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Are these a good idea, or just a gymmick? Anyone have experience with these?

Cheers
TW

I'll keep it short and sweet. Waste of time and money. Don't bother.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Glad I asked. Thanks

Cheers
TW

Well,

I won't keep it as short as Bensaf

To share a story. Maybe you know that I participated in that Planted Tank Round Table discussion the other week at my LFS. Now, at some point the topic came to heating cables and ALL experienced plant nerds agreed with what bensaf said. But there was one experienced planter (there always has to be one ) who took the idea of these cables (meaning creating a more natural flow of water current through the substrate - warm on bottom and colder on the top - and so forth) and applied them differently.

Now, I am not an expert in anything, and he talked about some electrical heating pads that are used in reptile cages. He uses them underneath his tank, on the outside of the bottom glass. He said it certainly improved the plant growth.

But would I go out and buy these things?

IMHO, plant growth is very sufficient without any substrate heat, no matter how it is produced.

So, a little longer than Bensaf's entry

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hi,
The general idea behind this system is that the coils
generate small currents of water rising from the substrate
into the water and as the water rises through the soil,
replacement water enters the soil. Much like in nature
where water percolates up through the soil bringing
nutrients with it. We are not talking high current, nor
are we speaking of high water flow. Instead, it is just
slight heating to cause a minor difference between the
water column and the substrate. Heat rises towards the
water colum bringing water through the soil with it.
This system was designed to operate in tanks where the
bottom layer was Laterite, or soil. It was not intended
for a gravel filled aquarium, nor was it intended to
actually "heat" the aquarium, that is replace an aquarium
heater.

THE main drawback was the cost. Origionally marketed by
DUPLA, it was expensive as heck and was a new concept.
There are several proponents but most have decided that
while it works, it was not worth the cost. Many DIYers
built their own out of doorbell transformers and hardware
store wire. Some were quite fancy using solid state
components and special wire.

Here are some sites of interest:

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/dupla-cables.htm

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/whyCo2.htm

http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/Articles/PAM_Substrate.htm

http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.9506/msg00003.html

And lastly, addressing too much heat...
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.9506/msg00076.html

If you keep in mind that this system was intitially set
up for tanks with a laterite (clay) layer and the heating
coils were embedded within that layer, and NOT for a tank
with say flourite or something else, then the system
makes sense. Being people, most figured if it worked for
one system then the concept ought to work for all.

It was designed to duplicate the environment found in
nature, where "our" plants came from.

Frank


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