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#1
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substrate heating..
Question: what studies are out there regarding substrate heating?
Has anyone ever set up two duplicate tanks with one difference between them: one tank with, the other tank without cable heaters? How about something related: 1/2 the tank with a cable heater, the other without? I am wondering what the real benefit of these rather expensive accessories are. If there are no such systematic studies out there, anyone have suggestions on carrying out such a study? What things would you need to be wary of? Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. -Bruce Geist |
#2
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substrate heating..
"BruceKGeist" wrote in message ... Question: what studies are out there regarding substrate heating? Has anyone ever set up two duplicate tanks with one difference between them: one tank with, the other tank without cable heaters? How about something related: 1/2 the tank with a cable heater, the other without? I am wondering what the real benefit of these rather expensive accessories are. If there are no such systematic studies out there, anyone have suggestions on carrying out such a study? What things would you need to be wary of? Thanks in advance for any information you can provide. -Bruce Geist There is a good article by George Booth on the topic of substrate heaters he http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-cables.html I will now take the liberty to copy and paste here a couple of sentences from that URL: *********************** We have three ~100g tanks with coils and one 85g tank with UGF. All grow plants equally well but the 85g is much more unstable. We think it is sensitive to too much detritus building up in the gravel; a thorough vacuuming every 6-9 months perks it up. The coil tanks require no gravel vacuuming and the 90g tank was rock solid biologically for at least three years. We replanted at that point because some of the plants had gotten out of control but we didn't "tear down" the tank - just replanted. I think this is the key to the cables - long term stability *********************** Reading the George Booth's article inspired me to get a substrate heater as well. I set up my 90g with cable heaters but unfortunately few weeks later the heater stopped working. Now I'm using under tank heating mat which is most likely not as good as functioning substrate cable heaters. -- Marvin hlavac (at) rogers (dot) com |
#3
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substrate heating..
Tropica did one of these a few years ago and found the optimum flow
for plant roots was about 0.49liters/day/m^2 Not much. Cables cause much more flow than this. I've used cables from Dupla, Sandpoint, reptile heating pads, built my own cables(7 over the years) and I feel you don't get anything for the trouble or the money. I've have done a number of flow rates through gravel over about a decade. No flow, osmosis is the most popular and easiest and the best IMO. Low flow, cables are good but I saw only some added stability in the start up, the theory behind it and the observations themselves are weak at best. But it does seem to hurt either. High flow, RFUG. work great also. I used these for about 15 years and really like the results in the start up and the long term. The best substrate I have used and still use is Flourite or onyx sand with some ground peat and rich vacuumed mulm from an established tank. That works the best IMO. Never breaks, nothing to plug in , grows plants the best etc. Unless you have a closely controlled temperature in your home, the cables will be shutting on/off etc and that will greatly effect the flow rates. Many folks cannot use them in the summer due to high temperatures etc. Plant roots transport a good deal of water and nutrients in/out of the gravel also. Regards, Tom Barr |
#4
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substrate heating..
Tom,
You are a great resource. Thanks for your replies. A question that struck me this morning. You mention you mix Flourite or Onyx gravel with Peat. Wouldn't the humic acid from the peat mess up your CO2? How do you measure CO2 in a planted tank with peat? Do you need to use a test kit to measure CO2 (i.e., to measure CO2 more directly rather than inferring CO2 levels from carbonate hardness and PH) or does the humic acid not really matter? Also, is the study you referred to on substrate heating available on the Tropica web site? Thanks. Bruce |
#5
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substrate heating..
Thanks Bruce,
Yesterday I disconnected the under tank heating pad. It is designed for that purpose so I don't thing it should damage the tank. I did it mainly to lower the water currents going thru substrate. I haven't got a chance yet to go to my LFS but maybe in a day or to I will go buy some of those plant tabs... By the way which ones are best? -- Marvin hlavac (at) rogers (dot) com "BruceKGeist" wrote in message ... My guess is Tom will be able to answer this better than I. I do not think substrate heating is a bad thing unless you are having problems keeping your tank at a good temperature. You have your tank at 86 degrees for discus, right? I can't imagine you are having trouble keeping your tank below this temp, but if you are, by all means shut off the heat. There is one thing you should be cautious of. I am not sure how you are heating the under side of the tank, but if there is enough of a temperature build up you might crack glass. That could be a big bummer. I suppose you have already considered this. Glass generally cannot tolerate too much of a temperature gradient. I seriously doubt that heating the substrate will cause too much plant tab fertilizer to seep into the water column. If you want to be sure, you may want to monitor your iron, nitrate, potassium, and other critical nutrients to determine if too much nutrient is seeping in the water column. As for plants liking warm bottoms, well, they don't often get that in their natural ecology. Therefore, I of reject that hypothesis. I think someone who lives in Detroit (like me) in the winter was feeling cold one winter day, and decided plants must like warm bottoms! The only reason I've heard that makes any kind of sense regarding advantages of cable heater is as Tom suggested, circulation of nutrients. If this is unnecessary, as I am beginning to believe it is, then why waste the money! As an aside, I like the Seachem test kits for everything except for Potassium. (Seachem does not make a Potassium test kit that I know of.) For Potassium testing I use the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kit. If your nutrients go out of balance, then consider testing your setup without heating. You probably already have all your test kits, but if not, that would be my recommendation. -Bruce |
#6
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substrate heating..
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