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Re: Cables again
T. Barr:
>Having used cables for many years and built a few(5) along the way, I see
>little if any(I haven't seen a definite case yet) benefit to any tank and
>they are not cheap, an extra piece of unneeded equipment, waste of
>electricity, some other cord to hide etc. Every summer I got a good chance
>to see if things grew better or not. No difference IMO.
>Simple is good. Amano can do without them just fine as can folks here.
>Would anyone like a Dupla 100 cable system complete? It's hard to sell one
>when you know they don't do a whole lot:)
Hey Tom, in your above statement you seem to question cables' benefit in
two distinct areas:
1] on the tank as a whole.
2] On plants directly.
I read somewhere that the main benefit of cables' gentle currents that they
constantly transfer form water column to substrate is to accelerate the
rate at which tank stability is achieved. Having achieved stability,
cables make that stability resistant to change. Thus, nutrients in the
water column tend to be drawn into the substrate where they can be absorbed
by the plants and not algae.
Therein lies the point; experienced aquarists like us don't need help in
managing nutrients. We've worked out numerous prophylactic, diagnostic and
remediation strategies over the years of fiddling with tanks that
normal:-) people with one or two tanks would never discover on their own.
They can't master these strategies b/c the opportunities don't present
themselves often enough unless you are constantly setting up new aquariums.
This was the reasoning I accepted; that companies like Dupla developed
cables as well as their entire A-B-C step approach to make planted aquaria
a "no-brainer".....at a HEAFTY $! That's why we all work so hard to find
other less expensive approaches to get the same result.
I think heating cables are ONE approach for aquariums you want to STAY
attractive that you don't have time to work on OR its location makes it
very inconvenient to fiddle with OR are a newbie.
I take your point about the cables in hotter climates though. I cut mine
off in the Summer. However, that tank is on an outside veranda and I'm in
South Florida. You live in California. I could well run it year-round if
I ran the AC year-round and the tank was indoors and so might you.
Florida Flagfish for Hairalgae Elimination:
http://floridadriftwood.com/floridaflagfish.htm