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Mass's "up the humidity" project

So I've been doing some thinking after talking to the GrowLab kids. My plants have started growing so much better since I started growing them in water (raised humidity). Well, I'm still getting burnt LFS so I wanted to dampen the light a bit. Plus I wanted to adopt a better growing style. Something more like pygo's setup. No standing water, lot's of fog, high humidity. Just top notch growing.
I know this probably will turn into trouble not too far down the road. Like using a steel frame to hold in high amounts of humidity. But I just wanted something better than a ziplock bag for my nicer neps.
This is just a rough draft, threw it together in an hour or so. It's not completely sealed, that way the fog drifts out into the rest of the GH. I'm only going to fog up the area twice a day. Once in the morning and again at night. At least until I can get this idea under control. Haven't logged the new specs (temp & humidity), but I'm confident the plants will be a lot happier. Time will tell..

Thoughts, ideas, and concerns are MORE than welcome..


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Was also able to move my cephs and tuberous dews up to the lights a bit. Hopefully they appreciate that..

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Just Fog It man! :D

I use an ultrasonic humidifier & fan for my HL stuff it works great. A lot of people don't wanna go to the "trouble" of filling a humidifier every day or two but it's not THAT much work.

I have the pair hooked up to the Zoomed Hygrotherm which runs the fan to cool the tank and the humidistat to set the humidity at 90%.
 
Congrats Travis...you pretty much built the same thing I use for my neps....minus the fan.
 
I've got the fan.. just haven't taken the time this evening to hang it.
 
I've got the fan.. just haven't taken the time this evening to hang it.

Oh...so you HAVE built pretty much what I've got...AWESOME! :lol:
 
Apparently you didn't understand that I was agreeing with your decision to set up the humidifier... ???

[I'm only going to fog up the area twice a day. Once in the morning and again at night./QUOTE]

Mine runs probably every 10-15 minutes sometimes more sometimes less, only fogging the space twice a day isn't gonna do anything more for you than misting them twice a day would. Get a humidistat and fan to circulate the fog evenly the humidifier will run a lot all day and night to keep the air 90%.

If you have a large space and the temps are not cool while the lights are on you don't get as high of humidity. I don't see any fog in your pics at all, my chamber fills with white fog as the humidifier is running. Also, you said it is not "sealed" that is another problem for maintaining a micro climate.
 
Mine runs probably every 10-15 minutes sometimes more sometimes less, only fogging the space twice a day isn't gonna do anything more for you than misting them twice a day would. Get a humidistat and fan to circulate the fog evenly the humidifier will run a lot all day and night to keep the air 90%.

If you have a large space and the temps are not cool while the lights are on you don't get as high of humidity. I don't see any fog in your pics at all, my chamber fills with white fog as the humidifier is running. Also, you said it is not "sealed" that is another problem for maintaining a micro climate.

I mostly agree with all of what was said here, but I would just run the humidifier all day, while the lights are on, along with a small fan for ventilation. You can adjust the fog output on the humidifier depending on what you are getting as far as average humidity. Have the fan turn of with the lights, but put the humidifier on it's own timer, and have it turn on 30 min before the lights come on, and turn off 30 min after they turn off. If you can get a timer that allows you to program multiple times for it to be on, then I would have the humidifier kick back on about halfway through the night, for another 10-15min. I do this with my terrarium, and so far all of my plants are doing great. I will be starting a new thread here in a minute, so I can cover what I have done with my setup, which has changed a bit...again

Doing it this way is cheaper than buying a humidistat, and if it isn't working the way you want it to, you can still add a humidistat if you decide you want to try it. I got my digital timer for like $10 at Walmart, I think the humidistat generally retails around $100.

Anyways, what you have done looks like a very fun and interesting project, and as usual your plants are looking gorgeous! Keep up the good work, and let us know how things turn out! :-D
 
Dude.. what do ya think this is? http://i1139.photobucket.com/albums/n551/masspitchers/IMG_7163.jpg Yup.. an ultrasonic fogging humidifier. I fill it twice a day, let it run as long as the lights are on, and am still only getting 70%. How big is your space?

