Aqua sobriquet
Member
In the 1990’s a friend and I both set up tropical freshwater Aquariums, mine was a three foot tank holding nearly 50 Gallons and his was a four foot holding maybe 60 gallons. Both of us used under tank heaters.
These were the very thin carbon fibre type commonly sold these days for Vivariums. At the time they were advertised in the magazines for fish tanks. They simply sat between the bottom of the tank and a layer of supporting polystyrene. They needed to be wired to a suitable thermostatic controller and had an in tank temperature probe. I heated my Aquarium this way for over ten years and I believe my friend did for nearly fifteen years without any issues.
So what I can’t help wondering is why this system is no longer promoted for Aquarium use? As stated the only thing that was inside the tank was a tiny low voltage temperature probe on a thin cable. All in all much neater than putting a conventional heater in a tank, especially a small tank like a Nano. An STC1000 Thermostat can be had for around £8:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Temperat...089964?hash=item2619c4dfac:g:W38AAOSw4QRcrC9Q
And the heating mats themselves aren’t expensive:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...hash=item41e43001b4:m:mMt6LYsQ1-LA78sibD4bFfA
I notice that these days at least some of the longer mats have the power lead and associated “bump” (which requires a cutout in the Polystyrene) are at the narrow end of the mat which makes hiding it something of an issue. When I had mine it was in the middle of the long edge so ended up hidden at the back of the cabinet.
Any thoughts on why these have fallen out of favour? They obviously worked reliably and I’m sure many were sold at the time.
These were the very thin carbon fibre type commonly sold these days for Vivariums. At the time they were advertised in the magazines for fish tanks. They simply sat between the bottom of the tank and a layer of supporting polystyrene. They needed to be wired to a suitable thermostatic controller and had an in tank temperature probe. I heated my Aquarium this way for over ten years and I believe my friend did for nearly fifteen years without any issues.
So what I can’t help wondering is why this system is no longer promoted for Aquarium use? As stated the only thing that was inside the tank was a tiny low voltage temperature probe on a thin cable. All in all much neater than putting a conventional heater in a tank, especially a small tank like a Nano. An STC1000 Thermostat can be had for around £8:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Temperat...089964?hash=item2619c4dfac:g:W38AAOSw4QRcrC9Q
And the heating mats themselves aren’t expensive:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium...hash=item41e43001b4:m:mMt6LYsQ1-LA78sibD4bFfA
I notice that these days at least some of the longer mats have the power lead and associated “bump” (which requires a cutout in the Polystyrene) are at the narrow end of the mat which makes hiding it something of an issue. When I had mine it was in the middle of the long edge so ended up hidden at the back of the cabinet.
Any thoughts on why these have fallen out of favour? They obviously worked reliably and I’m sure many were sold at the time.