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Heating a Grow Chamber

I just finished my grow chamber that is patterned off of ones built by Swords and Tom V.  Thanks guys for the wonderfull designs!  My chamber is in my garage, which only warms up to about 55 F. in the daytime.  I was hoping my ten gallon aquarium heated to 90 F. would be able to boost the temp to around 70 in the chamber.  However, the temp. usually remains only 5 F. higher than the garage temp.  I am growing highland nepenthes, so the night-time temp. is fine, however, what suggestions do people have to heat the chamber during the day?  Should I use a twenty gallon "long" aquarium heated to 90 F?  Should I use tubs heated to 90 F. with the plants on a false floor (egg crate/light diffuser grid) above the heated water?  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

Jeremy
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]what suggestions do people have to heat the chamber during the day

Well, I would stick more lights in the terrarium. For me More Light=More Heat. If you need ALOT of heat, try incandescents.  Though they do not have the proper spectrum for use alone, they do well in a mixture.

SF
 
That's an idea I hadn't considered; placing an incandescent light should help.  I will try that idea tonight.  Thanks SF!
What other suggestions do people have?
 
I wouldn't bother trying to heat a tub of water. If you manage to get enough heat out of it you won't get the night time temperature drop for your highlands.

An incandescent bulb or two inside the grow chamber as mentioned will give off decent warmth during the day. Just keep them up away from the plants and provide enough light from a better light source for plant growth.

Another option is a heating cable or mat set on the timer with the lights. You will often find them in seed catalogs and greenhouse supply companies. Typically they are for keeping seed flats warm.

Tony
 
Instead of incandescent try the screw in flourescent bulbs. That's what I use and they work great. Some side bennifits are the saftey distance from the bulbs and plants are alot less than with incandescent, they are way cheaper than incandescentand to run,and best of all more light. You don't have to worry that they will over heat the chamber as much. The number of bulbs depend on how big the chamber is and what temp you want. Best thing to do is to start out with one and add another in until you get the temps right. You should get a themomerter that will record the high and low temps , that way it's easier to keep track of the temps.

One tip is to put the bulbs near the bottom so that the heat will rise and it will help to the temps in the top and bottom more consistant.
 
Or you could get some Metal Halide and/or HPS lamps. Those put out a lot of heat.

But yeah, buy some of those incandescent "grow lamps" and you shouldn't have any heating problems.
 
i prefer aquarium heaters with timers on them . just take the heater , put it in a jar of water and turn it on and it'll create a decent amount of heat and lots of humidty ( but then would that mean lowland conditions
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) just make sure to add lots of water because the aquarium heaters evaporate alot out very quickly .
 
Would a seed starting mat get the tank warm enough? I'm looking for cheap (under $30) heating solutions for a 10 gallon seed starting tank.. problem is.. I need it to hit at least 85F
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I ended up using two 120 wat lights. One heat lamp and the other is a grow light. It puts the temp around 75-80 degrees everyday.
 
  • #10
Unfortunately I'm not supposed to set up any more lights because the electrical bill is already high
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  • #11
I use a seed heating mat for my lowland nepenthes during the cooler months. The mat raises the temperature about 10 degrees over room temperature. There are also 4 compact fluorescent bulbs running on the inside the chamber during the day that help to increase the temperature.
 
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