reuse biowheel

Question
I just bought a used aquarium set and I was wondering if I can reuse the bio-wheels on the filter.  It is a Marineland Penguin bio-wheel 330.  It was covered in hard water residue so I got it all cleaned up and it works, but I'm not too sure on cleaning/reusing the biowheels off of it. I read that you can soak it over night in part bleach part water and then to rinse it really good the next morning, but I don't want to take any risks on killing my fish...could you please help???? Thanks for your time!!
Chelsea

Answer
Hi Chelsea,

If the bio-wheels are completely dry, then there is almost no chance at all that they hold anything harmful to your fish. To be completely sure they are clean, soak them in a strong brine solution (water and salt)...make sure the water is very warm, but not boiling, you don't want to melt the plastic! Be generous with the salt, it doesn't really matter how much you use since salt will not hurt the fish at all. Do be sure to rinse it, but don't worry about any residue. Unlike chlorine residue, salt residue won't hurt.

I hope that helps! This is actually a well done little article by someone on epinions about cleaning fish tanks:
http://www.epinions.com/content_1736417412

Take care,
Nicole