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PMGuernsey 
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 Topic: Bio wheel on eclipse filtration
Posted: January 08 2008 at 10:39pm |
I have a 29 gallon tank with a bio wheel filter, it is an eclipse filtration system. I was wondering if the bio wheel is going to harbor nitrates, and if this would affect the possibility of getting invertebrates or coral in the future?
Thanks again for any help you can provide Paul
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Mike Savage
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Posted: January 08 2008 at 10:47pm |
I have heard that eventually they will harbor nitrates. Can you just remove the wheel?
Mike
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Aquatic Tranquility
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 12:03am |
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The wheel does just come off of those. Some people do run biowheels with salt water however I would say the majority would remove the wheel.
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PMGuernsey
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 12:14am |
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Yeah I can remove the wheel, should I let it run until nitrate levels begin to elevate or just take it off now?
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CrimsRayne
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 1:55am |
Nitrates are a big NoNo. Once they are there it can be a pain to get rid of them. You would be looking at frequent water changes, possible loss of fish... etc.
IMO just take it off now and don't risk it.
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Mike Savage
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 7:59am |
I would take it off now.
Mike
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Jeff Morrill
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 8:06am |
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toss the wheel!!
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WHAT KINDA GUM????... Give em 2 sticks.
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PMGuernsey
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 10:46am |
Wheel has been tossed thanks! 
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Shane H
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 1:47pm |
I'm sorry I'm late to this discussion - I would have recommended leaving the wheel. 
Although not entirely necessary, on a smaller tank - especially depending on how much LR you have - the wheel may be a critical part of your biological filteration.
Does anyone have any cited information that the biowheels "cause" high nitrate levels? It may exists, I just don't recall seeing it.
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PMGuernsey
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 2:46pm |
Ok, I rescued the wheel from the garbage, and rinsed it off. Now I don't know what to do with it, should I put it on or take it off?  For now I will leave it off, does anyone have any further light to share? The tank is 29 gallons, no live rock yet, but I am planning on getting some today. Paul
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 3:00pm |
I'd run the wheel... or leave it off... I don't know.
Adam
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Jake Pehrson
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 3:49pm |
I would leave the wheel.
Although I could stand on my little soap box and lecture about the finer points about misunderstood filtration techniques I will not.
Bio-wheels do not harbor nitrates. Neither do wet-dry filters. Both of these filters are extremely efficient compared to other filtration methods normally used in reef tanks (live rock, live sand, etc.). Bio-wheels convert DO->Ammonia->Nitrite->Nitrate VERY fast. In a normal reef tank these items may be consumed by corals, sponges, algae, etc. and therefore much never gets to the Nitrate stage of the nitrification process, but if you add an efficient filter (like a bio-wheel) then they don't hang around long enough to be consumed (at least in large quantities).
Anyway. I would leave the bio-wheel UNLESS you start to see elevated levels of nitrates, then you could consider removing it. In larger aquariums nitrates can become a big hassle to deal with, but in a small aquarium if they ever become a problem a water change can quickly remedy the problem.
Hope that makes sense.
Edited by Jake Pehrson - January 09 2008 at 8:36pm
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PMGuernsey
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 4:08pm |
 OK, unless anyone else has more to say the bio wheel has been replaced, and I will leave it until nitrates elevate (if they elevate at all) Thanks again!
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Dion Richins
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 5:18pm |
WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!!! GET THAT CURSED THING OUT OF THERE!!!!
Just kidding. Either way will work. Ive done it both ways and either will work fine.
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Ed Taylor
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 7:04pm |
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I know I'm in the minority, but I say leave the wheel. Yep, It'll make nitrates. But that's exactly what you want to happen. You can't make nitrates without the precursor chemicals, ammonia, then nitrite. If THOSE are in your tank, you want them gone ASAP. Somewhere in your system, you WILL be making those same nitrates, you want that to happen as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Wheel or not, you THEN need to get rid of those nitrates. That requires a deep sand bed, lots of live rock, or a denitrator. Some sort of anaerobic environment.
Making additional nitrates out of thin air, to me, is like a perpetual motion machine or the alchemist turning lead into gold. Aint going to happen.
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BobC63
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 8:37pm |
 Jake Pehrson wrote:
I would leave the wheel.
Although I could stand on my little soap box and lecture about the finer points about misunderstood filtration techniques I will not.
Bio-wheels do not harbor nitrates. Neither do wet-dry filters. Both of these filters are extremely efficient compared to other filtration methods normally used in reef tanks (live rock, live sand, etc.). These filters convert DO->Ammonia->Nitrite->Nitrate VERY fast. In a normal reef tank these items may be consumed by corals, sponges, algae, etc. and therefore much never gets to the Nitrate stage of the nitrification process, but add an efficient filter (like a bio-wheel) and they don't hang around long enough to be consumed.
Anyway. I would leave the bio-wheel UNLESS you start to see elevated levels of nitrates, then you could consider removing it. In larger aquariums nitrates can become a big hassle to deal with, but in a small aquarium if they ever become a problem a water change can quickly remedy the problem.
Hope that makes sense. |
Exactly... I always wince when someone uses the term "nitrate factory" to describe bio balls or a wet / dry, because they are not being accurate.
As in "take those bio balls out, they are a nitrate factory..."
No filtration system can "create" nitrates - or any other byproduct of the nitrogen cycle - out of "nothing"... they just process the nitrogen cycle up to that point and then are useless for the rest of the process (in this case the denitrification process, turning nitrates to nitrogen gas and then out!)
What you need is another method (live rock, live sand, macroalgaes, water changes, A PLENUM  ) to "finish the job" and complete the cycle and get that nitrogen out of your tank...
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BobC63
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Posted: January 09 2008 at 8:38pm |
Ed Taylor wrote:
Making additional nitrates out of thin air, to me, is like a perpetual motion machine or the alchemist turning lead into gold. Aint going to happen.
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Ed gets it, too 
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- My Current Tank: 50g Starfire Cube Reef
* Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 *
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