# Is your Biowheel 350 noisy?



## dwono

Hi,

I bought myself a penguin biowheel 350. I'm not sure if it is just me, but when I bought it, it wasn't so noisy. Now it makes this rattling kind of sound from the pump and where the magnetic thing meets. I have sand in my tank, very fine, so i thought it might be sand inside, so i cleaned it all out, but its still doing it. Just wondering if any of you have experience with this and what to do about it. Thanks.


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## IVIorgan2

agree same thing with mine. I just picked up a Biowheel 200 and its noisy as hell I don't know what to do.


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## Dawgz

i hate penguins, get the Emperror!


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## dwono

For sure? The emperor is a good brand to get?


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## Piranha_man

Rattling in HOB filters is usually a result of something being wrong with the impeller shaft.

If you're sure you've got the sand out, get into where the impeller shaft is and make sure it's seated correctly.

(The impeller shaft is the little plastic thing with 4 blades like a propeller)


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## SNAKEBITE

my 350 works great no rattling noise...try pushing the intake tube down all away


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## tryhard

rbpNOOB said:


> my 350 works great no rattling noise...try pushing the intake tube down all away


ya same here, mine use to make nose but it just was not put into place right, so after afew minuts of work its been all good for months


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## MIKE JONES

iv had 3 emperor 400's and they were all noisy peices of sh*t, i love my 350!


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## dwono

I took it all apart. I cleaned the impeller, and tried to make sure everything was where its suppose to be and there is still the rattling noise. I think i figured where the noise is coming from.

You know how the impeller has the blue propeller connected to the white tube connected to the magnetic part. Well the white tube has a little protrusion just like the blue propeller which they eventually meet to get the propeller pushed around and around and around.

Well it seems that when im watching this action, the blue propeller would go arond and round and every couple of seconds, there would be a glitch in the action, like the blue propeller was not being pushed or is not keeping up with the white tube (or bouncing back and forth) through the protusion properly. Still can't get it to work.

Thought maybe the impeller set up was tight. Does all of yours work that way too?

Sorry if my description is a confusing.


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## Piranha_man

MIKE JONES said:


> iv had 3 emperor 400's and they were all noisy peices of sh*t, i love my 350!


That's wild... 
I'm running 3 Emperor 400s right now, and they're absolutely silent except for the slight waterfall.


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## lament configuration

i have had problems with emp400s in the past too. my old penguin 330 was pretty quiet though.


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## ___

penguin 200 and 350 both great filters and totaly silent.

you must have got one that was made on a monday or a friday


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## dwono

When you say totally silent, do you mean it works liek the Whisper filters (the ones with no biowheel). Because mine is "sort of" silent. When the room is quiet, I can hear the faint rattling, while on my whisper, its totally silent. I can't fix it...been working on it all day. lol.


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## drumgod24

My penguin 350 is absolutely quiet. Only noise is the water gently rolling back into the tank. It's quite peaceful actually... damn it, now I gotta take a leak


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## mike123

I had an emp 400 and i hated it. Right now i have 2 penguin 350s that run great and are silent, but my favorite are the ac110s.


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## IVIorgan2

try taking the little rubber stopper off of the end of the impeller the magnet end of it. Should do the trick.


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## ___

is it a hum or a rattle....what are you getting out of this thing????


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## dwono

I hear a hum, but the hum isnt loud. Whats annoying is the rattling..its not that loud, but it sounds like the rattling of something hitting plastic...like the propeller or the magnetic part isnt up right and is hitting the sides. Its definitely not silent like everyone says its suppose to be. My whisper filter on my other tank is silent. Thanks.


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## ___

take your lids off....even the one covering the wheels sit back and listen see if that helps. it might it might not but it takes 2 sec and it wont kill you.


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## taylorhedrich

Mine did the same exact thing the first time I got it and installed it to get it going. All I did was lift the wheel out and set it back in place. I've never had any problems with it whatsoever ever since.
~Taylor~


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## AdamB

both mine are silent except the water sound. Id do what is already been suggested, Look inside of the propeller assembly and make sure its properly seated, then should be silent.


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## ___

after trying everything....are you still getting the sound??


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## Apott05

if so u need to upgrade and just buy yourself an AC110 and save your self some time. All brands with the biowheel are junk imo. Nothing i have owned runs near as well as my AC110's have.


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## BlackSunshine

dwono said:


> For sure? The emperor is a good brand to get?


If sand is his issue getting the emp would do nothing. because the emp's and Peng's are built off the samme basic design. Sand would get equally as far into a Emp as it would in a Peng.

Now I know EMps have an issue sometimes getting primed. this issue becomes worse with age. This may be the problem as well with the peng's. mostly it is wear or debris in the impeller area. get a long cotton swab and clean it out REAL good. high pressure water upside down to help get any trapped sand out.


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## furious piranha

i have the same filter and i also have sand, and my filter also started to rattle. at first it was reallly bad so i cleaned it all out, and it was good for a month or so, now it started to rattle again once in a while. only for like 2 mins once a week. its weird, but i cand eal with it. i jsut hate when it noisy and im tryin to sleep. i should be getting a emp 400 soon for free tho. id like to see how that filter is


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## ___

black tape holding the wheel cover down....try that i have heard of that getting rid of every sound HOB filters make


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## lilnicky068

My 350 is quite noisy also and I have sand in my tank. I took it apart and found that the impeller does not rotate on the impeller shaft very well. Its like sand got lodged between the two. If you hold the impeller assemly under water (in a sink, etc.) and move it back and forth and all around, it seems to get most of it out and fixes the problem for a while until sand gets in it again. Just my experience...


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