Bio Wheel? Use it or loose it? Surface agitation problems as well

[honor]

wow, that's a great idea.

[Naja002]

Originally Posted by honor

wow, that's a great idea.

Absolutely, and I agree......

[DaveS]

I say keep what you have unless you have a burning desire to blow some cash on a new filter, and if so I say more power to you. I agree with the above comments in regards to media. I have a Penguin that I simply put some bioblocks in. The wheel worked for awhile but become a snail amusement ride, so I tossed it and haven't missed it yet. I find that tank to be as clean as those with more sophisticated filters, and there are no leaking worries, hoses to pop off, or buyers remorse from realizing you keep the tank clean after-all, not the filter

Dave

[fish dork]

It was not my idea, so I can't take credit! But I can pass it along to you. And Dave, that's funny, my biowheels have been rides for snails as well!! And I just use cheap material in mine as well.

[aquagirl]

Originally Posted by macclellan

This isn't true if you don't use Emperor Cartidges.

Pro tips on Tweaking HOBs, Emperors in particular:
Remove the Biowheel and place in circular file.
Use an exacto knife and cut the blue pad off the cartridge.
Remove all the carbon and throw away the blue pad.
Now you have a black 'skeleton.'
Place the black cartridge in one of it's two slots at an angle so that you get more room before the filter outlet, yet all water still passes through the cartridge.
Get a bag of filter floss (aka pillow stuffing) and put some before the cartridge. covering where the blue pad was before.
Get a piece of panty hose or a media bag and stuff it with your favorite biomedia. I use smaller pieces of Matrix rock.
Put the media behind the cartridge.
Good to go.

I am sitting here kicking my own a$$. To think of all the money that I've spent on cartridges. What great ideas. Thanks everyone, for all the tips.

[Complexity]

Okay, okay, I know when I'm out-numbered. I just found my Emperors to be so disappointing that I have a strong preference for my canisters. But to each his own.

macclellan, good suggestion for the DIY cartridge. That would definitely save money. I tried something similar using the extra blank cartridge that comes with the Emperors, but it just didn't work well for me. I'd either have too thin a floss which didn't clean the gunk out of the water or I'd get it so thick, the filter would kick the water into overflow. I just couldn't find the right combination.

Regarding the plastic water redirectors, I've used something very similar on my four 5g tanks. Just one word of caution. Smooth off all of the cut edges so your fish won't scrape themselves. I melted my edges at first, but then found that filing them smooth worked best. I still had a betta that managed to scrape himself, but he healed pretty fast.

[fish dork]

Originally Posted by Complexity

Okay, okay, I know when I'm out-numbered. I just found my Emperors to be so disappointing that I have a strong preference for my canisters. But to each his own.

macclellan, good suggestion for the DIY cartridge. That would definitely save money. I tried something similar using the extra blank cartridge that comes with the Emperors, but it just didn't work well for me. I'd either have too thin a floss which didn't clean the gunk out of the water or I'd get it so thick, the filter would kick the water into overflow. I just couldn't find the right combination.

Regarding the plastic water redirectors, I've used something very similar on my four 5g tanks. Just one word of caution. Smooth off all of the cut edges so your fish won't scrape themselves. I melted my edges at first, but then found that filing them smooth worked best. I still had a betta that managed to scrape himself, but he healed pretty fast.

I hadn't even thought of the fish injuring themselves! Good suggestion, thanks.