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A good article on cable heaters (for under your substrate)

2K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  iam_koi 
#1 ·
#4 ·
I have heard some interesting debate about this in the past without much resolution. So many lush and beautiful tanks that have awesome growth without them and when I saw articles from renouned plant keepers saying they think they are a waste of time then I figured it wasn't worth the extra effort, nor cost.

But like most things that are new or old in the hobby if it works for you then use it. Is better to have the ideas out here than not to have the options to try it and see.
 
#5 ·
dougz said:
:)

Is that a decent magazine, do you know?

Can you get it in N. America?

Just subscribed to the Tropical Fish Hobbyist..
Doug,
Its equal in quality and information but different, sort of in a British way, which is no bad thing. You get newly discovered and/or named species in each issue. Recent issue had a Russian guy who bred clown loaches on purpose (they usually breed in large tanks without the keeper knowing it until they see the young Botia). Very interesting stuff.
I subscribe to both TFH and PFK. The latter is far more expensive to subscribe to being in North America, since each issue has to be securely mailed from there to here. I've subscribed to TFH since I was a kid, and only pay 20 bucks for that. I pay nearly five times that much for PFK per year.
If you can get ahold of a copy of PFK you'll see what I mean; equal but from a different tangent.

Dave
 
#9 ·
herefishy said:
I have one tank with Hydra-Coil. Indifferent about it. Bad thing is, I could only get it in 100w. Not enough to run much more than a 29g tank, if that. Still had to use a heater.
Of course you'd need a heater, herefishy my friend. The cable heater is by nature low wattage. Its gentle heat rises, pulling the bulk water into the substrate like a conveyor belt. You can argue the necessity and effect of a sub-surface cable heater until the Cowfish come home, but they do one handy thing; they keep the substrate fresh - no festering dead spots.
Just FYI, the cable heaters are in all eight freshwater planted. And yes, I can tell the difference with and without, just like with and without pressurized Co2.

Dave
 
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