Climate Control

[Arowana1902]

I have spent a while looking for ways to control the temperature of a terrarium (in my case, specifically a nepenthes terrarium) and have been unable to find any really stellar (at least under $150) ways to achieve a nighttime temperature drop. What methods do you guys use for this purpose? It's highland nepenthes so I'm thinking 75ish in the day and 55-60ish in the night, does this sound about right? This will probably be applied on a 30 gallon terrarium. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Dexenthes]

Well if reducing the temperature of the terrarium is what is needed and the area that you live doesn't naturally reach those temperatures regularly, then it will be very expensive to get those temperature drops. People that live in hotter areas of the country will sometimes outfit refrigerators or ice boxes with lights and thermostats and such. I've yet to see a way to cool down a grow area that didn't seem pretty expensive and laborious.

If the area you live gets down to the 50s and 60s every night you can try to incorporate the outdoor temperature into cooling your terrarium and this can be achieved with fans and ducts which can be relatively cheaper.

If the area that you live does not fall below 70 for extended portions of the year, you might want to consider growing intermediate and lowland Nepenthes so that you don't risk killing any rare and sensitive highland species.

 

[mikefallen13]

I just use a small window AC unit ducted into my terrarium. Cost about $120 for the AC, ducting and timer, relatively cheap and pretty effective too.

 

[naoki]

This may be useful:
DIY Air Conditioner - Cooling Systems for Highland Nepenthes