That is a downfall I found with the biowheels, man oh man are they nitrate factories, at least the retail systems I worked with were! But then again, if you have live plants, it is not recommended to use biowheels or HOBs at all for that matter because of the surface disturbances they produce off-gas CO2. And on SW tanks, biowheels are good on fish-only systems that get frequent water changes, but I wouldn't use them with reef tanks simply because of the nitrate production, would kill the corals with nutrient overload!
Somonas, give me a few days to sleep on it (yes I do my best thinking when sleeping) and I'll figure something out. Crap accumulation doesn't equal bioload, and both filters will need to have the same amount of pre-filtering material on them.
The only way I can think right now is if you used two seperate tanks. Get two five gallon (or two gallon) tanks. Set them up side by side. Collect water from one of your already established tanks (say about five gallons worth) during a water change. Pre-filter that water in a filter bag (they make various size filter bags right on down to removing micron diameter particles). Run all chemical testing on that water post-filtration (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates etc...). Place the water into the clean experimental tanks, then start running your steril filters. Repeat proceedure once a week to "refresh." Of course you will want to make sure you test the water every day in your experimental tanks. After a length of time, you can use the weigh method to assess bioload. You can add a trio of danios to the experimental tanks, but it probably isn't necessary if you are using water from an established tank. It will also add gunk in the form of food and waste to your experimental tanks.
An experiment of any merrit must have only one variable. I already see a flaw in the above method, again, I do my better thinking when asleep. Rather than using fish, an outside controlled source of ammonia would be better.
~~Colesea
Somonas, give me a few days to sleep on it (yes I do my best thinking when sleeping) and I'll figure something out. Crap accumulation doesn't equal bioload, and both filters will need to have the same amount of pre-filtering material on them.
The only way I can think right now is if you used two seperate tanks. Get two five gallon (or two gallon) tanks. Set them up side by side. Collect water from one of your already established tanks (say about five gallons worth) during a water change. Pre-filter that water in a filter bag (they make various size filter bags right on down to removing micron diameter particles). Run all chemical testing on that water post-filtration (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates etc...). Place the water into the clean experimental tanks, then start running your steril filters. Repeat proceedure once a week to "refresh." Of course you will want to make sure you test the water every day in your experimental tanks. After a length of time, you can use the weigh method to assess bioload. You can add a trio of danios to the experimental tanks, but it probably isn't necessary if you are using water from an established tank. It will also add gunk in the form of food and waste to your experimental tanks.
An experiment of any merrit must have only one variable. I already see a flaw in the above method, again, I do my better thinking when asleep. Rather than using fish, an outside controlled source of ammonia would be better.
~~Colesea
