Terrarium Setup & Pics

[gill_za]

TheFury,

Try the Bong cooler?
Simple and very effective, if you don't mind the noise. But even that could be remedied.

 

[Av8tor1]

Many have tried over the years....none that I am aware of would recommend it after trying it.

If you notice in that guys video he has basically made a styrofoam cooler. Since cold air is more dense this would work many times better than a typical terrarium. This is discussed at the end of the peltier thread.

Yann did everything possible to get a 70w peltier to work with a 10 gallon aquarium, he finally gave up

Single pane glass is a very poor insulator... and as the Delta T decreases efficiency decreases even more

Can it be made to work, IMHO.... well yes, but only with proper insulation and the removal of any single pane glass sides/bottom,

But, as someone who built a couple and tried, would I recommend it.... simple answer is no

Having said all that.... please post your progress, Ive still got all my equipment if someone comes up with a good method to make them work.

electirical sizing advice, a 70w peltier requires about 6 amps @12vdc, for continous operation it is wise to double the size of the power supply. So you will need a 12amp/12vdc power supply.... price that befor you buy anything else,

 

[TheFury]

Ughhhhghghghhhghghhhghghhghh LOL you're right. Once I started looking at the cost of all the stuff it seemed more expensive than it was worth to get that extra 5-10 degree temperature drop I'm looking for. The part I missed was that Yann was unable to get his setup working. The construction seemed very promising at least!

@gill_za... bong cooler eh? I'm going to have to check this method out.

 

[gill_za]

Actually ignore my comment about bong cooler. It could be a replacement for water cooler as means of providing coolant for the radiator. I dunno what I was thinking about... Sorry

 

[TheFury]

Ha, yeah looks like it. But those things are cool!

I figure it might not be worth it to invest more in cooling equipment. During hot summer days my temps will likely range form 75-83F down to 68-75F at night. That's not going to kill most HL Neps as long as it doesn't last too long.

I just stuck some ice packs in the reservoir of the cooler. Makes it significantly colder (obviously), but also hopefully adds some better temperature retention for the reservoir, holding cold temperatures longer. I've got a bunch of them so when a summer heat wave does come I can just switch the ice packs every night for a few days to help achieve a good temperature drop despite the heat.

Anyway.... photo time.

N. lowii x campanulata

N. maxima "Poi Dog" with some cool lookin' pitchers.

New addition! N. veitchii x platychila. Once this starts making mature pitchers the peristomes will be nuts!

Cute little spec x aristo

Repotting my P. 'Titan' has caused a bit of a growth spurt

Repotted my H. heterodoxa x minor today, but I'm pretty sure I severed a root. Got my fingers crossed this guy can power through...
Also, an unidentified Nep pitcher inflating near the back of the pot

Little unrooted H. pulchella division from Heli... fingers crossed that it settles in!

New young Ceph with lotsa growth points

 

[Heli]

everything looks great and good luck with the division!

 

[gill_za]

Cool pics!

Question though, is the temperature drop good for those temperate sundews? I have an issue with filiformis going to sleep if the temps drop to below 75 repeatedly. And rotunds don't seem to like very much. How is you experience with them?

 

[TheFury]

Thanks! Yeah, we'll see about the temp drops. I don't really have much experience since I've only had this setup up and running for about a week. Worst case, I move those dews out to my windowsill. So far they're happy though. The D. filiformis is a red variety that doesn't require dormancy (not to say it doesn't go dormant, of course). How long does it take your filiformis to go to sleep once the temp drops start happening?

Also, that D. rotundifolia is actually a D. prolifera

So I'm starting to get concerned about the cooling capacity of my system. Room temp was 69 degrees last night. Tank temp was 61 degrees, with the cooling system running constantly. Once room temps rise, the cooling system will be inadequate to keep my HL Neps happy, don't ya think? Gotta figure something out...

 

[gill_za]

How long does it take your filiformis to go to sleep once the temp drops start happening?

Also, that D. rotundifolia is actually a D. prolifera

Oh no I wasn't thinking that those are rotundifolia, it's just I have them in my collection and they try to go dormant on me as soon as the temperatures start dropping. Filiformis was just taken out from the refrigerator in the beginning of March as well. At first it had put out leaves like crazy. My room temperature was 77-78 since I had heater on. And now the temperature outside started warming up (although it drops low at night) and I turned it off. Checked up on them two days ago (took the pot out from top shelve) and saw no new leaves and a tight hairy hibernacula again. Very confusing. The temperatures have been diving to below 75 throughout past few weeks at night. And it just woken up from 3 months hibernation... ehh...

So I'm starting to get concerned about the cooling capacity of my system. Room temp was 69 degrees last night. Tank temp was 61 degrees, with the cooling system running constantly. Once room temps rise, the cooling system will be inadequate to keep my HL Neps happy, don't ya think? Gotta figure something out...

