If your big Emperor can handle filtering the whole tank, and the little Bio-Wheel is just extra gravy, why not gut the little guy & fill it with Bio-Max? I did this with a smaller in-tank filter & it works great for avoiding ammo & nitrate spikes when I put fresh media in my larger filter. I have a small piece of coarse foam at the bottom to catch big stuff, and with no cartridge the flow is much higher than usual. I'm gonna try hanging some polishing floss at the outlet, too. You guys have good ideas!