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Re: (2) DIY Heating Cables



>Harold wrote,
> While the low voltage cables
>>do heat the substrate and consequently the water
>>Temperature about 3 deg F, they do not get hot enough to
>>cause any convection currents.
>
>
>If the DIY cables are heating the substrate they have to be causing
>some convection currents.  Actually if you wanted you could run low
>voltage DIY cables as hot as the Dupla cables.  The reason that people
>don't do that is because they don't have the DIY cables tied into a
>controller that would prevent them from over heating the aquarium.  If
>you use the Dupla cables without a controller you would also want to
>limit how hot you are running them. 

I once built a DIY heating system using wire from an appliance shop - I
forget what 'gauge' it was.  Anyway, I also built a controller that
maintained the substrate to be a controlled temperature greater than the
water column - thus ensuring convection currents.  It also had min and max
tank water temperatures settings and digital display of both temperatures.

The wire was placed inside cheap plastic air tubing.  It could get so hot
that it would burn to touch, so DIY wire is just as good as Dupla stuff.
(I was using 18Volts DC from memory).  I agree with Jim that without a
controller, you really don't want to heat your substrate too strongly.
>
>Finally, because DIY cables are inexpensive, simple to install and are
>generally a set and forget it accessory I would put them in any large
>aquarium I setup.

I would not use substrate cables for one simple reason - my tank gets too
hot.  I ended up not using the setup that I built - the thing never turned
on because my tank was up at 30 degrees Celcius to start with!  So I
wouldn't say that substrate heating is for everyone.

(Of course, I could COOL the water and HEAT the substrate...)
>
>
>
>
>==
>Jim Spencer
>Sayre, PA
>
>


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