Originally Posted By: derek_buck
Originally Posted By: Cecil Baird1

In case I missed it how do you plan on cycling your system: fishless or with some fish? I'm a big believer in fishless myself.

I was planning on just putting a whole bunch of fatheads into the system, but I hadn't really considered fishless. What are the advantages of fishless? Would it be doable for a newbie like myself?

Originally Posted By: Cecil Baird1

As far as heating your system I use a 1000 watt aquarium heater and controller for my 250 gallon systems because they are economical and do not run continuously.

I have seen that some people recommend using two lower wattage heaters rather than one big one, so if there is a malfunction with one there is still another heater left running. Would two 300W aquarium heaters work for me? I found this heater on amazon that I thought I would go with. http://www.amazon.com/Aquatop-Aquarium-S...aquarium+heater If I insulate the system well, how many degrees above the outside temperature will I be able to keep the water?

I plan on ordering the filter media you suggested - between the price and surface area its my best option by far. Thanks again for taking the time to offer your input.


Fishless cycling simply consists of adding sudsless ammonia (about 4 ppm) initially to get some bacteria going and the ammonia is something to feed it. Keep the ammonia at about 4 ppm until you read nitrites, and once you see nitrates, and your ammonia and nitrites quickly drop to zero you are ready to add fish. An alternative to the ammonia is some fish feed that has been made into a soupy mix. Advantages of fishless cycling are not bringing in parasites or disease with fish that are notorius for issues like fathead minnows or goldfish. It's also not needlessly stressing or killing fish which I am strongly against.

As far as what size heater to get, i would go with the 1000 watt or two 500s for a 250 gallon system. 300 watts is not enough and it will be contantly sucking juice. Insulate well!

Here's a great read on nitrification and cycling. Geared to aquariums but still applies.
http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html

In case you're not familiar with the following test kits they work great and don't cost much.

http://www.amazon.com/API-Freshwater-Mas...+kit+freshwater






Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 11/09/15 09:27 PM.
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