Highland Nepenthes Cooling and Lighting Solution Needed
Hello all, my name is Caleb, and I am new here. This is my first post not under the welcome section. I have a highland tank. I am not at home now, but when I get home I'll post some pictures. I am right now getting 73 in the day and 66-67 at night for temps. Ideally I want to get to 55 at night. I believe 70-73 is fine for highlanders, but correct me if im wrong. Specifically I have N. 'Ventrata', which I am not worried about night temps for, but I do have N. Jamban and N. Spectabilis. Right now I am using a peltier cooler. My tank is 30"L x 12"W x 18"H. I have it hooked up to a humidifier that pipes in humidity via PVC that is on a controller. I have tested it and it can sustain over 95% humidity easy, but I have it set to keep it between 85-90% humidity.
I am going to get a new light. Any suggestions for that would be greatly appreciated. Right now I am getting about 275 footcandles/3,000 lux. I need about 900 footcandles/10,000 lux/125 par if im correct. Please let me know what you all know works, ive only grown outside of the ventrata realm for less than a year.
Here is my plan for the cooling. It is something I havent found anybody else do, but I think it will work. I am unable to do a window AC unit, anything that has to do with a refrigerator/freezer, or aquarium chiller. I want a solution that I can maintain without opening the tank, and that is inexpensive. Here is the plan. My tank has 2-3 inches of water on the bottom. The plants are held above the water level by aquarium divider and upsidedown pots. I will put a 5 gallon bucket beside the tank. I will put two shelves inside the bucket, the bottom one being the same aquarium divider. The top one being a thin slab of treated wood, with a 120 or 140mm computer fan forcing air downwards. At the bottom, I will put a spigot. More on why later. I will drill a hole for a pvc pipe about 1 inch from the bottom of both the tank and the bucket. I will run the pvc through the water in the bottom of the tank through to the other side, then make a turn upwards and continue until I clear the aquarium divider. I will drill two more holes about 1 inch from the top of both the tank and the bucket for 1 more return pvc at the top above where the fan is in the bucket. The bucket will be sealed with a lid. The fan will be controlled by a temperature controller at night. Ice will be put on top of the aquarium divider shelf in the bucket, which will chill the surrounding air. The fan blowing down will force that cold out the pvc at the bottom, through the water in the tank and into the air. Because the return is above the fan in the bucket, it will pull the cool air back across the terrarium, cooling it evenly. The spigot at the bottom of the bucket is simply to easily remove excess melted ice. Do you think this method would work? I would probably still use the peltier as well.
Thanks in advance!
-C
Hello all, my name is Caleb, and I am new here. This is my first post not under the welcome section. I have a highland tank. I am not at home now, but when I get home I'll post some pictures. I am right now getting 73 in the day and 66-67 at night for temps. Ideally I want to get to 55 at night. I believe 70-73 is fine for highlanders, but correct me if im wrong. Specifically I have N. 'Ventrata', which I am not worried about night temps for, but I do have N. Jamban and N. Spectabilis. Right now I am using a peltier cooler. My tank is 30"L x 12"W x 18"H. I have it hooked up to a humidifier that pipes in humidity via PVC that is on a controller. I have tested it and it can sustain over 95% humidity easy, but I have it set to keep it between 85-90% humidity.
I am going to get a new light. Any suggestions for that would be greatly appreciated. Right now I am getting about 275 footcandles/3,000 lux. I need about 900 footcandles/10,000 lux/125 par if im correct. Please let me know what you all know works, ive only grown outside of the ventrata realm for less than a year.
Here is my plan for the cooling. It is something I havent found anybody else do, but I think it will work. I am unable to do a window AC unit, anything that has to do with a refrigerator/freezer, or aquarium chiller. I want a solution that I can maintain without opening the tank, and that is inexpensive. Here is the plan. My tank has 2-3 inches of water on the bottom. The plants are held above the water level by aquarium divider and upsidedown pots. I will put a 5 gallon bucket beside the tank. I will put two shelves inside the bucket, the bottom one being the same aquarium divider. The top one being a thin slab of treated wood, with a 120 or 140mm computer fan forcing air downwards. At the bottom, I will put a spigot. More on why later. I will drill a hole for a pvc pipe about 1 inch from the bottom of both the tank and the bucket. I will run the pvc through the water in the bottom of the tank through to the other side, then make a turn upwards and continue until I clear the aquarium divider. I will drill two more holes about 1 inch from the top of both the tank and the bucket for 1 more return pvc at the top above where the fan is in the bucket. The bucket will be sealed with a lid. The fan will be controlled by a temperature controller at night. Ice will be put on top of the aquarium divider shelf in the bucket, which will chill the surrounding air. The fan blowing down will force that cold out the pvc at the bottom, through the water in the tank and into the air. Because the return is above the fan in the bucket, it will pull the cool air back across the terrarium, cooling it evenly. The spigot at the bottom of the bucket is simply to easily remove excess melted ice. Do you think this method would work? I would probably still use the peltier as well.
Thanks in advance!
-C
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