self watering terrarium
- Thread starter jbradt
- Start date
Well, I got it pretty much set up. Top is cut and drilled for exhaust. Drilled holes in the right side about half way down and installed the fan (with masking tape for now, once I get the final position worked out, I'll hit it with a dab of silicone). The pump/drain system is working as planned. The humidity varies based on the distance of the fan from the holes in the glass, but it's holding pretty steadily above 90%. As long as it holds that way for 24 hrs or so, I'll get the whole thing cleaned up and finalized and put the plants in.
Thanks for all the guidance and support!
A couple pics just for the sake of being thorough.
Thanks for all the guidance and support!
A couple pics just for the sake of being thorough.
And... the final product!
I've got an air pump in the reservoir to keep the water oxygenated. The whole thing is holding steadily at 95% humidity. The next step will be getting a good light for it, but that will have to wait until I get some money.
I've got an air pump in the reservoir to keep the water oxygenated. The whole thing is holding steadily at 95% humidity. The next step will be getting a good light for it, but that will have to wait until I get some money.
Looks awesome Jb! What did you end up using there for the bottom? Is it always uncovered like that and still maintaining >90% or is the cover just that clear?
Thanks, Pappy! The bottom is expanded clay pellets. The top has a piece of glass that I cut to fit... I guess it's just that clear. It's maintained 95% pretty steadily since I set it up.
I'm going to put in another fan for redundancy and to help with condensation on the front glass.
original
simple
cheap
effective
i love it!
Q: other than aesthetics, what's wrong with the light? have you checked your light with a meter of any kind?
simple
cheap
effective
i love it!
Q: other than aesthetics, what's wrong with the light? have you checked your light with a meter of any kind?
Thanks, Dun!
Technically, I guess there's really nothing wrong with the lighting. There is some part of my brain however, that likes the idea of switching to T5 HO, mostly for the increased lumens. Now that you've really got me thinking about it, the 2', 2 bulb strip that I have over my grow rack is 4000 lumens total output, whereas each of the bulbs (2 of them) over this terrarium are 1750 for a total of 3500. Not that big a difference. Given that the lights here are much closer to the plants, and the fact that if I got a T5 strip that was the appropriate size for the little 10g terrarium, I would probably be losing out in the long run anyway. So I guess the lights will stay as they are. Sweet. I think you just saved me a bunch of money, Dun!
Technically, I guess there's really nothing wrong with the lighting. There is some part of my brain however, that likes the idea of switching to T5 HO, mostly for the increased lumens. Now that you've really got me thinking about it, the 2', 2 bulb strip that I have over my grow rack is 4000 lumens total output, whereas each of the bulbs (2 of them) over this terrarium are 1750 for a total of 3500. Not that big a difference. Given that the lights here are much closer to the plants, and the fact that if I got a T5 strip that was the appropriate size for the little 10g terrarium, I would probably be losing out in the long run anyway. So I guess the lights will stay as they are. Sweet. I think you just saved me a bunch of money, Dun!
Two interesting points since I started this little experiment.
1. The drain hoses have to be above the water line in the reservoir in order to start flowing properly.
2. This was a little counter-intuitive to me, but the humidity actually goes down while the terrarium is flooded. I can only think that it might be due to less surface area vs. all the little clay pellets.
Neither is a huge deal, but seemed worthy of note.
1. The drain hoses have to be above the water line in the reservoir in order to start flowing properly.
2. This was a little counter-intuitive to me, but the humidity actually goes down while the terrarium is flooded. I can only think that it might be due to less surface area vs. all the little clay pellets.
Neither is a huge deal, but seemed worthy of note.
couple things interesting about dome reflectors and vertically oriented cfl's...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs.html (starts on post 17, really)
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/153195-my-inexpensive-cfl-light-solution.html (some examples)
compare some of the stats in the first thread to these numbers...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html
also... check out some beam characteristics of different bulbs here... http://www.uvguide.co.uk/lightingsurveyintro.htm ... then try to imagine how the light is being dispersed from those bulbs and reflected through those reflectors.
you're probably getting tremendous numbers already... especially if you were to focus the light on a specific subject. i hope they like it bright.
no problem on keeping the budget in mind in the budget build. you would have figured it out on your own eventually, anyway, methinks.
1. makes sense. otherwise the height of the water would have to overcome the hydraulic pressure caused by the water plugging the bottom end of the hose to flow. i suspect a bulkhead and a strainer would have eliminated some of that issue, but cutting the hose or moving the bucket was probably a lot cheaper and easier.
2. it's hard to evaporate standing water. much easier to disperse it in a porous material with a good surface area and evaporate it from there. in this, i believe water to surface adhesion may be a lesser bond than waters cohesive bond to itself. reminiscent of replacing an atom or molecule with another for the purpose of plant uptake or animal digestion.
not that surface area is always an insignificant factor in evaporative tendencies. quite the contrary as we've come to know and understand.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs.html (starts on post 17, really)
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/153195-my-inexpensive-cfl-light-solution.html (some examples)
compare some of the stats in the first thread to these numbers...
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/105774-par-vs-distance-t5-t12-pc.html
also... check out some beam characteristics of different bulbs here... http://www.uvguide.co.uk/lightingsurveyintro.htm ... then try to imagine how the light is being dispersed from those bulbs and reflected through those reflectors.
you're probably getting tremendous numbers already... especially if you were to focus the light on a specific subject. i hope they like it bright.
no problem on keeping the budget in mind in the budget build. you would have figured it out on your own eventually, anyway, methinks.
1. makes sense. otherwise the height of the water would have to overcome the hydraulic pressure caused by the water plugging the bottom end of the hose to flow. i suspect a bulkhead and a strainer would have eliminated some of that issue, but cutting the hose or moving the bucket was probably a lot cheaper and easier.
2. it's hard to evaporate standing water. much easier to disperse it in a porous material with a good surface area and evaporate it from there. in this, i believe water to surface adhesion may be a lesser bond than waters cohesive bond to itself. reminiscent of replacing an atom or molecule with another for the purpose of plant uptake or animal digestion.
not that surface area is always an insignificant factor in evaporative tendencies. quite the contrary as we've come to know and understand.
Dang... so based on post 21 in that thread, these little guys are getting a ton of light. And based on the beam characteristics for CFL bulbs, it seems the entire tank should be saturated. I think this set up may work out better in the long run that I'd hoped. As long as I can keep the temp down, this should grow heli's like a monster!
These are plants that normally grow at high elevation, so they definitely like bright light. The key is to keep the temp down so they don't get scorched. I can't wait to see what they look like after a year or so in this tank...
Thanks again, Dun. Really good stuff there.
Now I'm wondering how the lack of water for the light to pass through would effect the PAR meter readings... hmmm.
LOL... yeah, cutting the hose was free and instantly fixed the problem.
Makes sense about the humidity. I think I'm going to try to raise the level of the pellets a little bit. If I can keep them so that they pretty much stay wet, but above the surface of the flooded water, it seems it should help alleviate the problem.
These are plants that normally grow at high elevation, so they definitely like bright light. The key is to keep the temp down so they don't get scorched. I can't wait to see what they look like after a year or so in this tank...
Thanks again, Dun. Really good stuff there.
Now I'm wondering how the lack of water for the light to pass through would effect the PAR meter readings... hmmm.
LOL... yeah, cutting the hose was free and instantly fixed the problem.
Makes sense about the humidity. I think I'm going to try to raise the level of the pellets a little bit. If I can keep them so that they pretty much stay wet, but above the surface of the flooded water, it seems it should help alleviate the problem.
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