Substrate heating

[RogerL]

Are there any other manufacturers apart from Dupla?

Any suggestions re: where to purchase cables would be apprecaited.

Thanks.

[Rex Grigg]

There are other sources. Try http://petsolutions.com/cgi-bin/cgipagls?l=34&g=10303. But living in NC I can't see as how a substrate heater is going to do you much good most of the year. You might have guessed I not a big fan of substrate heaters. I think the money is better spent on CO2 systems or more light.

[RogerL]

Thanks Rex.

I'm also pretty sceptical (and definitely agree that lights & CO2 get priority) but am just exploring some options before getting started on a new tank. A lot of the fun is in the planning!

Roger

[cousin it]

I have been using substrate heating for around 7 years in some of my tanks and find that I get much better growth over a longer period of time on the tanks using these systems.

[corvus]

Same cables as listed above at fishvet.com, just a few bucks cheaper.

I have them in my 90, but all my tanks are so different, I have no idea if they do any good or not.

[STAT 007]

If you DO decide to go with substrate heating, I've heard that the biggest thing is laying out the cables in a way that provides for proper heat convection. Apparently if you lay the cables out wrong, you won't be doing a bit of good. <shrugs> So maybe look into that...

[SNPiccolo5]

What I think STAT means, is that the point of substrate heating is to unevenly heat the substrate in order to cause convection currents that move through the substrate. If you arrange them so that they aren't far enough apart, it won't work.

-Tim

[cousin it]

that is exactly the principal of them.
If they are set up correctly they work very well if not then there is no point in using them as you will get the same problems as you would if you used a heat mat under the tank.
when I install mine I use some bioplast thermal float rails to allow me to space them exactly how I want.

[Buck]

What temp do these get set at ? It must have to be warmer then water temp by just a couple degrees I imagine... ?

[cousin it]

thats about it. most are constantly on and there fore only low wattage cables of that type should be used.
you can get thermostats which control both the cable and tank heater but they are quite expensive so I chose a low wattage one which seems to work quite nicely, when I touch the gravel it is slightly warmer than the tank water.

bioplast make a "thermal float" system which is basically a length of co2 hose coiled around the heater and then spread across the bottom of the tank in the same way you would a heater cable,

I have one of these on my main tank and they are high maintenance but seem to give me good results but I will probably replace this with either a dupla or dennerle one when I eventually strip down and clean the main tank.