I have a Penguin 200. The wheel turning and the water dripping on the plastic causes a lot of noise (the tank is in my bedroom). I took the wheel out for a minute and all that could be heard is the humming of the filter. I use two media cartridges. I have heard it is okay to remove the wheel and leave two filter cartridges in at all time, and want to do it. Has anyone else done this?
The biowheel is a great place for bacteria to process ammonia, and nitrates. If you are going to remove it. I'd make one of the cartridges a full time cartidge. Just remove the carbon with a knife, and never ever clean it. (Also you can pack it with some filter media from an old cartridge. PS- You should keep an eye on your ammonia, and nitrite levels for a month or so.
I know what you mean, I have a penguin 350b on one of the tanks in my bedroom and the sound of the water going over the wheel drove me crazy for a while too. I eventually got used to the sound after many nights sleeping with a pillow over my head. I have 4 cartridges in my filter and 2 of them I cut open, removed the charcoal and put in some bio balls, for even more space for the beneficial bacteria. I don't know if both of your cartridges have the foam or not but you could either do what I did with cutting and adding some more media for the bacteria or if you the have a media basket and a cartridge. I like using the normal cartridges since it's just as easy to do a little cutting rather then go out and buy one of their special media baskets. Long story short, as long as you add something for the beneficial bacteria to colonize on then removing the wheel is fine. Most filters don't even have it so it obviously isn't that necessary.
The bio wheel is the best thing for your tank. Keeping that in mind, If you remove it, you should get some other form of bio-filtration for aerobic bacteria to grow on. Without it, you will remove most of your good bacteria any time you change your filter cartridges, then the bacteria will have to play catch-up. 2 Alternatives that may help: You can use a cheap sponge filter hooked up to an air pump. These work very well for smaller tanks. Its just a sponge with a glass pipe sticking out the top. Air goes through the pipe sucks water through the sponge. Bacteria love it. In breeding tanks, this is often the only accessory. If your model of penguin has 2 media slots, you can buy a bio-sponge like the type that goes in a whisper filter from your local fish store place it in the front-most slot. Try and find one that will allow at least a quarter inch or so exposed to the surface air.
