bio wheel/ nitrate factory???

[ludiNano]

Hello all, i just wanted to double check that Bio wheels and many foam pads/filter floss are more harm then help in Reef/ FOWLR?

Unless cleaned couple times a week esspeicaly w/ heavly stocked tanks.

Traping wast like crazy when it should be in the water collum, to be removed by skimmer/ carbon.

[bertoni]

Well, some people seem to have problems with that type of filtration increasing the nitrate level in their tanks. The foam pads and filter floss can be fine if they're cleaned weekly or so, I think, although I've never tried them.

[sditch]

Not at all if used right, I think the key is good water movment and no dead area's were nitrates can build up. If there are then those area's need to be cleaned up or replace with new filter media often.

I think one of the reason why the bio wheel gets a rap for a nitrate factory is mainly due to this reason. Just IMO....

[Paco]

Yep, I used a Penguin 400 with the biowheels and the filter pads, etc. on my 20 for a long time and was very happy. Recently switched it out to a skimmer only tank and I'm not sure I've improved anything.

[Mike O'Brien]

If you have enough rock, then filters like that don't help . Their end product is nitrate and it's dispersed into the tank. When Nitrate is produced on or in a rock it tends to stay there to be reduced further.