Ways to heat your tank

[Peachy]

What are the most effective ways to heat up your aquarium? I have 2 heatpads on the back of mine, but they dont seem to do much. I dont put them under the aquarium because they dry the substrate out and have already made stress cracks in the glass =[

[Badger]

Red incandescent bulbs are awesome heat sources, and can be kept on 24/7

[7urb0]

yeah i think the only way to go would be a heat lamp.

[Mentat]

Started with a dual lamp set-up and with blue on during day and red at night. By observing ABF noted it would hide under plants with blue light on; so now one red is on 24 hours a day. Frog does not mind it at all and uses all tank. Plan to get a dimmer now so can lower output a bit at night.

[falconez]

I was told in an italian forum that incandescent bulbs can dry too much the substrat and even the frog.Iwas thinking to put it on my ABF to heat his enclosure to 28 °,'cos i can't get them only with the heat mat.
I have also to say that my ABF seems not to care at all if the temp is about 71 f and he's growing and eating well.So...what have I to do?

[Sublime]

@falcon Well they do produce more heat (incandescent) and are not considered energy efficient by any standards compared to fluorescent bulbs. There won't be any problems with the substrate and the frog drying out as long as you mist regularly and have a water bowl for him to get into. Yeah; he'll still be able to function in cooler temperatures, but it is advisable to get the temperature more up to 80-85F during the day. Heat pads in my experience don't really do much -- only raise the temperature a few degrees.

@falcon & Peachy Go ahead and get a red incandescent with a dimmer switch (best option).

[Niels D]

You've also got ceramic bulbs, which you can use in combination with a dimmer switch, but they can be expensive.