Overview of the experimental setup used in this study including continuous culture (chemostat), non-constant-depth film fermenter (nCDFF), microscopy and image analysis.

<p>Sterile culture medium is supplied via silicon tubes to the continuous culture (monitored by a control unit; not shown) using a peristaltic pump for adjusting the rate. Two approaches were used in this study for (<b>i</b>) the cultivation of biofilms and (<b>ii</b>) the test of bacterial adhesion. For biofilm cultivation, the nCDFF was (<b>a</b>) inoculated for a limited period of time and, afterwards, (<b>b</b>) sterile culture medium was supplied to enable biofilm growth. For adhesion tests, the nCDFF was inoculated throughout the experiment. The direction of flow is indicated using arrows. Bacterial samples were investigated using microscopy and subsequent image analysis.