Penguin Biowheel Filter

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Hey Guys! My question is about the filter cartridges that come with the Penguin BioWheel filters. They already come with carbon inside of them but what if you don't want to use carbon? I've read that carbon only lasts so long and eventually starts giving off bad stuff if you don't change it regularly, which in this case you would hardly ever change it.

Does anyone else have one of these filters and run into this problem? If so is there any other solution short of cutting the cartridge open and emptying out the carbon?

 

[ox5477]

I wouldnt say that it will eventually give off "bad stuff". I 've never heard that before. But it isn't necessary for your tank. Usually helps with the removal of medication after an outbreak of something has occured and you want to remove any remnance of the the med. I guess it helps in marine application too with absorbing some of the more harmful (to marine animals) chemicals that may form in your tank. But the carbon certainly won't hurt anythign if you leave it in the filter, if anything gives a nice insert with lots of surface area for bacteria to grow

 

[Bignose]

ox, the adsorption precess is reversible, so there is always a chance that whatever is on the carbon can come back off. The chance is usually pretty darn small, but it is not zero.

Carbon may not 'hurt' anything, but it has some undesirable effects. One thing it accomplishes is removing tannins and other organics from the water. My problem with this is that organics/tannins have some very useful properties. One of the best is organic's ability to bind to heavy metals. Heavy metals can be very dangerous for fish -- for example, the average deadly concentration of copper is less than 1/100th of the concentration before copper can even be tasted by the average human. In other words, your water company does not worry about copper levels until well past the toxic-for-fish levels. Not only do the organics bind up the heavy metals, protecting the fish, but in that bound form, plants take up the metals much, much easier than just dissolved in the water. So, organics help plants get the trace minerals they need to live.

Regarding the filter... I always take a utility knife, cut along one of the sides and shake the carbon out. I usually fill the pad back up with some quilt batter scraps so there is extra mechanical filtration then. Doesn't take too long at all.

 

[edgun88]

Regarding the filter... I always take a utility knife, cut along one of the sides and shake the carbon out. I usually fill the pad back up with some quilt batter scraps so there is extra mechanical filtration then. Doesn't take too long at all.

Do you do that so more bacteria grow, hence better cycling?

 

[celaeno]

isn't most of the bacteria on the bio-wheel and inside the filter than on the filter media itself?

 

[Bignose]

Regarding the filter... I always take a utility knife, cut along one of the sides and shake the carbon out. I usually fill the pad back up with some quilt batter scraps so there is extra mechanical filtration then. Doesn't take too long at all.

Do you do that so more bacteria grow, hence better cycling?

No, the bacteria live everywhere, and the wheel part of the biowheel is the primary location. The bacteria is also known as biological filtration -- that's why I specified mechanical. The wheel is the part the gets exposed the air, so the bacteria will prefer to live there, but they are everywhere. I put the quilt batter, you might know it better as filter floss, for mechanical filtration, because since I put a slit in the pad, the water will go around the slit without being mechanically filtered. Also, I do not care about the bacteria in the filter pad -- when I do a waterchange I rinse that pad out as thoroughly as possible. In the winter, I use the sink. In the summer, I take it outside with the hose. What little bacteria there was on the filter pad are long gone then. It is all to take floating bits of plant, dirt, sand, whatever out of the water.

 

[kribensis12]

When I use meds I, buy those filter cartriges for 5 gallon internal filters, take out the old bio-pad and put in this pad which I fold in half and I dont put carbon in it either. It works like a charm.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

Thanks for the advice guys. I actually have a another question. I have a box of the Biomax media that comes with the Aquaclear filters, and I was thinking about putting some in a mesh bag and placing it in the Penguin filter to add some additional biological filtration. Like in that empty space behind the cartridges. Does anyone else do anything like that?

Do you think that would be a good idea or just a waste of time?

 

[Bignose]

If the tank is reading zero ammonia and zero nitrite (i.e. cycled), there is no need and no point to add anything else to help the biological filter. If anything else is added to remove/neutralize ammonia, some of the ammonia-consuming bacteria will starve, and hence there will be less biological filtration.

You have to remember, everything in nature seeks equilibrium. If there is more ammonia, more bacteria will grow until equilibrium is reached again. Equilibrium here means that the amount of ammonia produced by the fish is equal to the amount of ammonia consumed by the bacteria. If there is less ammonia being produced, say because a fish passes away or you move it to another tank, some bacteria will starve until the lessor numbers of ammonia consume at the same rate as the new rate of ammonia production. Same thing if you add a new fish, more ammonia being produced, so the bacterial colony will increase in numbers again until rates of production and consumption are equal again.

If you place something else in the tank that would take away ammonia, like this Biomax thing you are talking about, some of the bacteria will have to die until equilibrium is reached again. Then, when this biomax is completely consumed, or removed, or anything else happens to it, the bacterial colony's consumption rate will be less than the ammonia production. Ammonia will build up, a.k.a. mini-cycle.

Basically, I guess that long-winded explanation above boils down to, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Or if it is cycled now, there is nothing else to do.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

The Biomax thing doesn't chemical neutralize the ammonia, it simply provides more surface area for bacteria colonies to form on. Heres a link that has a pretty decent description.

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...amp;pCatId=3609

 

[Bignose]

DNC, whatever Biomax is, if the tank is consistently testing at zero ammonia and zero nitrite, biomax is clearly not needed. The bacteria colonize every surface of everything exposed to the tank water. In particular, they like the wheel part of the biowheel since it is exposed to lots of air, too. You don't need extra surface area via Biomax, because if the tank is cycled, the bacteria have done just as well without the surface area. And, again, as part of my responce above was, if you should take these biomax out then you could cause a mini-cycle. If everything is good the way it is, I see no point.