hey this might be somewhat of a stupid question...but I just added a second Marineland Emperor Bio wheel 400 to my 55 gallon where I house 1 x 9 inch tiger O and 1 x 9 inch common plec. I bought the first one a week ago and ran it with just the two cartridges (sans carbon) for the first week. Today I added the second filter and filled the 4 total extra media baskets with Ceramic rings.

My stupid question is...I took one previously used Bio wheel and placed it in the new filter...thus having one new one and one old one in each filter. Secondly, I placed one used cartridge in front of the new biowheel, and the same for the other.

Does this make any difference at all or is it essentially the same as if I just plopped the new cartridges and bio wheels in with the new filter and left the old one the same?

PS- plastic cover for the new emperor was bent thus touching the biowheels and stopping them. I'm pissed about that and am attempting to even it out. Covers for these filters are my only complaint. They seem rather cheaply constructed and fragile.

As long as the previously used bio wheel plus the other media was not left to dry out then it will just perform exactly the same way as it was before. Your new filter will gradually get seeded over the next few weeks and everything should be fine.

OFL wrote:


No my previous biowheels and media were still running in the old filter right until I put the new one in and started it. I soaked and rinsed the new cartridges and ceramic media in tank water in a bucket for awhile before they went in.

As long as you didn't go overboard with the cleaning of this media it should be okay. You got to remember that biological media is extremely delicate because it houses all your beneficial bacteria. They need oxygen to survive which basically means you need to keep your filter running all the time. As soon as you deprive these beneficial bacteria of oxygen they start dying. Within the two or three hours you will have lost most of the beneficial bacteria if they did not have the oxygen. So never let your biological media dry out, and under no circumstances should you ever wash it in tap water, tap water contains chlorine, chlorine kills bacteria, need I say anymore?

OFL wrote:


I poured just enough tank water into a bucket to submerse them...then gave them one or two swishes...thats it. Then right in. Too much? I always use tank water in a separate bucket especially for that purpose. It never has anything but tank water in it. Even when I rinse it on occasion...it's never rinsed by anything else.

I have used Emperor400s for years in my tanks smaller than 75gal(US). 2 will work great in your 55. I use the blue filter pads(no carbon)to filter the debris. Try doing away with the 4 gray plastic media trays that come with it and use your ceramic bio balls in mesh bags(I think they are white).You can get a lot more of the bio balls in each filter like this.

shannon wrote:


Im actually using ceramic rings but I will definitely grab some of the mesh bags.Yeah I love them so far...much more powerful and I had real problems with my 200 and 150 bio wheels continually stopping, especially when I filled up all the cartridge slots. It was very, very frustrating.

I really like the water jets, although like I said i was a bit pissed that my latest came with a bent biowheel plastic cover. When I put it on it touches the biowheels and stops them. I had to put it in a vise grip for a few hours to get it straightened out. I already had it set up and running for awhile before I found out so bringing it back probably wasn't an option by that point.

It's weird but i seem to from a form of 'filter' addiction.' I'm fascinated by them and am constantly upgrading them. lol in a few months ill probably upgrade again...not that I need to but I love setting them up.