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I'm going to get back into the hobby and I am leaning towards a 90 gallon planted tank, but I've got a few questions. Sorry in advance if I sound like an idiot. I've been out of the hobby for a couple of years so I've forgotten a lot.

The tank I am looking at comes with a Cascade 1000. The internet says it's good for a 100 gal, but going by the 7x an hour rule I would need like 3 of them. When using these canister type filters, do I need to go for 7x or could I just cycle with this one and add a second to get me to around 5x later?

Will I need to add power heads? I'm used to smaller tanks and hang on the back filters so it's never been an issue, so I'm not sure if I need a power head (or 2 or 3) to create enough surface agitation to keep the water oxygenated.

What's the bare minimum number of Danio-sized fish I should use for a tank this sized and what could I use? I want no more than 10 danios but my research leads me to believe I may need more fish than that to cycle a tank this large. I've only ever used Danios to cycle so I donno what else I ought to use.

Last edited by coffeeman at 29-Nov-2005 23:21

Coffee,

As a fellow old timer, I was also caught up in the concept of hourly rate from the HOB and UG filter days. The old theory of mechanical turnover was upset by the introduction of affordable cannister filters. Canister filters whether PennPlax, Fluval, Eheim or others, pack a tremendous amount of bio-filtration elements into their bodies.

Having touted the bio-filtration capability of cannister filters, I have come to believe in the wisdom of redundant equipment. On my 125G, I have an Eheim Pro II and an AquaClear HOB. I also calculated the heater wattage for the aquarium and run two undersized heaters.

My thought is that if one piece of equipment should fail, that the redundant equipment should prevent the system from crashing until I fix or replace the unit.

I would cycle your 90 with at least a half dozen danios. Do look into a couple of recent market introductions - bacterial additives and live substrate, each can substantially shorten your tank cycle.

When I set-up my 125G, my Eheim was fully seeded and I used EcoComplete as a substrate for what would be a planted discus tank. I chose EcoComplete because it was bacterial active and it did not require rinsing - a real benefit for 140 pounds of substrate!

The aquarium was set-up, planted, filled and populated with 10 adult discus and a few friends in one day. No ammonia, no nitrites, no cycle!



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Id agree with bob on that one, a lot of people recommend ridiculous levels of water turnover, when if youre gonna be spending the money anyway get an eheim with active media and its metres and metres of available bacterial growth space. Its cheaper in the long run, less work, and more efficient. Eheims are about as reliable as you can get, I have had a seal on one go a couple of times, but never a mechanical failure with the pumps or heaters. The big pros and thermos are really goodand you can get prefilters for them, which saves taking them apart so much.

The 7-10X rule of thumb is usually just for HOB filters anyway. Since canisters have the larger media chamber the turnover rate can be less.

Since you're planning for a planted tank you should likely be able to go with less filtration as the plants will assist with that as well. Especially during the cycling process.

Powerheads, without the added airline, can be useful in planted tanks to help with water movement but less surface agitation. Well planted tanks generrally have CO2 added,and you dont want surface agitation with CO2.

Stocking while cycling is around 1/3 full stocking.

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