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Substrate heater installation?
" wrote in message om... Will it hurt your tank? No, but neither will sending me 20$. Hi Tom, :-) Actually substrate heaters may "hurt" some set ups in hot climates due to adding more heat. Aquarium coolers are not inexpensive. Yea, tell me about it:-) If Adam does decide to install the substrate heater in his tank I would just give him one advice: make sure you secure it very well to the bottom. Don't rely on the suction cups alone. Yes, even the best suction cups, which are made by Dupla are sujected to movement. Then you do not get the micro currents that Dupla suggest help. If currents to the substrate do help, then why not like the RFUG I used for a about 20 years also not do the same thing? Does the same thing as the cables, just at a higher flow rate, grows plants great/the same as cables did over the same time period. I made my own grill from heat resistent plastic to keep the distance from the tank bottom the same. Many folks turn their cables off over the summer months, Folks in SG don't/cannot use them at all yet routinely set up beautiful tanks. George Booth runs his AC at 72F so he has a "Dupla" air conditioner:) I think he and I beat that horse to death on the APD over the years. I used reptile heating pads on the bottom of the tanks and I would certainly argue that these do the same the thing as a cable system. The increa bacterial reminerilization of nutrients due to temp increase could account for slight differences rather than flux. But substrates and their role in planted aquaria are of great interest to me on a number of levels. I've had: High flow(RFUG's) Low flow (Cables) No flow (Just gravels/sand) over the years to look at the role of flux in/out of the substrate. No flow, like Claus's discussions with me, produced the best growth of any of these three systems with root submersed plants. Regards, Tom Barr Check this site out: http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Shc/index.htm It deals with your assumption of using reptile heating pads instead of coils, as well as many other issues. Personally, I'm on the pro heating coils side, but that's probably cause I was able to make them myself for almost no cost to me, if I had to pay for them, I might have spend money on something else. However, I do think that they can be useful in a planted tank, especially in the allowing the tank to grow for long periods of time, however, they will do absolutely nothing to enhance growth, so asking for proof of how heating coils helped a tank ... there really is no proof, except someone telling you that their plants grew for years and years in a tank with coils, while another tank that didn't have them needed to be redone more often. Which is basically what the guys at Aquatic Concepts give as the proof. Make sense to me. Harry |
Substrate heater installation?
http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Shc/index.htm
It deals with your assumption of using reptile heating pads instead of coils, as well as many other issues. Personally, I'm on the pro heating coils side, but that's probably cause I was able to make them myself for almost no cost to me, if I had to pay for them, I might have spend money on something else. However, I do think that they can be useful in a planted tank, especially in the allowing the tank to grow for long periods of time, however, they will do absolutely nothing to enhance growth, so asking for proof of how heating coils helped a tank ... there really is no proof, except someone telling you that their plants grew for years and years in a tank with coils, while another tank that didn't have them needed to be redone more often. Which is basically what the guys at Aquatic Concepts give as the proof. Make sense to me. Harry George Booth is the guy at Aquatic Concepts. I've argued that my tanks have been fine over the years abd actually better than any cable system once I switched to flourite, onyx based substrates with no flow/cables etc. I would certainly argue that the health and growth of plants using those far exceeds any sand/laterite + cable set up. George has never used these substrates but has been threatening to for a few months lately. I've never had to "redo" a planted tank or found what George did in comparisons. I think it's difficult to ascertain if it's from the added heat, the temp current differences, but I could argue the same thing with RFUG's if it's an issue of currents and long term growth. Those tanks did as well as tanks with the cables. I've had cables for a long time, I've had plenty of time to gauge, think about and see their role. I've also had plenty of other tank set ups to compare the flourite vs cables and can tell anyone that the flourite etc is worth far more than cables + sand laterite set up. I also have tried the RFUG's more than anyone else I'm aware of with planted tanks. I have a fair amount of background on substrates and am very well versed in wetland soils professionally. While George has said his views over time and I respect those views, it must be something folks can consistently duplicate the results with. I have been unable to duplicate it and have since found many other methods that are cheaper and simpler and DO give much better and more consistent results. The hobby has really come a long way since 1985 when these things were introduced. Substrate materials have become much better since then which is almost 20 years ago. Regards, Tom Barr |
Substrate heater installation?
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I accept apprehend in several books now about the use of substrate heaters. In addition, I'm the blazon of being who affidavit any given affair out afore acting. It makes actual bright faculty that, in trying to actor a accustomed ambiance as abundant as possible, you would like to provide some abstinent connected calefaction in the base, the "earth".
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Substrate heater installation?
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