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How to fix Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel Power Filter pumping issues

If you have a Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel Power Filter installed on your fish tank, then you might have noticed that it may not be pumping water as efficiently as before. To see how you can improve the water flow of your filter, you can check out this troubleshooting article from Aquarium Blueprints.

This guide should cover the following versions of this product:

  • Marineland Penguin 100 Bio-Wheel Power Filter
  • Marineland Penguin 150 Bio-Wheel Power Filter
  • Marineland Penguin 200 Bio-Wheel Power Filter
  • Marineland Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel Power Filter

1. To start off, we recommend that you thoroughly rinse all components of your hang-on-back filter, including the impeller.

To properly clean this product, you can try taking the following steps:

  • Unplug the filter from the power outlet so that it will stop running.
  • Next, we recommend removing some of the tank water into a bucket or container. We recommend using tank water for rinsing as you will preserve the beneficial bacteria living on the surfaces of these components.
  • Next, dissemble the filter and then rinse its components as much as possible using tank water. The Impeller/Magnet Assembly, BIO-Wheel Assembly, BIO-Wheel Bearings, Filter Cartridge, Intake Tube, Extension Tube, Strainer, Mid-Level Strainer are parts that frequently get clogged up with debris from your fish tank. Therefore, you should pay more attention when cleaning these components.
  • After cleaning, make sure you properly reassemble the components of the filter. Once you have re-installed every part, you can plug the Marineland Penguin back into the power outlet and then see if whether or not the water flow has increased.

2. You should also make sure that you haven’t overstuffed filter box with any additional filter media as these extra components, especially sponges, will most likely slow down the pumping and filtering process.

3. If the Filter Cartridge appears to be very dirty even after you thoroughly rinse it, then you might want to consider replacing it.

For the uninformed, the Marineland Penguin 100 is compatible with the Rite-Size A Cartridge while the Marineland Penguin 150 uses the Rite-Size B Cartridge. Both the Marineland Penguin 200 and Marineland Penguin 350 support the Rite-Size C Cartridge.

4. There is a possibility that the impeller and/or impeller magnets have worn down, resulting in slower pumping, filtering and water flow. So, if cleaning these parts did not increase the flow rate of the filter, then you may also want to consider replacing them as well.

All four versions of the Marineland Penguin use a different impeller unit. Therefore, you should make sure that the replacement parts you are getting is compatible with your version of the power filter.

5. You can also try plugging your power filter to a different power outlet as there may be a problem with the one you are currently using.

6. Furthermore, you need to make sure that the water level is high enough; otherwise, a lower water level may end up resulting in a slower than expected pump water.