heater strip Needed?

[hsiehqf]

Is there a need to have heater strip below the fertiser and sand during setup of planted tank?

[Nicky]

If I were to redo my tank again I will put in the heater strip.

Reason?

It is cheap (about $30 for a cheap one) and you can turn it on whenever you like, when you need it. The 6ft that was setup faced anerobic (spelling?) substrate and I believe that if the heater strip was there, I can prevent the situation by turning it on (using timer) every night for an hour or so to force convection current through the substrate.

The thing is, if you are about to start a tank and want to save on the $30+, you may need the heater strip in future and will always regret not getting it in there to start with.

Base Fert like Dennerle recommends having the heater to prolong the useful life of the base-fert.

[Cacatuoides]

I agree....I have just setup my new 3 ft tank and added in strip heater(Rena brand)...I find that my plants are doing better than my previous tank which does not have a heater beneath the fert n gravel....

trust me you will not regret having a strip heater....better to add it in at the beginning of your set up!!

just my 2 cents...

[sherchoo]

[quote:e048fd50c6="Cacatuoides"]
trust me you will not regret having a strip heater....better to add it in at the beginning of your set up!!

just my 2 cents...[/quote:e048fd50c6]

Actually, you can only install the gravel heater at the begining of the setup which is before you lay any substrate.

[atteh]

Hi,

What the time line of operating the heater? How long do u guys on it on everyday?

[Jas]

hi to all, how the heater strip look like....

[overdrive]

I'm using a 25w heater coil under my 4 feet tank and I turn it on for 0.5hr, then of it for 0.5hr, then on again for 0.5hr, etc...using a timer. Find that it keeps my substrate from turning black and makes my whole substrate to be a huge biological filter. It also has an overall reducing effect which is good for the plants and nutrients.

[Jared77]

Who sells them.....brands that anybody recommends? Im looking at a 48" x 12" or 48" x 18" and now would be the time to do it (Im still in the planning stages here) Recommended lay out? Space between coils etc? Ive heard of them didn't realize they were so inexpensive to run!!!

[hoonming]

[quote:997aab0a4f="overdrive"]I'm using a 25w heater coil under my 4 feet tank and I turn it on for 0.5hr, then of it for 0.5hr, then on again for 0.5hr, etc...using a timer. Find that it keeps my substrate from turning black and makes my whole substrate to be a huge biological filter. It also has an overall reducing effect which is good for the plants and nutrients.[/quote:997aab0a4f]

Knowing that most fishes and plants like colder water.

Will your heater stripe rise up your tank's temperature?

What is the temperature of your tank which using heater stripe?

[overdrive]

Ok, if you're in a tropical country (eg. Malaysia, Singapore), the substrate heating cable onle works if you have a cooling fan on top or if you have a chiller running. This is a must to create a temperature gradient. I'm using a Dennerle 25W substrate heater for my 4 feet tank (220 litres) with a cooling fan on top. I leave the heater running for 24hrs a day at intervals of 0.5hrs (0.5hrs on, 0.5hrs off for 24 hours). My tank's temperature is around 27-28 degrees celcius. And when the cooling fan turns off when the lights go off, the substrate heater is still running. When I checked the next morning, my tank's temperature is at 28 degrees celcius. So Dennerle's substrate heater is perfectly designed for your tank's water volume, it won't over heat your tank provided you get the recommended wattage. For a cold country you can just leave your substrate heater on for 24hours a day, no problems. For instructions and explanation go to www.dennerle.com and click the 'substrate & heating' button.

[hoonming]

OIC.

Thanks for reply.

This is the first time time I heard fish hobbist using the heater stripe for their planted tank in tropical countries though. :P

[atteh]

Hi Overdrive,

Can i use a 25w for my 5footer or a 50w dennerle?

[overdrive]

Hi atteh,

can you give me your total effective water volume in litres after taking into account your total gravel height? What are you 5 feet tank's dimension? a 25W bodenfluter works up to 250 litres of water. I would think your 5 feet would be slightly more than 250litres, I'm not sure though, again need your tank's dimension. A 25w is still possible (you have to on it all the time though instead of in intervals of 0.5hr whenever the lights are on, when the lights go off, you can revert back to the 0.5hr interval operation), but preferably a 50w bodenfluter.

[Plantbrain]

I used cables for a decade. I had 7 tanks with them some up for 10 years.
I've built them from scratch parts. I can honestly say I have never found them to be of any use.

No one has ever shown me otherwise nor given a decent arguement for their use after 15 years or so now.

There is no evidence I can find that they help aquatic plant, nor does the reducing power help, they don't help there becuase they increasing the oxidation through increasing the flow rates in/out of the substrate which does not help the reduction, it increases it.

I think using cables in warm climates is crazy, you folks do not need any heaters there.

Will a cable set up hurt? No, not really, will it help? Not that I've seen in many many years of keeping plants.

Why add something that does not help and cost$ for the product and the electric?

There is no evidence I've ever seen to show they work. I work specifically with wetland soils and plants.

Regards,
Tom Barr