I wonder what If you position the radiator lower from the lights. Or perhaps place it in such a way that the colder air from radiator also mixes with the air from a humidifier? There won't be much evaporative cooling going on but it might still give you an edge perhaps?

 

[TheFury]

Yeah as it's positioned right now it's about as low as it can get in the tank without crushing plants. It's oriented vertically so the bottom fan is a solid 10-12" below the lights. And as the airflow radiates out of the fan in a conical pattern, the airflow intersects directly with the stream of mist from the humidifier, circulating it around nicely. I also have a mist watering system that runs three one-minute cycles per day, and the mist evaporates off of the plants for about 10 minutes after each cycle. I'm afraid I'm already maxed on potential evaporative cooling.

I keep using the P word here... but I wonder if floating one of those "ice probe" Peltier aquarium chillers in the reservoir of my water cooler would be enough to cool it down an extra few degrees. Do you think my HLs and intermediates will get fussy about my current temps once things warm up a bit? I'm thinking that having come this far, I should bite the bullet and buy an aquarium chiller if temps are going to pose a problem in a month or two...

 

[Heli]

Maybe your system can only cool down to 61, you should try making your room warm and see if it still gets down to 61. That would mean the cooling system is still effective at cooling, just down to a certain temp.

 

[Thagirion]

Looks nice. I like the poi dog. I guess those are fun if you don't mind know what's in them.

 

[TheFury]

@Heli - you're right, I'd be thrilled if that happened. I think my HLers would be happy with a minimum temp of 60-65 (I know that's a bit on the warm end for some, but hopefully not mine...) for a few days or weeks at a time provided I could keep the day temps below 80 relatively easily.... right??

@Thagirion - thanks! Yeah, I prefer to know what's in my Neps--two of mine are unidentified--but the whole idea behind a poi dog is kinda cool too (random hodge podge of Frankenstein Neps made in a hurry, most of which are darn cool and complex hybrids). In this case, I'll take it! I know this particular poi dog is supposed to have a lot more red coloration on the pitchers, which is perplexing me at the moment. Likely that coloration will develop over time; this one is a rooted cutting that's only a few months old.

 

[Heli]

You could pretty much grow any HL nep with those conditions during the summer. Sure the plants will slow down a little but they will speed up with the cooler temps of winter. I think the only plant you would have trouble with would be N. villosa but that could still grow with nights down to 60.

 

[TheFury]

Brilliant, that's what I assumed. Was hoping someone with practical experience could verify that. For now I'll cross my fingers that my cooler will be able to whip out the big guns during heat waves and keep the cooling fluid at a consistent temperature. And I'll have a bucket full of icepacks at the ready! Cooler temperatures (courtesy of an aquarium chiller) are just a (very expensive) click away... worst case, I'll make the plunge.

Tally-ho!

 

[gill_za]

TheFury,

When you get a chance could you run a little experiment? Could you measure the temperature of the chilled and well mixed coolant when the system is idle. And the temperature of this same solution during the day and evening when the system is working and the temperature change in the terrarium plateaued. I'm just curious how well it exchanges the heat.

Thank you.

 

[TheFury]

Sure, I'll do that tonight. Then I'll run it again during a summer heat wave just to see how the ambient temperature affects the cooling ability of the cooler itself. Good idea!

 

[TheFury]

So, I just mentioned this in robthered's cooling system thread... but with room temperature of 65F last night (brrr) my terrarium got down to 51. Not too shabby. It does go to show you how susceptible this system is to heat escaping through the glass of the terrarium. Doesn't bode well for summer months where ambient temps will be 20F higher. D'oh! I think I'm going to cover the top half of all the windows in my apartment with reflective mylar to keep some of the sun's energy out. That's as much for my benefit as it is for the plants'; it gets STUPID hot inside my apartment in July and August.

Also, gill_za... looks like I don't have an analog/liquid thermometer LOL. I'll have to go pick one up before I can measure the temps in my reservoir.

 

[TheFury]

So a couple of things occurred to me that I think might prove useful.

First, I hadn't bothered to dust off the radiator coils on the back of the cooler. Done.

Second, the cooler was too close to the wall, and too close to my terrarium. I spaced it out a bit:

Now the terrarium (which I'm trying to cool, obviously) is further away from a heat source, and the coils have more room to breathe.

I also ghetto-rigged a cooling fan to blow over the radiator coils on my cooler. It's plugged in to the Hygrotherm, so when the pump comes on to begin circulating coolant to the radiator, the cooling fan comes on to draw heat away from the coils as the cooler works harder to keep the coolant cold.

I also realized that the fans I have mounted to my radiator are low-flow because they're also low-noise. They don't move a whole lot of air. So if I got a normal fan with higher air flow, I'd probably get better results.

Interesting... Now, to find a thermometer...

 

[robthered]

Wow dude. Great idea with the fan on the cooler fins. I'm gonna do the same once I get my tank complete good stuff