heat tape is a bit of a slippery term, there is heat cable and heat films tape could be either.
NO heat source can should be used UNREGULATED
Typically in UTH that do not need to be wired I'd recommend ultratherm or lately zoo med *I think* (or kane) they are restricted heat and under no circumstances get hot enough to melt plastic. They max at 100ºF too hot to be use with out a regulator but not hot enough that if it failed it would be a huge issue.
Flexwatt is another carbon element (same as uths) but it comes un wired and needs to be wired it also gets VERY hot unregulated and it is not recommended to ever be used with out control the manufacturer states it should not be run over 100ºF but it will exceed 160º unregulated. In the case of a failure it can have steep consequences.
Heat cable or rope is coated wire that gets hot. It is wired and water resistant so it can be easier to deal with if it might get damp or splashed upon. It also gets quite hot and unregulated could cause severe problems.
The easiest for a single enclosure is a UTH I personally like the ultratherms solid and dependable and they run cooler than most so T-stat failure is not such a huge problem.
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