Heat cables vs. heat pads.

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dirtyblacksocks

dirtyblacksocks

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jan 25, 2008
1,542
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Moreno Valley
I've got a couple Vision 211 cages for my leo's that I'm trying to get a heat source set up on.

I'm trying to line up the price difference between using heat cables vs. a heat pad on roughly half the tank bottom.

What I'm wondering is how close you guys space your heat cable to get even heat distribution through the plastic into your tupperware and/or tanks. I.e. 1/2" apart, 1" apart or what?

Thanks.
 
lame pic i know,but i went to reptile depot this weekend and they use it.They have the metal wire shelving with 5 and 10 gallon tanks,screen tops,florecent tubes under each shelf and heat rope under tanks that need it.I looked under the ones with it and they are done like this.View attachment untitled heat.bmpIf you ask me,the ropes dont get very warm,i grabed one and just dosnt seem like it would do much but once its all close together it may be diferent.It was taped on with black tape.
 
Flexwatt heat tape seems to be the preferred way to go for under-tub/tank heat, and has advantages over the heat cable for a couple of reasons.

For one, I believe that flexwatt uses a lot less power than the heat cable. Saves on the electric bill.

Second, flexwatt heats evenly over its whole surface. If you put your hand on a 12x11" square that is controlled by a thermostat to heat to 94 degrees, you'll barely be able to tell it is on. The heat cable gets a lot hotter and if you put your prove 2" away from the cable and want that area to be 94 degrees, the heat cable itself may be heating to 100 degrees or more.

That's not to say that heat cable doesn't work. I have an Animal Plastics 32qt rack with indirect belly heat and uses heat cable, and it has worked fine for me. However, that was the last rack I ever bought that used heat cable. I prefer my other racks that use flexwatt.
 
Gourami Swami;1528759; said:
The flexwatt I have never seems to get hot enough to do much. I use cable.
Click to expand...

How are you using it?

I've never had problems with it heating up when used for belly or back heat in an enclosed rack system.

Might want to check you connections...

The thing with flexwatt is that it distributes the heat so evenly that, your hand being 98 degrees, makes it feel like it isn't running that hard if you set it for 90 degrees or so. The heat cable runs a lot hotter, which is why is "feels" like it works better...when in reality it is just putting off the same energy in a more concentrated area.
 
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