I dunno about heat tape not melting the plastic. I bought a 4 tier rack unit that came with 3 or 4 inch wide heat tape, I put it on a rheostat because it was getting the tubs to 130 degrees. With the rheostat in place and all the way down (minium) the rack was still at a whopping 120 degrees, so i then added a plug in dimmer, but with no success the tub still maintained a constant temperature of 108 degrees, which cause two of the tubs to melt where it sat over top of the heat tape. This cause one of my breeder females to sustain minor burns, she has since recovered and is doing well. Im sure there are many factors, maybe poor rack design, to high of wattage heat tape, or loose connections (though i didn't see any). Whatever the case may be heat tape does have the potential to melt a tub.

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