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Terrarium Setup & Pics

  • #81
Updates!!

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New Ceph with lots of growth points. Had to repot it to untangle a hitchhiker Sarr from its roots. Annoying that the plant arrived like that, especially considering the ugly consequences! But on the bright side, the plant seems to have stopped dying off, and the traps that stayed alive are taking on some nice color!

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New growth on an unrooted H. pulchella division = #EpicWinning!!! Thanks again Heli!



And.... OMG NEW PLANTS!!!



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N. [eymae x (stenophylla x lowii)] x trusmadiensis

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A beast - N. (ventricosa x sibuyanensis) x (spectabilis x northiana)... love these complex hybrids!!

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Glamor shot of one of the pitchers. Wish I could claim credit for this one! It's inflating another one right now so hopefully it won't be too long before there's MOAR

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View of the whole kit
 
  • #82
woot! Everything looks great!
 
  • #83
Love the coat hanger! What a universal little invention those things are :)


Edit.. Now I have my doubts, are those coathangers?
 
  • #84
OMG A COAT HANGER THATS IT!!!!!! Runs off to closet in search for coat hangers then too the WINDOWS
 
  • #86
Ha! The link doesn't even work, either :-O

Anyway, gill_za - yup! Those are coat hangers. I cut & bent them so they'd grasp a 4" pot. Perfect for this terrarium! Over each window on one side of my apartment, I installed cheap curtain rods. Hung a few Nep baskets from them on coat hangers! Ah, how very versatile they are.
 
  • #88
Just FYI - 47 dBA is about as loud as a hair dryer. High-CFM fans spin at really high RPMs and are very noisy. I'd recommend going with a more standard rating.

Something more like this would be better: http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...L37I/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1335916701&sr=8-5 - it doesn't say so on Amazon but it goes up to 76CFM at 32dBA. Still kinda noisy. A standard 120mm fan should give you 40-60CFM which would certainly be adequate for a terrarium of your size; I wouldn't go that high in mine. You don't want to create a tornado in there!
 
  • #90
You could get the high-speed fan, a wall wart with switchable voltage 3V - 12V (< $19), and then be able to reduce the speed if you want to by flipping the voltage down :poke:
 
  • #93
Heli - look at my reply from a few hours ago to your question about this topic in the other thread for the answer to that last question ;)
 
  • #95
Ok, makes sense. Thanks a bunch!
 
  • #96
You know what's funny, all the most helpful links about PC Fan wiring come from either Shrooms or Pot growers... and the info about lights as well

We have a lot to learn from our illegal_substance_abuse fellows
 
  • #97
Yea there are some pretty informative threads on those weed forums.
 
  • #98
My setups current and old take plenty of inspiration from other growers... and much of it from growers of slightly more illicit plants!
 
  • #99
OK guys. I did it. I listened to the advice of numerous experienced members here. I weighed the opinions of folks who have more knowledge in the area than I do. I even heard the angel on my shoulder telling me I was being a moron. But... against my better judgment, I ignored everyone.

I bought a Peltier device.

I found this 60W pre-fab cooling engine on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/26101453781...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_500wt_1156
And this power supply on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002JTD1Q/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i00

The availability of a pre-fabricated Peltier device with heatsinks & everything already attached was a big kicker, especially for the asking price.

Anyway - I did this for three reasons:
  1. The whole setup cost less than $100, which was my "it's not worth it" price point.
  2. We've all seen that a Peltier unit is insufficient when attempting to cool a terrarium down as a standalone unit. However, I'm only trying to get another 5-8 degrees of cooling power out of this system.
  3. It's becoming clear that my water cooling solution will be inadequate once the summer hits, and I need to improvise.

Now - the disclaimer here is that I know there's a good chance I'm burning money. I'm prepared for that risk; however this works out, I'll be posting my findings here for folks to learn from. I'm also throwing some insulation around my terrarium to hold cold temperatures more effectively, to make sure the Peltier's capacity isn't wasted. I would *not* attempt to use a Peltier as the sole cooling device for a HL setup. Nor would I consider this added cooling necessary if I had air conditioning in my apartment, as my water cooler can easily bring temps from the 70s down into the 60s. Bringing temps from the 80s down to the 70s (and 60s or lower at night) is a different matter.

I'm also trying a different rad/fan combo. Depending on which works better, I'll be getting rid of one of my rads on eBay (or, if you want it, PM me). I picked up a 120mm rad with higher fins-per-inch density than my current rad (= better heat transfer). I also got a higher CFM fan: as I mentioned in a previous post, my current setup is moving ~60CFM around in my terrarium, and the air remains stagnant on the opposite side of my terrarium from the fan. Finally, a 120mm rad provides more surface area per cubic foot of air moved through it than an 80mm rad with two fans. My hypothesis here is that I'll be able to get more out of my cooler if I maximize this ratio.

I'll make sure to test both improvements (peltier and new rad) independently and will let y'all know what I learn!

CP cultivation is proving to be the perfect hobby. It teaches you something new every day, it introduces you to new people, it takes up lots of your free time, and it's a great sinkhole for all your extra cash :)

Wish me luck....
 
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  • #100
I would be interested in that RAD but im sure someone already pmed you ;). Anyway, good luck with the peltier, I would be very interested in seeing how it works out.
 
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