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Substrate heating cables
I asked a similar question earlier, and only got one (very helpful)
response. I now have a couple of other questions, in addition to the
original, and would really appreciate some additional opinions. I was
asking about heating cable wattages, and the electrical requirements of
them. I was looking over George Booth's website, and noticed that in
his 100 gallon tanks he uses cables as low as 150w, and as high as
200w. I'm leaning pretty heavily towards the 150w cables (Dupla's 500s,
I think), run by a 24v, 7 amp transformer, as I think it would allow the
cables to be on more. Any suggestions?
Also, in The Optimum Aquarium, Horst and Kipper say that .3-.5 w/gal is
ideal, yet they are now selling cables that run 1-1.5 w/gal. Anyone
have any ideas as to why the change occurred?
Finally, I need to get a transformer for the cables, and am a little
confused. I was under the impression that the cables would run hotter
if you put more amps through them. I am now wondering if this is the
case. Do the cables develop only so much heat, and the rest of the
power put out by the transformer is unused, or will the transformer only
put out as much power as the cables need to develop a particular
wattage? Or (as seems to happen with frightening frequency :-) am I
completely wrong?
All help is greatly appreciated,
Justin Collins