If you have a Marineland Penguin Bio-Wheel Power Filter, then you may notice that it is making a lot of loud noises. To see how you can potentially make this fish tank equipment run quieter, you can take a look at this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
It is important to note that, before we begin, this guide will be covering 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. If your hang-on-back filter is brand new and you hear noise coming from the Bio-Wheel component, then this is considered to be normal. It can take up to 48 hours of continuous spinning for the wheel to before fully absorptive to water; therefore, this part will end up making a lot of noise in the beginning.
However, it should eventually become quieter.
2. If your Bio-Wheel is not brand new, then you can unplug the filter from the power outlet and then removing its axel and bearings from the filter.
Afterwards, you can thoroughly rinse these parts, preferably with fish tank water you are planning to remove during a water change, in order to clean them as much as possible before putting them back in the filter.
3. Another source of the loud noises for the Marineland Penguin is the impeller. A dirty impeller, especially if it is constantly making contact with a gravel stone, may be making the filter run louder than expected.
To clean the impeller components, disconnect the power filter from the power outlet and then remove the impeller housing. Afterwards, thoroughly rinse off any debris from the housing and assembly before re-installing them again in the filter.
4. You should also make sure that the water level is high enough for the impeller housing.
If it isn’t then the impeller will sound louder than normal. Not to mention that the water splashes will be louder as well due to the longer fall distance.
4. With the filter unplugged, we also recommend that you thoroughly rinse the other components of Marineland Penguin, including the tubing, strainer and cartridges. Otherwise, a blockage may be the reason behind the filter running too loud.
5. If your impeller appears to be damaged, or remains extremely dirty even after a thorough rinse, then you might want to consider replacing it in order to make the filter run with much less noise.
When getting the replacement parts, make sure that it matches with the size of your Marineland Penguin. You can find the model numbers for the Impeller/Magnet Assembly for the 100, 150, 200 and 350 versions of the power filter below:
- Marineland Penguin 100 Bio-Wheel Power Filter Impeller/Magnet Assembly (PRIM100B)
- Marineland Penguin 150 Bio-Wheel Power Filter Impeller/Magnet Assembly (PRIM150B)
- Marineland Penguin 200 Bio-Wheel Power Filter Impeller/Magnet Assembly (PRIM200B)
- Marineland Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel Power Filter Impeller/Magnet Assembly (PRIM350B)