5 tons and five loops in the pond...they figured we'd used 105 hours of heat strips during the two coldest months due to heat loss from the house??? My husband thinks we maybe need a couple of more loops. May be to soon to tell, this is only our second year with geo. It's 18 degress right now and we're running straight off geo (no strips) and i know the strips come on like 1, 2, 3 or 4 at a time.