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Re: [APD] Under Gravel Heating



I haven't considered anything just yet...it was just a thought as I read
through George's site.  I don't see why this wouldn't have the same effect
of coils, really.  Adding heat in or under the substrate would add heat in
or under the substrate!  Right?  Aparently not.  It was just an idea I
thought would be interesting to discuss in the list.

-Dave

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>
To: "aquatic plants digest" <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
Sent: Saturday, December 13, 2003 8:01 PM
Subject: Re: [APD] Under Gravel Heating


> SHort answer: Yes, but won't do the same thing that coils
> might or might not do anyway.
>
> Long answer: Yes, but not recommended if the underside will
> not be open to air. The pad shouldn't be totally enclosed,
> top and bottom or the pad might overheat and being to singe
> and short and start a fire.
>
> It won't heat unevenly and won't generate the currents the
> coils might generate.  But then the jury is out (having
> tea, as I recall) on whether those currents have been
> proven more effective than not having currents.
>
> George has taken a lot of heat for (from?) his coils and
> folks like to tease him about them. Heck, coils are just
> naturally funny things. In fact, they provoked one of the
> more famous (or infamous or shocking) practical jokes in
> aquatic gardening history. Dig deep in The Krib to find it.
>
> Have you considered waterbed heaters?
>
> Scott H.
> --- David Terrell <dave at terrellclan_com> wrote:
> > To all,  mostly George Booth who's site I was just
> > reading (thanks for such a great site):
> >
> > I was interested in the effects of under gravel heating,
> > specifically cables.  Personally, I have an established
> > (read: it's got 'stuff' in it<g>, by no means a great
> > planted tank, yet ;-) 90g aga and was wondering how I
> > could incorporate under-gravel heating.  I have a nice
> > substrate of laterite and 2-3mm gravel.  My plants seem
> > to have great root systems after they've had time to
> > establish themselves, but I was also reading the effects,
> > or lack of effects, of laterite without additional
> > heating.  This brought me to wonder how I could add
> > heating to my gravel, without disturbing the tank too
> > much.  Initially, I thought it can't be done, but
> > anything with time and patience can be done.  And then I
> > thought, why do I have to put coils under the gravel?  I
> > don't recall ever seeing it mentioned, but it always
> > seems people lean toward coils under the gravel!  This to
> > me seems possibly dangerous, and difficult for
> > maintenance.  My thought was to put an under-tank heating
> > 'pad' somehow...
> >
> > A heating pad, under the tank, first wouldn't be putting
> > anything electrical in the tank.  Second, removing or
> > maintaining such a device would be rather simple, like an
> > external canister, because it's physically outside the
> > tank.  Third, a heating pad won't shift like coils
> > possibly can.  Fourth, the surface covered by the pad
> > would be essentially heated very evenly!
> >
> > The downsides I thought of to this were that the pads are
> > also exposed to air, an undo amount of energy would
> > actually go to heating the cabinet itself.  I don't see
> > much of a problem there, possibly insulating the
> > underside, exposed part of the pad would lessen these
> > effects.  But also, the temperature differential from the
> > underside of the glass to the top side.  I've seen on
> > more then one occasion, glass practically exploding from
> > heat differentials.  In this case, I wouldn't think
> > there's enough differential to actually cause the glass
> > to shatter, and on the flip side, under-gravel coils
> > would offer much the same conditions, only from the other
> > side.
> >
> > Thus, I leave the list with this question:
> >
> > Is it feasible to add under-gravel heat by adding a
> > heating pad to the underside of the tank glass?
> >
> > -Dave
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> > http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo.cgi/aquatic-plants
>
>
> =====
> S. Hieber
>
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