Biowheel

[LauraFrog]

Wow - nice tank!

Thanks for the info everybody... I get how they work now. It's a really good idea. I was thinking of trying to run a tank on a trickle but I decided against it because of evaporation in a hot climate, I'd spend all my life topping up the tank and I wouldn't be able to leave it for more than a few days.

I'll go and read those articles when my mum isn't on my back with ruder variants of 'get to bed this instant'.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Good god - trying to keep nitrate levels low by keeping ammonia and nitrite high?


That's like not having to carry a heavy gun by firing some of the bullets into you chest!

good one!

can you get bio wheels in the UK, never seem to see them over here, nothing to try one out on at the moment but i'd like a tinker with one at some point in the future

 

[andywg]

can you get bio wheels in the UK, never seem to see them over here, nothing to try one out on at the moment but i'd like a tinker with one at some point in the future

HOB filters are somewhat rare over here, so a modified one such as the bio-wheel is even less likely to appear. No doubt you can get them, but cannisters are far more popular in Europe.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

can you get bio wheels in the UK, never seem to see them over here, nothing to try one out on at the moment but i'd like a tinker with one at some point in the future

HOB filters are somewhat rare over here, so a modified one such as the bio-wheel is even less likely to appear. No doubt you can get them, but cannisters are far more popular in Europe.

aye, never see them here do you? dunno why cos they do seem like a pretty effective filtration method!

 

[waterdrop]

can you get bio wheels in the UK, never seem to see them over here, nothing to try one out on at the moment but i'd like a tinker with one at some point in the future

HOB filters are somewhat rare over here, so a modified one such as the bio-wheel is even less likely to appear. No doubt you can get them, but cannisters are far more popular in Europe.

aye, never see them here do you? dunno why cos they do seem like a pretty effective filtration method!

Yes, makes you wonder whether things are more driven by individual business trends more than function. Somehow, the US businesses must have still had relatively new manufacturing lines with tooling for separate light hoods and external HOBs, where certain businesses in the UK got started making more of the integrated hoods that include variations of internal filters.

(Actually, its so rare here I guess to see an integrated hood setup that I've never seen one in a LFS to be able to examine, only have seen the photos you guys post from UK. So for us its sort of the same think there of lack of familiarity, whereas we mostly have all run into the HOBs and are hands-on familiar with them over here.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

The marineland kits with what look like oversized hoods have an integrated filter in the hood WD. I have looked at them and not liked what I saw but to each his own. They do hide all the working parts in that large hood but they stuff the filter and light into the same place more or less shoehorn style. Any kind of lighting mod looks to me like it would be impossible as would a filter upgrade. I like the modular approach that we usually use here better. I attach each component based on what that particular tank needs and I feel better when I can get a good match.

 

[NonstickRon]

A lot of the Eclipse systems have biowheel filters in the hoods. I'd be worried it would get clogged and burnt out though, and would end up needing to replace the whole thing. No thanks.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

The marineland kits with what look like oversized hoods have an integrated filter in the hood WD. I have looked at them and not liked what I saw but to each his own. They do hide all the working parts in that large hood but they stuff the filter and light into the same place more or less shoehorn style. Any kind of lighting mod looks to me like it would be impossible as would a filter upgrade. I like the modular approach that we usually use here better. I attach each component based on what that particular tank needs and I feel better when I can get a good match.

aye, i've had small tanks with everything built into the hood, it works ok when you're short on space but it is impossible to upgrade the lighting, can't even put reflectors on.

would never even consider it on a big tank though, modular is def the way to go.

 

[Corleone]

A lot of the Eclipse systems have biowheel filters in the hoods. I'd be worried it would get clogged and burnt out though, and would end up needing to replace the whole thing. No thanks.

Around here, you can buy the hoods. Still fairly expensive, since you've got to replace the whole assembly at a time.

Which is my biggest thing with it, too. I recently broke a hood and it cost $15. Had that been a Eclipse-like system, I'd need to replace the light and filter, which would be another $100. Given enough time, something will break. Either it'll wear out or you'll drop it or something.

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks for pointing out about the marineland full hoods here in the USA, oldman47, I'm probably guilty of not noticing them in the LFSs I've looked around in and then making it sound like they are rare here -- shouldn't extrapolate my own limited experience so much!

Like a lot of us, I'm one who enjoys the process of picking out each individual piece of gear, but there is no doubt a place for integrated hoods and they'll probably keep getting better over time.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[wendywc]

Biowheels can be found in separate HOB filters if you don't like integrated hoods. I personally have the integrated system on my 30 and it's been running for over a decade. If it does ever break, I wouldn't mind buying a new setup since I've gotten alot of life out of it. But the worst thing that happened is that I broke the propeller when I took it apart to clean it. I just had to buy a new propeller for the pump, that's all.