or a emperor 400.the emperor models now can be retrofited with a new sponge filter from kent marine,which is reuseable.most marineland filter media is unreuseable and clogs quickly.other than that any filter with a bio-wheel is great for any non planted tank.
The biowheel by it's very nature "drips". Surface agitation and plants don't go well together as the surface agitation gasses out the CO2 in the water that plants need.
Basically biowheels add a HUGE area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise. Of course, with a small fishload, the biobugs will spread out on all available surfaces, and the biowheel will be underutilised. They are not needed in lightly stocked, live planted tanks IMO.
Basically biowheels add a HUGE area for the beneficial bacteria to colonise. Of course, with a small fishload, the biobugs will spread out on all available surfaces, and the biowheel will be underutilised. They are not needed in lightly stocked, live planted tanks IMO.
One more time - My tank goes against the rules! 
I have an Eclipse 12 gal bow front - complete with BioWheel.
I also have plants, and use DIY CO2 with a splash of Excel, a a few drops of Flourish and a little Leaf Zone. I have a 36 watt power compact retrofit lamp (full spectrum and actinic)
This is no way a Dutch tank - but there are a few plants - and the plants that I have are basic, easy plants (wisteria, java fern, java moss, aponogenta, and hygrophila )and since I got my act together (eliminating PO4, using smaller doses of ferts more often, and getting a couple of algae eaters) the plants are going crazy! I have had to prune and remove more plants in the last 2 weeks than I originally planted! And the algae is gone!
I wouldn't say that it's impossible to have plants with a BioWheel. Just not suggested. And don't plant "difficult" plants. *thumbsupsmiley*
I have an Eclipse 12 gal bow front - complete with BioWheel.
I also have plants, and use DIY CO2 with a splash of Excel, a a few drops of Flourish and a little Leaf Zone. I have a 36 watt power compact retrofit lamp (full spectrum and actinic)
This is no way a Dutch tank - but there are a few plants - and the plants that I have are basic, easy plants (wisteria, java fern, java moss, aponogenta, and hygrophila )and since I got my act together (eliminating PO4, using smaller doses of ferts more often, and getting a couple of algae eaters) the plants are going crazy! I have had to prune and remove more plants in the last 2 weeks than I originally planted! And the algae is gone!
I wouldn't say that it's impossible to have plants with a BioWheel. Just not suggested. And don't plant "difficult" plants. *thumbsupsmiley*
REason i ask this is because the 20g tank im putting together for cardinal tetras and rainbows, I just ordered the other day from big als a penguin 170
and i was just going to put easy growing plants in it and some sort of soil ? anyone recommend something from home depot
if i go to the fish store it will be very expensive for like latterite or flourite ?
I also dont want to have to mess with co2
and i was just going to put easy growing plants in it and some sort of soil ? anyone recommend something from home depot
if i go to the fish store it will be very expensive for like latterite or flourite ?
I also dont want to have to mess with co2
R
Biowheel with real plants?!!!
Well, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, far, far away.......Sorry getting carried away.
In my 90G, I had a biowheel, C02 injection with canister, 3w/g lighting, flourite, roottabs, laguna feritilizer and lots of plants. Plants growing like everything and trimming lots. However, C02 injection rate was like 4-5bubbles/second and I still had trouble getting my ph down to 7.0 (always around 7.4-7.6). Well, good ole Matt mentioned that C02 dissapates much quicker than O2 so I thought that I would try just for 1 day to turn off my biowheel. I turned down the C02 (because I never ph would go down with less surface movement). Without the biowheel, there was no surface movement whatsoever. The results are that without the biowheel, my C02 rate is 0.5-1 bubble a second and pH around 7.0. What a difference!
So you can judge for yourself!
Well, let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, far, far away.......Sorry getting carried away.
