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RamPuppy

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I upgraded my lighting today...

I took the 4 48 inch tubes, and moved them forward, flushing them against the front of the wood canopy. I then took two 24 inch lights I had on my vft grow chamber (I moved them all outside today) and installed them in the new space.

It gives me about half as much more as the dual 48 inch fixture (They are dual 48" and dual 24") for a total of 8 tubes over the canopy, absolutely no more lighting can be fit in here without going to VHO, Power Compacts, or Metal Halide. (which I won't do.)

The reason I did this, was the past dismal performance of some light loving species in my terrarium, and the stagnation of others.

I am sure i will have a fun time adjusting the plants to their new light level, but, heck, they are adjusting any how! I redid my entire tank! (with Phil's help.)

I put PVC piping on the bottom of the tank, and covered with egg crate, this creates a plenum. THen using shade cloth, over the egg crate, I added about an inch and a half of Hydroponics puffed clay pellets, and then more shade cloth, and then about 3 inches of soil. This really cut into my vertical space, but I think it will really improve the tank. not only do I have more light, but everything is closer to it, the compact nepenthes plants should do the better for it.

Finally, oh happy day. A fortuitous accident has brought a windfall my way. The well pump out at my parents place cracked wide open this winter (even though heavily insulated) My father has vowed that he hates replacing pumps, and will never do it again. So, starting this week, we are leveling out about 1,200 sq feet of space to build a green house. The pump will be in a corner, with it's insulation, and built into a shelf so it's not an isoar and it's space can be used.

We are framing the greenhouse in 2x4's and plan on making it around 1 1/2 stories tall, we want the height for extra air volume, and so we can put the fans up high, so the breeze down low will be gentler. One side of the greenhouse, facing the house (and shaded by trees) will probably be solid inch thick glass, the rest will probably be polycarbonate. The floor will be made from paving stones probably. a front door will be road accessable, the back door will go directly into the primary vegetable garden.

were going to build a misting system out of pvc and readily available lawn watering supplies, and use an RO pump to fill a 100 gallon basin. In the basin, a power head will circulate the water to keep it from getting stagnant, and a magdrive pump will power the sprinkler heads...

it's mostly concept right now, and I am sure things will change, but my dad is committed to getting it up before winter (which is january here) and then my world of CP's will open up! (not to highlands nepenthes probably, sad...
sad.gif


unless.... hmmm... brain churning...
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (RamPuppy @ May 21 2003,06:08)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I put PVC piping on the bottom of the tank, and covered with egg crate, this creates a plenum.  THen using shade cloth, over the egg crate, I added about an inch and a half of Hydroponics puffed clay pellets, and then more shade cloth, and then about 3 inches of soil. This really cut into my vertical space, but I think it will really improve the tank.  not only do I have more light, but everything is closer to it, the compact nepenthes plants should do the better for it.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Hi RamPuppy,

I hope the part of your post I wanted to quote here appears
rolleyes.gif
. I was wondering why you set up this structure under the soil in your tank? What's its purpose? What's a plenum?

Thanks,
Bobby
 
it creates a void space for water to collect, so you don't over water your terrarium, what the plants don't need just collects down there, the high humidity causes it to be re-absorbed by the media as needed.
 
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