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myles' high and lowland terrarium builds

  • #21
thank you veryyyy much for posting kyle! hadn't consider the vacuum.... was planning on sealing the larger bucket but airtight might be tough.

first off, awesome idea on the bucket humidifier. if it'll make my life easier on the reloads of water, im in!

can you throw up links to what I'd need for the bucket humidifiers? I am not super handy and need things explained pretty simply to me. But its not from lack of trying on my part!

The only problem i foresee is that i have two tanks on two hygrotherms. I want them to keep each tanks' humidity at set points. Can I do this with one bucket humidifier or would i need one for each tank?

again, really appreciate the input before i drilled holes anywhere i would regret.
Sorry, I missed this post.

If you go to the build thread in my sig, watch the video, and skip to about 2:50, you'll see the basic design. The basics of it really is just a pond fogger in a buoy in some sort of reservoir, with a fan to push the fog out. Got my 3-disc pond fogger + buoy on ebay for like $70, been going about two years now and I've had to replace the discs (about $5/ea) once. Not too shabby if you ask me. I think when the time comes to get a replacement fogger I'll get one of the 5-disc ones from mainlandmart that does like 1500mL/hr.

Regarding having to deal with both tanks, well... you could certainly pull it off with some creativity, lol. One of two ideas that immediately come to mind are using powered duct louvers (open when powered) to control where the fog goes. Another is that you could put two large-diameter pieces of PVC with holes in the bottom through the bucket lid, all the way to the bottom, essentially creating two "fogging chambers" within the same reservoir, but you'd need a fogger for each chamber. Both these ideas are relatively expensive, but I'm sure with some creativity other, cheaper methods could be thought of.
 
  • #22
hmmm... sounds interesting. I am fairly poor atm and would have to wait to buy the supplies so i have time to ponder on it before jumping in. :)

right now I'm using the bottles that come with the reptifoggers, did you mention that 2 liter soda bottles will work? if so, that should give me more water in the rez each fill right? these def seem smaller then 2 liter as far as capacity. Would be a nice improvement for very cheap for the time being
 
  • #23
I've never owned one of them, but I remember someone (Heli, perhaps?) saying they used Smart Water bottles. It's worth a shot anyway, all it costs ya is the money for the soda. XD
 
  • #24
thats what i was sayin lol. anything to increase gaps between fillups!


cheers, really appreciate the info you took the time to drop on me :-D
 
  • #26
progress :D got the system hooked up....just letting the cooler do its thing. after a few hours I am going to check and see what the water temp bottoms out at. I adjusted the screw in back so it cools as mucha s its meant to. If that does not adequately cool the tank, I will buy a seperate thermostat with its own probe n cut the cooler's stock provbe off so it will cool until its as cold as I want it :)

the radiator isn't gunna look great in this lil tank but once I build the new tank, I will work on getting th eradiator in wihtout it being in the way or looking unsightly

cheers
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  • #27
an a few more pics. group shot of the crammed in family and the new arrival complete with tiedowns :p it wouldnt stay in its pot due to being topheavy so had to get creative

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  • #28
very nice!
 
  • #30
well upgrade already in progress :p just ordered two sets of plexi to assemble tanks 36 inches long, 24 inches wide and 24 inches tall. set me back 270 with shipping which is great as the least expensive quote I could get for a premade tank of that size was 400! And that was for only one tank.

will probably use a window mount A/C to cool the highland tank. still thinking about a possible heating method for the lowland. The heat pad is barely enough to keep temps up in the small tank.
 
  • #31
Your tanks are looking very nice. I like how you made a frame for your lights. I have two T8 lights with 2 bulbs each so four bulbs total. I'll have to rig something different because of the double chains. Sitting on the lid make the tank too hot.
 
  • #32
thanks man. just wait till the new tanks get put together. more than twice the space will be veryyy nice
 
  • #33
I wanted to warn you against buying a new thermostat if your system is working non-stop as is. All thermostat is supposed to do is to open the circuit and turn off compressor when certain temperature is reached. In the case with the water cooler its compressor will most likely not be able to cope with the heat you are pumping back in through heat exchanger, and it will not turn off anyway. Thermostat does not increase the compressor's efficiency, it's just a smart circuit breaker. So again if your water cooler does not seem to turn off, adding the thermostat will not make it suck heat out of your terrarium faster/better. Instead, purchase insulation and insulate your HL tank from all sides (including bottom) and cover with plexiglass/glass on the top.

I'm still playing with my watercooler and so far in 55G tank I have reached a drop of 15F with no Lights on. So...
 
  • #34
The problem is i am upgrading the growspace to be twice as large as it is now. The cooler won't be much use once the new tank is put it. I am going to use a window mounted A/C with a themrostat to keep it from overcooling the area.
 
  • #35
I see. I will try and see how the cooler performs in my 55G tank the next few weeks with a bit more improvement and insulation. The biggest problem in my case is the insulation of the tank. I bet with few more mods I can squeeze a few more degrees out of the wartercooler/refrigerator but all that is useless if the energy keeps bleeding in through glass.
 
  • #36
yeah, i heard acrylic unsulates better than glass but obv it still sheds heat/cold. you could use foam wrap that is meant for packing. I have it around my lowland tank to keep heat in a bit better. its secured tightly to the acrylic and at the very least, it cant hurt to have on there
 
  • #37
I am thinking to use what I used to insulate my grow rack. Reflective styrofoam sheets. Or a couple of layers of reflective bubble wrap. Dunno what's better.
 
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