Is there a way to make a DIY heater? (for an odd shape)

[rabbit]

Hi, Im wondering if there are any plans out there for making a DIY heater.
I need something that will go into a relatively shallow container with curved sides (so it can't be easily attached in the usual way).
Anyone?

 

[justDIY]

how many gallons we talkin?

they make nano heaters that work for 3 to 5 gallons

 

[rabbit]

not a clue, but the quantity of water is quite a bit. Definitely over 10 gal. Its an old terrarium Ive converted into a watergarden/aquarium. (That is, its mostly plants but there are a few fish in it).
I used to have a small 50W heater sort of laying horizontally along the bottom, and it worked, but it kept sinking into the sand and eventually actually slightly melted the rubber support thingie that was sort of holding it up. Besides it was tricky to set up because of the way it is planted. Figured I should probably get it out.
I need it because both the plants and the fish I have in it like the temp to be a little warmer than the 21deg. C that it currently is, and also to create a slight convection current.
I seem to recall someone somewhere mentioning making a heater with sand and glass, but I don't remember the forum I read it at (and Ive run searches at all the ones I usually go to).

I would definitely prefer something I can "shape" for the location.

 

[justDIY]

find a brick or piece of slate and epoxy the heater to it, then it wont go sinking in the sand, and if it does, well, no harm anway

alternaly, you can build some substrate heating cables which will be custom to your tanks dimenisons

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Tech/Resler-Cables/

 

[fishfreek]

Ya I was gonna suggest the substrate heating lines. Personally I would not want to try to build a heater simply because a submerged heater is something that honestly is very dangerious should the seal between the heater coils and the water break.

 

[tkos]

Instead of those clip on the back heaters why not just buy a fully submersable heater that you can lay into the tank. Though the coil does sound good.

 

[rabbit]

well I did think of using a submerged heater but the problem is that its already a well established planted water garden. Id have to dig everything up in order to do that. I would REALLY like to avoid that since its taken a long time to get the plants to the level they are at now and the last time I took everything apart it took months for the plants to re establish themselves to this level of luxuriousness.
And I was using a fully submersible heater. It was laying on its side basically.
But as I mentioned the problem was only partially that it sank. The main difficulty is that due to the shape of the tank, (a circle) even the shortest store bought heater that I've seen can only be laid down the middle, due to the placement of the plants. It looks really bad.
Thats Why Im hopping to find something I can custom make. as for seal on the cable/element, Im not too worried about that since if I can create the right design, I would just make sure to keep that part out of the water and still slather it with waterproofing (silicone and everything else I can think of). Heck it can't be that bad, Ive seen someone use a heating coil from a stove as a heating coil on a DIY really big tank (just really well sealed with silicone at the connection).