HOB Penguine 350 biowheel?

chemjoey

Reefing newb
Hey guy I got a major question. I have a penguine 350 and ive had people tell me to take the bio wheels out. SHould I do this or keep them in? I have 50lbs LR, 40lbs Live Carribean Sand, and a Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer. All in a 30g aquarium.
 
ok ive taken the bio-wheels out and keeping the actuall filter in to circulate water and run media if i need to. Is that ok?
 
thats what i do, but make sure to clean your filter media every week with fresh water to get rid of the debris and bacteria that takes containments away from the anaerobic bacteria in your LR.
 
Chemjoey,

You can take the whole filter out.

Your liverock & live sand will be your biological filter, you have plenty in there.
The skimmer will remove your waste and will do a great job keeping your water oxygenated. The Remora C also will oxygenate the water by rippling the surface through the water return.

I would suggest a Hydor Koralia (#1) pump for water circulation in the tank. I purchased one for my 30 and boy does it move the water!! I have to turn it off during feeding or else the fish just run in circles trying to catch their meal! :-)

Good Luck!
 
I agree -- you can either leave it on and run it empty for flow, or with phosphate media, or take the whole thing off altogether. With skimmer and live rock, that type of filtration is not really necessary.
 
I agree with Biffer. It will build up some biofilm that can spike your nitrate butso can any surface with waterflow over it, but with nothing in the filter the negative effects should be very minimal. If you do not think it distracts to much from the appearance of your tank, then use it for circulation and occasional use of carbon or phosphate remover etc. It will probably contribute less waste heat to your tank than would a power head used for circulation.
 
you dont think that if he used that filter with a sponge for extra mechanical would be a good thing? Making sure to clean the sponge each week of course.
 
Clean the sponge preferably daily if used in a filter. Clean it with straight tap water. Organics breakdown starts pretty quickly so there is no point in catching the material if you do not remove it before it breaks down. The weekly cleaning aspect would just prevent it from accumalating the slime layer accumalated by becoming a bedding area for biological filtration bacteria and dissolved organics.
 
Normally mechanical filtration is not needed with a reef tank. There are times when it is easiest to remove phosphate with phosphate remover used in a mechanical filter, or there are tanks with such a heavy fish load that water clarity is a near constant problem, so carbon is used to make the water more pleasant to view through, or if there is a need for intense lighting and you also have fish in with your corals water clarity must be good, so carbon is occasionally used. A good portion of reefers just put a bag of medium in their sumps where water must flow through it instead of using mechanical filters. This is not an option for those with out a sump. If a person has not already bought a mechanical filter I recommend a fluidized bed filter such as those sold for using phosphate removers. They work exceptionally well, are fair priced and can be stored out of site easily when not needed. They require small pumps and use small enough flows that they will work very well with small tanks or large.
 
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