Mass, that particular ultrasonic humidifier has a "restrictor plate" to reduce output. If you turn the tank upside down and look down the outlet you will see it.

It can be removed with a pair of needle nose and a little twisting and yanking.... (aggressively LOL)

caveat, it will help its performance quite a bit, but it will also show the weakness of that unit's small reservoir size (hence their reason for adding the restrictor to begin with)

Ive experiemented with almost every brand of ultrasonic humidifier over the years.... fwiw, the sunpentown su-2000 is top dog imho

+1 on Ann's comments.... i run mine constantly whenever the lights are on and simply adjust output levels. Constant running allows me go take full advantage of evaporational cooling (which is critical in my setup, ymmv)...


Av
 
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  • #11
Yeah.. I totally misunderstood what you were saying there Hooverville. Mah bad.. mah blunders. Your LFS looks gorgeous btw! Another big reason I did this is so mine will stay like that. Also, the reason you didn't see any fog in the pics was because I took them pretty much at the same time I finished assembly and turned on the humidifier.

Anna, you basically describe my exact setup. Except my fogger comes on and off with the lights, and the (2) fans are on 24/7.
 
  • #12
I second using the sunpentown su2000. I dont use it for a highland chamber but the thing has a nice 2 gallon capacity and run smooth as silk and has a nice output stream of fog for sure.
 
  • #13
What is your target humidity? I have my rack nestled in a recess in my wall that I covered in foam board insulation. Basically I created a little insulated box for the rack (minus the top... still trying to figure out how best to do that, or even if it's necessary). This coupled with the evaporation from the little bit of standing water and the surface of the pots keeps the humidity around 65% during the day, and even the touchy stuff (Jamban, Jacquelineae, etc) are doing really well. I was going to hook up my humidifier and a fan, but it doesn't seem to be necessary. What was your humidity at before the change?
 
  • #14
Humidity was at 70%-80%.. which the plants responded well to after adding some real lights. My target is 85%+ constant.. something that will make my moss happy as well.
 
  • #15
I didn't think about the moss. Sounds like you're on the right track to your goal. Nice job!
 
  • #16
LOL It's looking like America will be one big Hooverville before long... :D

I could add that I water the plants every 3-4 days due to the moss using so much water and the air swirling around all the time. When I fertilize I let the pots sit a day or two before follow up flushing. Giving both the moss and the Neps time to soak up the nutes. Every other day I use a gallon size pump up garden sprayer with wand to soak the moss as if it were getting rained on. keeps it very soft and supple and quickly growing. My moss was tall and hiding the plants but I did a big haircut a month or so ago, getting to be time again on some of the smaller guys.
 
  • #17
Balancing humidity and temps is the toughest thing for me. Been in this hobby for 6 years now and still I experiment and try to tweak to find the right balance. I did keep my humidity 85% plus for a few months, and started getting rust in on/in my light fixtures and on the grow rack. Plus mold and mildew issues, despite running a large fan 24/7 and pulling in fresh outside air. Also in order to maintain that my humidifier literally wouldn't turn off at all.
 
  • #18
SUCCESS!
Woke up this morning to 90% humidity and the enclosed area was nothing but fog. Temps were a bit lower than I've been able to achieve prior, so that's a bonus.

Question: Who thinks it's best to fog only twice a day, and why? And who thinks it's best to fog 24/7, and why? ~ Kind of the same thing we've already been talking about. But hey.. this will keep the thread going and give us all something to talk about. :rolleyes:
 
  • #19
What brand of ultrasonic mister do you use? Does it have a paper filter?

I bought a cheap humidifier a while back, but quit using it because it didn't do much for humidity and the paper filter needed replaced about every two weeks due to lime build up. We have very hard water here.
 
  • #20
It's umm.. Walgreen's brand, literally. No paper filter. Been using this same one for almost 6 years now. And it still works great.
 
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