substrate heaters?

[wpegden]

Hi all... I know there's been some debate about this on various newsgroups, etc., but I cant' seem to dig up recent posts on the subject. What is the current state of the debate on substrate heaters and their benefits for plants? Snake oil? Maybe beneficial? Almost certainly beneficial? What kind of evidence is there for these positions?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm setting up a 90 gallon, and foster&smith have a substrate heater on sale (the hydrokable/hydrostat).

Thanks much for any help,
Wes

[lhforbes12]

That they are expensive, and pretty much worthless. Not to mention a major PITA when trying to transplant.

Larry

[diablocanine]

Substrate heaters will work. I used to believe they did not work from what I read until I met some one that set up two tanks one with and one without. He reported a very noticeable difference. I bought a bunch of his stuff, he has moved to a smaller place; was an angel breeder and is getting out of the freshwater breeding and planted tank hobby to concentrate on saltwater. Contact him for his experience with substrate heaters, here is the one he is selling.

Dupla Therm 500 set under substrate heater, with Goldline GTC1R Temperature controller. $100
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product.asp?3=152

http://www.jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/HARD...ontroller.html (this link is not working, here is another link, I believe the model number has changed.) http://jehmco.com/PRODUCTS_/HARDWARE_/Temperature_Controller/temperature_controller.html

Here is a link to the swap n shop post on the planted tank......DC

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/swap-n-shop/29595-many-items-new-9-months-use.html

[Ed13]

They work really good in situations when you can actually increase the temp near the roots to a higher degree than the water column otherwise they are a waste of money that you could be spending on something else.

Btw they work by creating a convection of water between the warmer substrate and the cooler water thereby providing roots with nutrients

[yeomans]

Have you thought about the option of heating the substrate via a heating mat placed underneath the tank. You could use the same mats greenhouses use to start seedings, and they have a temp control. The benifits are probably there by heating the substrate, I imagine the roots would grow much faster, but I've personally never tried it, but have seen the benifits in greenhouse seedlings that were placed on heating mats. Check out a greenhouse supply or hydroponics store, I think the mats are manufactured by a company called grotek.

[lhforbes12]

Yeomans,
Doesn't work, you lose what little benefit that is gained because the mats don't cause convection currents. I should also say that not a single one of the plant experts use heating cables anymore, not even George Booth. Their problems far out weigh any benefits. As I already said, try transplanting Echinodorus, Cryptocoryne or for that matter, any plant with a sizable root system... you WILL hate them too. The roots get tangled in the cables and you end up with a horrible mess... everytime (imagine trying to get the cables re-aligned UNDER your substrate after you have just pulled them all up... not really viable) (This is the real reason no one use them now). As I also have already stated, they are expensive too, and you still need a heater(s) to heat the water column because substrate heaters are not designed to actually heat your tank, only to cause a very slow flow of water through the substrate. A waste of time, money and energy IMHO. Much better to spend your money elsewhere.

Larry

[pcsb23]

Wes,

As you can see people seem to have strong views on them. Firstly they do work when properly sized etc.. some brands are better than others. Rena do a very good one as do Dupla. Don't know about others. The draw back, as Larry points out, is that the roots do get tangled up in them, and it can be difficult to transplant or relocate plants in the tank sometimes. What I will say is you do not need them to have a successfully planted tank, be it high, medium or low tech. I really would not bother with the under tank heating mats, too expensive to buy and run.

hth,

[wpegden]

Thanks for all the responses, guys. I think I'll pass for now... I'll put my money somewhere else.