Tom, I had previously read your post when I was doing my research and I
agree that no one has proven beyond a doubt that cable heating is
critical for a planted tank, but going off the anecdotal reports of a
couple of other people that said they were going strong for 12 to 18
months and then growth tapered off mysteriously. I haven't done much research on Flourite, but I'll bone up on it prior
to making a final decision.

Thanks for your reply, though.

-- Allan

Uhmm. there is no mystery as to why a tank's plant growth slows down,
there are 3 main components and if you address these, you will not
have slow down or otherwise any monkey business with plants at all.

Growth is driven by 3 main things in tanks: Light, CO2 and nutrients.

3 things.

Cables are not one of them.

I think the real issue is that the tank slows down due to other
factors, low CO2, less light(bulbs change color over time and
intensity), nutrient status etc.

If these are not addressed, then there is no test and it is pure
speculation. I'm one that does do critical approaches to plant growth.

If you devise a test to answer a question, you need to make certain
the test is not influenced by otherwise factors, things like CO2,
lights, Nutrients.

You wish to test only one dependent variable, any other things like
light/CO2/Nutrients variations must be in good shape or will
invalidate the test and you must start over again.

I got good at maintaining the water column, the light/CO2 are rather
easy once you figure that out.

So then you can go about testing much more critically and see if there
is any merit to a method/device/idea/theory. You also can see how much
interaction it has with other methods. You can simply go down the line
and test each nutrient, light set up, substrate methods, etc one at
time and not have it be influenced by the other parameters.

Any hobbyist can do this and prove things to themselves, which I've
always told folks to do if they really care that much about the issue.

I also suggest folks look critically in the background research and be
careful to look for research that is directly as possible applicable
to the given situation. I did RFUG's, cables and no flow series(plain
old flourite and no mechanical flow) through substrates over the
years, I have about 10 years in each method.

I have a long background both experimentally, practical, and academic
in specifically dealing with substrates. George is a smart guy and
nice guy BTW. Still, he's considered switching to Flourite as well.

So......

You might consider adding flourite to a cable system also.
I've not done this combo, but I get better growth than anyone with
cables as it is so I really don't find the need.

I stick to the core basics, light, CO2 and nutrients.

Still, the question is will cables hurt? Nope.
So you are not making any mistake, just wasting your $ is all.

If you add ferts to the substrate, cables will oxidize them faster
than no flow set ups. Likewise a RFUG will oxidize them even more so.
Anyu increase in the flux will increase the redox levels(further
oxidizing the nutrients) and providing faster bacteria to use the
nutrients.

I've argued that these aerobic bacteria are the main driving factor in
cycling besides the plants.

But.......plants still kick the bacteria's butt on uptake of NO3, PO4
etc.
So it still gets back to the big 3, light, CO2 and nutrients.

Take care of the plants, the rest is not an issue.

Regards,
Tom Barr