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Re Heater Cabling





In a message dated 12/31/2000 2:51:00 PM Central Standard Time, "Daphne 
Freeman" <daphne.freeman at home_com>
<< 
 Not to restart The Great Heating Cable Debate but....
 
 I am looking for a set to go in a 92 gallon tank.  According to George's
 website and my calculations, I think 100 Watts would be my best bet (150's
 aren't available and maybe 100's would stay on more anyway..).  It appears
 the only options are:>>

With my experience 100 Watts would be way to low.  However there may
be a secondary heat source which was not mentioned.

The general rule of thumb that I found works good on general aquarium
heating is 5 watts per gallon which allows the tank to be kept at 5 degrees
above room temperature with about a 50 percent heat cycle.  If I apply this
formula to your tank at 92 gallons that gives 460 Watts of heat on a 50%
cycle.  If your looking for a 100 % on cycle than 230 watts would be more
practical.  

Taking this a step further I recommend more than one heat source in a larger
aquarium as extra assurance against failure.  If you run with 100 Watts of
undergravel heating that is close to a 100% cycle time than I'd add about
250 Watts of heat through a standard submersable heater.

Going into the next set of options I strongly look at several other 
possibilities.
Namely the under tank reptile heating pads or making a system of your own
using heating tape mounted under the tank.

Dennis


 
 <<1. M3 has the non-grounded Azoo's which I view as a non-option (although
 Edward tells me they are expecting a  new line soon that is grounded, I'm
 not sure if they are low-voltage)
 
 2.  Pet Warehouse has a grounded set (that according to Shawn back in Sept)
 is Aquarium
 landscapes brand but is apparently high voltage, not low.
  >>