"David Zopf" wrote in message
. ..
Hrrm. Don't want to totally rain on your idea, but I don't think it will
be realized. Heat tapes (like those used to prevent metal pipes from
freezing) are notoriously difficult to (affordably) control accurately
enough to prevent large temperature swings. They're either on and pumping
out the BTU's, or their off and cooling rapidly. I don't think they'll
ever make a good basis as an affordable means of maintaining small volume
water temperature in a limited range.

The ON or OFF thing did cross my mind. That would be unlike the old
fluorescent strip lights on 12 hours a day. The temp did drop at night as
in nature but was on all day - not on and off, on and off.


In the chemical industry, they have big, wide heat tapes which can be put
onto drums;
http://www.bascousa.com/store/item.a...42&ITEM_ID=128

I'm picturing a teeny tiny one wrapped around a betta bowl. ;-) That's
not practical though.

which are rarely good for anything. They heat indiscriminately, cause a
very hot point to develop where they are in contact with the drum, and
lack any means of circulating the material while heating (convection
currents are notoriously slow to transfer heat in a fluid medium). Your
betta bowls will behave similarly; without water flow/agitation, you'll
have a uninhabitable hot bottom (note: also where any settled decomp
matter will be residing), a tropical middle, and a vastly cooler upper
strata. You thought temperature swings are bad when they occur too
quickly..? Three guesses as to what happens when you have eight or more
degrees of temperature change _within the 2 gallon bowl itself_... :-)

That shoots that idea down the toilet........... LOL!
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