Bio wheel or not?

[WillyWonka]

i've had my eclipse 12 for about a month.  So far everything is going really smoothly except for my nitrates that seem to be staying at higher levels.  it varies from 10-20 even after a 20% water change.  i've heard the bio wheel in this thing is a "nitrate factory" and others have told me its vital to the tank.  i figure i have enough live rock in there to keep the bio load at high enough levels.  should i ditch the wheel or not?

[Strife]

ditch.....

[rhinoivory]

Do you have a deep sand bed? This may help in lowering the nitrates. The problem with just ditching a bio-wheel is that most of the filter bacteria medium has established itself on the pads, taking the bio-wheel away will result in maybe an ammonia bloom or nitrite bloom? I might be wrong, but I would gradually remove the pads from the biowheel, and give the tank time to start its own natural bio-filtration. Does anyone else agree?

 

Don

[Satchmo]

Most people don't use any biological media in filters.  It will compete with your live rock.  Bio wheels are exceptionally effective bio-filters, so I would dump it.  Rhinoivory makes a good point, however.  Has your tank completed its initial cycle?  Are there any inhabitants yet?  If so, you'll probably want to keep an eye on ammonia after you pull the bio wheel to make sure your rock can keep up.  But so long as you have a decent amount of LR, I'd image any spike that does take place will be relatively small and short-lived.  

[Joxer the Mighty]

I finally got rid of the biowheel on my Eclipse 12, dumped that sucker all at once. I noticed a small drop in nitrates, and my red slime started to disappear, no negative side effects whatsoever. I still haven't gotten my nitrates down to zero but I think that is because of my big fat tomato clown, I really need to lower the bioload. Bottom line, you don't need the biowheel provided you have enough LR and LS. What do you have in your tank right now?

[KuyaLes]

That kind of makes me think now too....i have 2 biowheels on my 10 gal......on top of that....i have 20lbs. of ls and about 20lbs of lr......what should i do....would it hurt to keep the biowheels on?? what would eventually happen if i kept this set up?? The only time i see ammonia rise is when i do my water changes...but i blame that on the fact that my sand moves around and releases the ammonia that is trapped in the sand.....but what will happen and what should i do about it?? too much bio-filtratioN??

[WillyWonka]

i have about 8lbs of fiji and 3lbs of tonga live rock along with about 12 lbs of live sand in there. the sand bed is about and inch and a half to two inches high.  the only inhabitants i have are a clean up crew, blue mushroom coral, and a pulsing xenia.  i would say i finished my initial cycle about 2 weeks ago.

[Joxer the Mighty]

Your bioload is not heavy by any means.  It does seem odd that your nitrates are up that high. Mine hover at around 5-10 ppm and that's with two fish in a 12 gal.  I think your tank may be a little light on the LR though, you have less than 1 lb. per gallon. If I'm not mistaken, the current recommendation is about 1 1/2 lb. per gal.

[WillyWonka]

is it ok to add cured live rock even after my initial cycle has ended?  i'm just worried how water levels might be effected.

[oogie]

I have Eclipse six.  I have been running biowheel too but my eclipse filter broke.  I was thinking, can i just skip mechanical filter altogether?

I have about 10 lbs of live rock and 10 lbs of live sand.

I do have powerhead running, so can I skip mechanical filter?

[Strife]

IMO...there is no point of having bio-wheel's if you have a good amount of LR and LS in your tank..

however some people like having less rocks in their tank, and same with live sand.... so then a biowheel or a trickle filtration might be neccesary..

 

 

 

(Edited by Stryf3 at 4:12 pm on June 26, 2002)

[HuBu]

ditch it. too much noise from it. jsut keep a floss filter in its place if you want. but you gotta rinse it out once a wk.