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Re: Poor Mans Substrate Heating
A method I have used is not as cheap as the "ballast under the tank" method,
but it gives you more control of the temp, a major factor for us southerners
whose primary enemy is heat, not cold. I bought (from a herp supply place,
Big Apple Herp, www.bigappleherp.com) a remote thermostat with a temperature
probe and some "heat tape" which is simply stuck to the aquarium glass on
the bottom. There is "heat tape" available which you cut to size, but you
must make your own connections, I used a product from Hagen which you buy as
a presized/wired piece of plastic with adhesive on one side and the heating
elements embedded in it. I added a little silicone to the temperature probe
since it is really water "resistant" rather than "proof" and placed it in my
substrate (about 3/4 of the way down).
The undertank heater serves as the only heater in the tank. By setting the
temp of the substrate to 80 deg. I maintain a water column temperature of
around 76 deg. When there is already too much heat due to ambient temps
increasing, the heater does not come on. When I tried using substrate
heating without a thermostat, even with a timer, the tank temperatures would
rise too high.
FWIW,
Darren