waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
kbod, you can just fill a tank you plan to fishless cycle with any temperature you want as there will be plenty of time for the heater to bring the temp up in the first day or two. For the perfect "bacterial growing soup" you'll want 84F/29C during the fishless cycle.
I forget where the heck the chart of heater to tank size went, but I'm sure you can find that info with searches here, its been repeated thousands of times on the forums.
Sorry re the Fluval 4+ discussion, I don't know anything in detail about them. I know that Fluval internal filters, especially the more recent ones and I think the 4+ is not the newest but is still recent, are highly thought of here on the forum as far as internals go. (Of course the usual "pecking order" for filters, getting better as you go would be, bubble-driven internals, powered internals, HOBs(hang-on-backs), external cannisters, sumps.) Most of the the "ranking" mentality would be because of media volume - the list I gave being pretty much straight from smallest volume to largest volume. Once you get into features that have to do with ease of use, then the rankings are not so clear at all. Large external cannisters like eheim and tetratec and perhaps large aquaclear hobs would probably get my vote as best and most convenient, but this is all higher cost than you're looking at in your situation. Sumps are a different beast altogether, going longest of all probably between maintenance interventions but being more trouble I'd say when you do have to fool with the.
Two filters on a larger tank have many advantages (alternate cleanings, backups when things go wrong, etc.)
~~waterdrop~~
edit: forgot to mention with respect to initial water filling of the tank I still might not go with pure cold water as it might cause condensation on the outside walls of the tank and I'm always sensitive to not getting wooden cabinets/stands wet as the wood might swell and cause the tank to be supported unevenly and thus crack.
I forget where the heck the chart of heater to tank size went, but I'm sure you can find that info with searches here, its been repeated thousands of times on the forums.
Sorry re the Fluval 4+ discussion, I don't know anything in detail about them. I know that Fluval internal filters, especially the more recent ones and I think the 4+ is not the newest but is still recent, are highly thought of here on the forum as far as internals go. (Of course the usual "pecking order" for filters, getting better as you go would be, bubble-driven internals, powered internals, HOBs(hang-on-backs), external cannisters, sumps.) Most of the the "ranking" mentality would be because of media volume - the list I gave being pretty much straight from smallest volume to largest volume. Once you get into features that have to do with ease of use, then the rankings are not so clear at all. Large external cannisters like eheim and tetratec and perhaps large aquaclear hobs would probably get my vote as best and most convenient, but this is all higher cost than you're looking at in your situation. Sumps are a different beast altogether, going longest of all probably between maintenance interventions but being more trouble I'd say when you do have to fool with the.
Two filters on a larger tank have many advantages (alternate cleanings, backups when things go wrong, etc.)
~~waterdrop~~
edit: forgot to mention with respect to initial water filling of the tank I still might not go with pure cold water as it might cause condensation on the outside walls of the tank and I'm always sensitive to not getting wooden cabinets/stands wet as the wood might swell and cause the tank to be supported unevenly and thus crack.