In my 90G, I had a biowheel, C02 injection with canister, 3w/g lighting, flourite, roottabs, laguna feritilizer and lots of plants. Plants growing like everything and trimming lots. However, C02 injection rate was like 4-5bubbles/second and I still had trouble getting my ph down to 7.0 (always around 7.4-7.6). Well, good ole Matt mentioned that C02 dissapates much quicker than O2 so I thought that I would try just for 1 day to turn off my biowheel. I turned down the C02 (because I never ph would go down with less surface movement). Without the biowheel, there was no surface movement whatsoever. The results are that without the biowheel, my C02 rate is 0.5-1 bubble a second and pH around 7.0. What a difference!
So you can judge for yourself!
ronca - well slap ma behind!
If things were going well, why were you concerned about that pH? ( 7.4 - 7.6 ) If everything was steady and established, why mess with it? You must of had something with particular needs, like pH = 7.0 in there, hun?
Just curious. Wondering if I should expect problems with my current setup.
If things were going well, why were you concerned about that pH? ( 7.4 - 7.6 ) If everything was steady and established, why mess with it? You must of had something with particular needs, like pH = 7.0 in there, hun?
Just curious. Wondering if I should expect problems with my current setup.
hey wow i never thought it would get that heated.all i was trying to say is that the added surface agitaion would drive off some co2.i can grow plants with a bio-wheel it just takes longer.i don't like too much co2 anyways. plants will grow at lower levels of co2 just not as fast,my tank is too small to prune all the time.
Catfish - it's not heated! ronca knows I have a very strange sense of humor.
Please don't ever hesitate about posting a question because of someone's response. If you check out some of the old threads you'll see that jocularity abounds...
Rummy - glad to see I am not alone in going against the grain. At the moment that is my only tank for plants and I thought, what the heck - all that can happen is the plants don't do well. My main concern is the fish - I don't want to mess with the water conditions. I feel the BioWheel is too beneficial to remove, but that mho
Please don't ever hesitate about posting a question because of someone's response. If you check out some of the old threads you'll see that jocularity abounds...
Rummy - glad to see I am not alone in going against the grain. At the moment that is my only tank for plants and I thought, what the heck - all that can happen is the plants don't do well. My main concern is the fish - I don't want to mess with the water conditions. I feel the BioWheel is too beneficial to remove, but that mho
R
Well, the fish I have are discus and cardinals and they prefer the lower ph (also some plants). A biowheel in a planted tank can be done and in actual fact, I did it for around 3-4 months until just recently. With my C02 canister with the biowheel operating, the canister lasted around something like 2 months. Thats not very long. Now, I think I should be able to get around 6 months or more.
DIY yeast/sugar C02 injection might be a different story as the reaction occurs no matter if you have lots of C02 injection or not. It is harder to control (that is why I went to the canister). Imo, if it works, why not. For me, I found that even a little surface movement was dissapating C02 very quickly.
Catfish - Dont worry. Not getting heated. One must have a sense of humor and certainly equinom has one.
by equinom
My pleasure but on other hand (no pun intended), get your hubby to do it instead. At least I wont get in trouble that way.
DIY yeast/sugar C02 injection might be a different story as the reaction occurs no matter if you have lots of C02 injection or not. It is harder to control (that is why I went to the canister). Imo, if it works, why not. For me, I found that even a little surface movement was dissapating C02 very quickly.
Catfish - Dont worry. Not getting heated. One must have a sense of humor and certainly equinom has one.
by equinom
My pleasure but on other hand (no pun intended), get your hubby to do it instead. At least I wont get in trouble that way.
don't worry i'm laughing too,everyone.i have a planted tank with a bio- wheel but as i was saying,i can't have all that unchecked growth.when i started my 30gal 6months ago i put a mystery sword of sorts and some apto.bulbs.eventualy the tank needed two filters,so i added a bio-wheel.right after that all the plants growth was stunted.not that is grounds for hard proof that bio-wheels aren't good on planted tanks just that i can see how i can be difficult.my 5gal regent with bio wheel is my current planted tank.my cabomba grows 1centimeter a day just not very bushy.the java fern grows but very slowly.my ludwiga doesn't like it much at all.but they all grow,just not like those pretty pictures you see all over.