BIO WHEELS

[monticellomanderin]

:eek: ARE THEY BAD FOR A REEF TANK???

[Don4921]

not sure never used them

[mainy999]

personally i dont use HOB filters. If you are going for a reef tank, you are going to be investing alot of money in the tank. imo, if you want a good filter, get a good canister (eheim or Fluval) or a wet/dry.

[Nic]

i swear by refugiums bio wheels will not hurt the tank at all but if you use a canitser or hob filter use it for mechanical filtration only and clean it every week

[guppy]

I have heard that biowheels do have one problem in salt and brackish tanks, they collect salt accretion.

[Don4921]

I have heard that biowheels do have one problem in salt and brackish tanks, they collect salt accretion.
that is true i would use a wetdry

[fatsolomon]

i have a biowheel on both brackish and full salt. neither of them has had buildup, ever.

[Don4921]

if you dont have to use them then dont

[craig]

Wetdry and a penguin 350double biowheel.Works fantastic.[IMG]

[craig]

Wetdry like this one.[IMG]

[guppy]

i have a biowheel on both brackish and full salt. neither of them has had buildup, ever.
That is good, I don't have any salt or brackish tanks but a friend stopped using biowheels after salt buildup kept occurring at the axle of the wheel, He might have had it set up where it got excessive splashback.

[DigitalFiction]

On my 58 marine I used to have just my Emperor 400 and I never saw any build up on the wheels from the salt. But as posted above I wouldn't use them on a reef unless you want them there for a piece of mind. Definitely go with a refugium.

[koliveira]

Bio wheels are a great source of denitrfication. Don't run the carbon insert though it will lower your PH. Just cut a spounge to fit the space.

[thefishofdoom]

dont use bio wheels on a reef they cause unwanted nitrates.

[Nic]

plenty of live rock and sand would be best with a good wet dry of refugium

[Lepomis]

I would go with a refugium and pull the Biowheels off the power filter, cause unnessary nitrates.

[Konrade]

Refugium with lr rubble and macroalgae sump with skimmer and instead of bio balls put in lr. I skimmer is waht you really need to invest in. It is amazing how much crap they collect. About the bio wheels, they don't do much because the lr and sand provides all the bio filtration, the bio wheels just provide a place to harbor nitrates

[fish_master2000]

:eek: ARE THEY BAD FOR A REEF TANK???
yes they are, the salts and proteins will clog the bio-wheel and will stop it.
so really there not bad but pointless

[puffcrusader696]

if its a small reef tank or just saltwater in general a wet/dry shouldnt be used as they increase phosphate levels.

[Dr Joe]

yes they are, the salts and proteins will clog the bio-wheel and will stop it.
so really there not bad but pointless

That's just part of filter maintenance.

[srikamaraja]

There is a store in Vernon, CT called "Wet Pets". They use Bio-wheel filtration on all of their tanks, fresh, brackish, and salt, and they run no skimmers. They have some of the most fantastic reef tanks I have ever seen, they run a fragging operation, and they even have a tank with a 6 foot moray eel (his name is Ernie).

Nitrates and Phosphates are the end-product of an efficient biofilter, which is a necessary component of any system. A biowheel or bioballs will not create any more nitrate or phosphates than your live rock will. The only thing that will create 'unneccessary' or 'unwanted' levels are lack of maintenance, overstocking, or overfeeding.

[mkman]

get a skimmer or a refugium and you'll be good. The live rock in your tank will take care of everything else.

If you have a huge bioload or certain corals like sps, then get a refugium and a skimmer

But a hob is fine though if you want that.

[cichlid keeper]

canister filters take alot of the oxygen out of the waterthats why they say not to use them for discus for this reason!i dont know how much oxygen salt tanks need . i do cichlids only just my 2 cents