So some of my bio-wheels have decided to stop on their own. They're not
overrun with gunk or any build up that I can detect. I've cleaned the filter
pads, raised them up and down, spun the wheels to get some movement and
nothing. I've gone as far as to clean the little blue bearings and
scrap the outside edge of the grey holding the material.

Does anyone have any suggestions aside from new bio-wheels? Thoughts
are appreciated. Oh, these are for p 125's & 330's.

Paul it is a long shot but have you cleaned out the tubes the feed the water to the wheels? Ours had that problem once and it was that. The water pressure wasn't strong enough because of build up.

Laurie's idea is really good. I also found that as the biowheels "fill up" with mulm and biological material they get rather heavy - it is not often too apparent. If, for some reason (gunk buildup or anything) they fail to turn for a day or two, the gunk goes into the folds of the wheel on one side, making it extremely heavy on the one side and light on the other. The top side then dries out and gets even lighter. If this drying occurs - not too much gunk can still make it very heavy on the wet side and very light on the dry side.

The best thing I have found is to take the biowheel (assuming you have a strong biobase in your baskets and elsewhere) and shake them out in used fish water - loads of gunk will come from the folds of the wheel. You do not need to shake them clean clean clean - just remove a portion of the weighty gunk. Then soak the wheels in the used fish water for about 15-20 minutes to throughly wet them all over.

This should even out the weight around the wheel and should allow them to turn freely again.

Heh! Carol beat me too it!

Precisely what I was going to suggest!

Thanks for the thoughts. I'll see what comes of them when I get home
Wed. night. I'm at a different location that doesn't have interenet access
yet.

I have the same problem with one of mine. What I did was stop using the extended intake tube, just the strainer on the end. This made it so the pump didn't have to bring the water up as much, and it helped. I also cleaned the intake tube and impeller, lots of hair (human and cat) gets stuck in the impeller, and you can hardly see it untill you clean it. Also, cut small pieces of cardboard out and stick them between the tank and the little plastic piece that sicks out and touches the tank. This will force the tank forward, and gravity will help to push the wheel intead of the pump.

Let me know what happens.

How is it going Paul? Did you get'em running yet?

Weeellll....I did a water change on one tank having problems and it's
back running now. The other I forgot about (time thing). So, I tossed
the wheels in the tank until I get some time to work them out, which
might be July.

Planting and landscaping season certainly plays havoc with free time, huh?

Free time???

What, pray tell, is that???

And if any ogf you know hwere I might be able to purchase some, let me know. I sure could use some myself!!!

Paul that is a hot comodity right now, I myself haven't seen or heard of it around here in ages. And I don't know if whoever has it for sale would sell at a reasonable rate, heck if I get any I will sell it for a cool profit of no less than 6 digits.