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Terrarium Setup & Pics

  • #101
@Heli I'll PM you if it's available.

A few updates: I got some new plants, installed some insulation, and added a Peltier cooler!

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This insulation is hardcore

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Also put some mylar along the inside and removed the cheesy styrofoam backdrop. Now more room for my plants to stretch out, AND less light loss!

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Peltier stickin' off the top. Sealed as many of the gaps as I could with insulation

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Too early to make any solid calls, but with room temps at 77F and 96W of T5HO lights running with no other ventilation and the water cooler off, my terrarium (~45 gal) was at 74F after 15-20 mins of turning the peltier on. Big whoop. But I'm interested to see what happens tonight without the lights running and the additional help of the water cooler. That's when I'll be able to decide whether it's "barely worth it" or a complete waste of money.



That aside---new arrivals!!
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Nice sized N. raff on my windowsill. To the bottom right there's a cute little N. ventricosa x fusca. Thanks jrj88!

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N. burbidgeae x edwardsiana

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N. ventricosa x hamata
 
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  • #102
You guys.... success!!!! :banana2: :spazz: :rookwoot:

Last night, with room temps of 75 degrees, my terrarium got down to 55 degrees within a few hours of the cooling equipment kicking on. It even got cool enough that the hygrotherm turned off and began cycling to maintain the 55 degree temperature. Before, with room temps above 70, my rig would stay at 60-61F and the cooling equipment would run all night. The insulation and the added Peltier device really help! Like I said, I only need around 5-8 degrees of extra cooling, and that's what I got!

Max / Min temperatures for yesterday were 77F and 54F. If things stay in that general range, I think my HLers and Helis are going to be happy campers :beer:

It's still too early to really tell whether this Peltier was worth it. Gonna have to do a few more nights of messing around, running one cooling device or the other and making note of room temps... but my early conclusion is that it provides *exactly* what I need to give my water cooler an extra kick.

I'd imagine to cool a terrarium of my size using only Peltiers you'd need 3-4 of them, and as far as terrariums go, mine is still pretty small. At that point it's not a whole lot more expensive to spring for a pair of water coolers, or even an aquarium chiller. Not to mention the fact that the fans you need to sink heat & cold away from the Peltier add a ton of noise to your setup. I can deal with one unit; four might be pretty annoying.
 
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  • #103
Fury, sweet looking system but that fan wont live long with the condensation getting on it..... trust me, been there.
 
  • #104
Thanks Av! I took a lot of inspiration from your thread, particularly with regard to the Bernoulli principle... LOL I spent ages positioning my humidifier hose just right so that the mist dispersed into the fan's wash perfectly!

Which fan are you worried about burning out? The one on the Peltier? The two fans on my rad tend to accumulate condensation on their grilles but I never see any water make its way into the casing where it could potentially damage the motor. But yes, the one on the Peltier... the thought definitely crossed my mind, but then I figured small DC fans like that are cheap and it's easy to replace them. If it fails and I don't notice right away, my system will still be able to cool itself using only the water cooler; I've got some redundancy there. But, any suggestions on how to orient the Peltier in such a way that the condensation runs off? Rather not have to swap fans out every few months if I can avoid it!
 
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  • #105
The one mounted on the Peltier... you might remotely mount it and direct its airflow across the heatsink.... dunno, you will just have to experiment and see.
 
  • #106
Good sir, that's a fantastic idea. Just so happens I've got a spare fan to fit the bill. I'll mess around with it next weekend.
 
  • #107
Great, I am happy you saw improvement!
 
  • #108
I am about to order everything, what would be better for my setup? 44.5 CFM or 60 CFM.
 
  • #109
I'd go for 60CFM for three reasons:

1) 44.5 CFM isn't a ton of air. My two fans are pushing 35CFM each and I'd like more for my ~45G terrarium
2) Noise levels for a 60CFM fan will be reasonable; certainly quieter than that Vornado you have right now :)
3) If you end up creating a hurricane in your terrarium, you can always cut the fan speed by cutting the voltage, provided you have it linked up to one of those switchable-voltage wall warts from Radioshack as gill_za linked to on a previous post, and as I have my own fans wired.
 
  • #110
I am going to get one of those things gil listed. How did you hook up the fan to it? Did you just stick the cables on with electrical tape?
 
  • #111
Could twist them on, but if the connection is pulled or bumped, it could come loose... and you don't want exposed connections touching each other for long as it creates a fire hazard. You could get creative with taping, as I did for a while, but for peace of mind, I'd either learn to solder (it's fun!) or get a pack of these:

http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-L20-12771-000-Wire-Connector-Assorted/dp/B00349M020

Just twist the wires together, then "screw" one of these caps down over the wire joint, and secure with some electrical tape.
 
  • #113
Yep, cut the connector off of the wall wart, cut the connector off the fan, strip all wires, twist 'em together, secure with a cap, good to go.

You could use that adapter too but seems like overkill. Plus the Radioshack wall wart gives you more choices in voltage - that flexibility will be good if you want to fine-tune your air flow. Don't be afraid of a bit of splicing... it's super easy!
 
  • #114
ok, the radioshack one would cost a lot more though because it is 5 dollars more plus I would have to get separate shipping.
 
  • #116
oh so that one is pretty much the same thing as the radioshack one. I will get that one, thanks!

---------- Post added at 05:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:56 PM ----------

Woot! I just ordered the fan, RAD, pump, and converter, now I just need to get the other little things.
 
  • #117
Where did you get the egg crate? o_O
 
  • #118
Garroch, I ordered the pump, fan, RAD, and ac/dc converter. Do you think our local Lowes or Home Depot has everything else that I need?
 
  • #119
Heli, TheFury,

Just wanted to mention that it is not neccessary to cut the connectors on the fans. I used sparkler sticks to make connectors instead. It is not the most elegant way but it works. And this way you can reuse the fans. And yes learning to solder will be a big help in many of your future undertakings :)

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Where did you get the egg crate? o_O

Lowes sells egg-crate light reflector. Homedepot does too.
 
  • #120
@gill - yeah, you could certainly use that approach too. I used to have all sorts of spare PC components lying around (I was a bit of a modder back in my high school days), but now I try to make do with whatever I have... which presently is a few rolls of electrical tape and a soldering iron. Next time I revamp my electronics I'll probably go your route - tired of cutting off perfectly good connectors to expose the wires underneath!

@Heli - what else do you need? Tubing? Insulation? Hose clamps? Egg crate? Yeah, you could probably make a trip to the Lowes / HD for most of that stuff. I don't have a car and the walk there and back gets difficult when you're lugging heavy or unwieldy construction supplies, so whenever I go there it's usually for the small stuff. I find their selection is usually pretty limited (as far as big-box hardware stores go, the particular Lowes and HD near us have a really crappy selection), and their staff has *no* idea what they're talking about. I get most of my supplies on mcmaster.com. Amazing selection (you gotta know what you're looking for though), very informative website, and you get next-day delivery at standard ground rates.

@Halt - I got my eggcrate online at mcmaster.com. Paid more than I should have for it, but as mentioned earlier, my local Lowes and HD are lousy as all get-out and don't have eggcrate or foam insulation panels or any of the normal stuff you might expect to find there.
 
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