I'm getting back into the hobby after being away for a while and I
decided to set up a 6'x2'x2' planted freshwater tank with substrate
heating cables. I've been reading everything I can look up on The Krib
and other sources and I decided to go with the 250 watt Dupla cables
(Duplaflex 1000), even though they cost an arm and a leg. Now the
decision is the power supply. Does anyone know of any good sources for
one that is sufficient to power these cables that won't cost my other
arm and leg or should I have to bite the bullet and spend another $200
for the Dupla one (http://www.floridadriftwood.com)?

Even though I don't have much electrical engineering experience, I'm
open to trying some of the DIY options I've read about. Anybody have any
recent experience with that? Anybody know of any good places to get low
voltage/high current (24 V @ 11+ A) step down transformers?

If I do end up going with the Dupla transformer, does anyone know if
that will only connect to the Dupla temperature controller or can I use
some other controller (Neptune's AquaController II, for example)?

Thanks for any info on the subject!

- Allan