Substrate Heating

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Substrate Heating
From: krandall at world_std.com (Karen A Randall)
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 1996 11:26:38 -0500

Subject: Substrate Heating

> Hi, I have been lurking for awhile and am responding/commenting 
> first time. Please e-mail me to set me straight if I did not pos
> right spot. I am trying to respond to Neil Frank and others re: 
> substrate heating question.
> 
> I have a beautiful, lush planted tank that has no algae and very
> growth. I have no substrate heater. I have Dupla CO2 system, use
> and have MH/flourescent lites. I have never had a problem and ha
> wondering what all the fuss about substrate heating is about. I 
> everything from swords, to crypts, to aponog. and more. Temp in 
> 80-82. My conclusion is that substrate heating is not the most e
> part of the setup, but lights, good water and CO2 are much more 

Hi!

You posted fine, except that you left the whole of the SPD that 
you were responding to as part of your message...

meaning that we had to read again what we read before. ;-)

If you can cut out everything not pertaining to your post, it's 
much easier on all of us.

BTW,  I've been keeping beautiful planted tanks for years.  I have 
a couple with substrate heating, and more without.  IMO, all the 
other things you can do for your plants will take you 95% of the 
way.  You might be able to squeeze another 2% out of adding 
substrate heating.  IOW,  I _do_ see some increased growth in the 
tanks where I use it, but that's because I work with the tanks on 
an ongoing, daily basis.  If you walked in at any point in time to 
see my tanks, you would not see any difference between those with 
and those without.

Karen Randall
Aquatic Gardeners Assoc.
Boston, MA