What's new
TerraForums Venus Flytrap, Nepenthes, Drosera and more talk

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

idea for a highland tank

I really want to start growing the highlanders and need some advice on how to set things up. I have a nice sized terrarium ready for them so I was thinking how can I cool it to drop the temperature at night ?

Here is my situation I live in Canada so during the day I plan to close the door to the room and open the window this should keep it from getting too warm with the grow lights. In the summer I have air-conditioning so that will have the same effect. The problem is how will I get the temperature to drop at night? The room they are in is also my bedroom so the window cant be used at night.

I found the following on ebay

"Brand new mini cooler or warmer, 26.5 19.9 x 27.5 cm. Ideal Christmas gift.

Keeps drinks, food, medicines cool or keep things warm while you travel or on the desktop at work. Cools to 5o C or keeps warms to 65o C.

Unit comes with two power cables: one for car cigarette lighter and one for a 110V outlet."

Do you think if I got one of these mini fridges and cut a hole in it , then put one of my cooling fans in the fridge pointing at the hole and ran a tube into the terrarium from it , that I could keep it cool enough at night?

Any other methods/ suggestions would be great appreciated.

Andre
 
This is my cooling setup for highland/ultrahighland plants. I think it will work just fine for you since I live south of you down here in Minnesota and I've gotten away with it for about the last 2 years:

coolingdiagram.jpg


A: 4" PC Fan placed in window to intake cool air or Air Conditioner if outdoors is too warm. if too cold outside set fan against the closed window glass and that will pull cold air into the tank sufficent to cool the chamber to the 40s in mid winter.

B: Mount for junction of fan and duct tube.

C: 4" diameter flexible aluminum air duct (wrap in layers of duct tape to act as insulation and keep the air colder longer before it reaches your terrarium.)

D: Ultrasonic Humidifier. It is a good idea to also get a humidistat to automatically turn the humidifier off when the air nears the saturation point (you don't want the leaves dripping wet all the time) and turn the humidifier on when the humidity drops below 85%. An electronic timer may work but you will have to experiment til you get the settings right. You will also have to tweak the timers on/off settings when the weather gets cooler or warmer. A humidistat is more expensive but only needs to be calibrated (set) once.

E: Output of humidifier stuffed with a hose that intersects the air duct BEFORE it reaches the growing chamber

F: Growing Chamber

One note, the humidifier should be on a humidistat or timer but the fan should run continually to both keep the air moving as well as evenly humid while the humidifier is not running. The moving fresh air is very benefitial to highland plants who generally come from a cool, breezy, fog filled forest.
 
So what your thinking is pipe the cold air from the fridge deal to a tank? If so the fan must be fast enough to move the chilled air quickly to the tank, also I would try to make the distance as hort as possible from the fridge to the tank to minimize the loss of the cold air, you might wish to use an insulated duct.
 
I was just talking with some one and they mentioned that I could use icepacks from the freezer. Those blue hard plastic ones that people use on camping trips. The suggestion was to freeze them during the day and place them in the tank at night.

Has any one tried this and do you think they will keep the tank cool enough for a long enough period of time?
 
it COOLS to 56 degrees C? i hope you mean F.

I would just put them in a regular cooler with some water in the bottom and place bottles of frozen water in it. its not very high tech, but it'll work.

Thats what i plan on doing with heliamphora
 
Pill, that says cools to 5C
wink.gif


Seedlings, the ice packs will work in the short run when the plants are smaller....in the long run...make your chamber have hollow sides to fill with ice packs.
 
Thank you all for your help and advice,

Since we like sleeping in a cool room I am going to try in the short term a combination of opening the window at night to lower the temperature in the whole room and then putting some ice packs in the terrarium to further lower its temperature. In the long run I think I am going to try a spin off of swords set-up using a mini fridge.

I will keep you posted on how it turns out.

Andre
 
Back
Top