penguin biowheel mini

[talphik]

i have a penguin biowheel mini. the filter is awesome and i really like it. unfortuanteyl i have noticed recently that the "wheel" is not spinning with the water. it still passes through, but it doesn't turn. is this a problem? can i/ should i be doing something to fix it?

 

[SomethingFishy]

Unfortunately I have heard that htis is very common problem with the Penguin Mini. I have a 125 and have never experienced any problems. Soem kind of design flaw in the Mini I guess.

Most people will recommend the Aqua Clear Mini over the Penguin BW Mini for this reason.

Good luck.

*celebrate

 

[bobHE]

Try giving the contact points a cleaning (NOT the whole biowheel)since they can get a little mucky and that will slow down the wheel a bit. Once it stops a side kinda gets waterlogged making it not spin. It still works as a filter since the bacteria are there but not as efficiently. The one I used to have if you let it dry out a bit by taking it out for a few hours seemed to fix the problem and got it spinning again since the waterlogged side wouldn't be as heavy anymore. I don't think it harms the bacteria to do that, or at least enough of them to cause a problem.

 

[catfishmike]

i have a mini wioth the same problem.no matter what i have done nothing helps.not even a new wheel would help
i notice that more water comes out the overflow than the intended return.i think there is too much backpressure on minis for proer operation.i would try using a aquaclear 200 sponge trimed to size as a more free flowing media.that should help to get more flow past the biowheel.it's not a sure bet because i never tried it myself.i just shut it down.

 

[talphik]

thanks for the tips you guys, and its nice to know that i am not the only one experiencing this problem

i'll try drying it out and cleaning it, and then go from there

 

[doctawife]

Also, sometimes the filter cartrage gets so dirty that it slows the flow enough to keep the wheel from spinning. One way to deal with the gunked up filter is to pull it out of the basket just a little to let water flow underneath it. This, of course, reduces the volume of water actually mechanically filtered. Or, you could use some tank water and clean the gunk out of the filter.

Cleaning the filter cartrage and the contact points for the biowheel usually does the trick for me.