vincent Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 (edited) Hi everyone,I start to be quite happy about the highland terrarium I've built.The terrarium itself is 1.5m large, 60cm deep and 1m high. I have put it on an old metal "skeleton" of a table, with boards fixed all around.I have installed weels, in order to be able to move it easily, and "feets" in order to ensure stability and also to release pressure on weels.I won't detail the LEDs set-up. If you want more information, just go here: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48350&page=7It stays in the sleeping room in winter (we sleep with the window open allowing a nice temperature drop) and will go on the balcony during the hotter seasons. I am currently installing a cooling pad (Celdek). I will provide more information about this later on.General view:Heliamphoras' side:Nepenthes central part:Orchids (mainly miniature ones) on the shelf that I have glued on the side. Nepenthes seedlings in the boxes to maintain high humidity. I removed the covers of the boxes since not 100% transparent and put some plastic wrap, that let the light pass completely.I have also built a "Nepenthes germination place". It is next to a west-oriented window, shaded to avoid direct sun, with a 10W red-blue LED spotlight (turned on the whole morning). Temperatures: intermediates, between 22 and 27. Edited June 18, 2014 by vincent 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matwag Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 That looks fantastic Vincent,I'd love a terrarium that size :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwano Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Your tank is really nice. I hope I could make a highland terrarium in the future too, but in general it's a labyrinthine system... You have not a cooling system ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Thanks for the comments. In winter, I don't need any cooling system since it's cold during night in my sleeping room. In summer, it should be almost OK on my balcony. But I'm building a system with Celdek pannel (as written above, damn it! Don't you read? ) to lower the temp during particularly warm nights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CephFan Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 It looks great Vincent a very clean design. I like your germination place too. I have a similar set up with a heated propagator fitted with four small LED lights. It seems to be working. How many watts total are your main tank LEDs? Cheers, Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Hi Steve, My propagator is not heated, but the leaving room where it stands is ok. And I forgot to mention that it's working great, actually! I transplanted already a bunch of seedlings sawn end of January. The main tank: 70W of my LEDs + 2x10W of blue/red LED lamps over the Heliamphoras. So 90W in total. Look at the details here: http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48350&page=7 Cheers Vincent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmatil Posted June 22, 2014 Report Share Posted June 22, 2014 Looks great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avestra Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 May I ask where did you buy the Celdek cooling pad? I am currently building a highland terrarium, and I need to find something for evaporative cooling. I can't find any good options in my country, so it seems like I will have to buy it from abroad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Hi Avestra, Sure, I bought it here: http://www.becotclimatique.com/ However, I am not sure they speak English. The price was as follow (without tax and shipment), for a pad of 1m high, 60cm large and 10cm thick: 5090 163.60 EUR 7090 60.60 EUR For the little pads that needs to be put on top in order to ensure water is distributed correctly (répartiteur in French): 2.17 EUR What size would you need? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avestra Posted June 27, 2014 Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 Thanks a lot for your reply! I speak 6 languages and French is one of them, so that won't be a problem for me. I must admit that I don't know what size pad I need. I understand the basic principle behind evaporative cooling - I put a wet pad in one lower side of the terrarium and I put an extractor fan on the opposite upper side of the terrarium. However I still haven't researched the question about how large the pad must be and what volume fan I need for my size tank (my terrarium will be 180 cm long, 75 cm wide and 75 cm high). The maximum pad size I could possibly put into this tank would be 75x75 cm. Should I cover the whole side wall with a pad or something smaller would be sufficient? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted June 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) I have to admit I am not sure about the ideal size of the pad for your terrarium, sorry! I am still doing some test, so I'll probably by able to tell you more in a few weeks. And congratulation for the 6 languages! I wish I could be that good... Edited June 27, 2014 by vincent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted August 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 (edited) OK, so here is an update, with the cooling pad installed. Efficiency: When the external temp is about 22 degrees, it is about 17-18°C inside the terrarium. But the efficiency increases when the external air is dry, which is REALLY not the case now here (where is the damn summer?!?!?). About humidity: no idea... my hygrometers are telling whatever they want... but at least I don't have to water my plants more than once a week, so it must be pretty humid. Electricity consumption: very low: only for the aquarium pump to run water in the panel and also the fans to extract air from the terrarium (on the opposite side to the panel). Cost: The panel cost me about 160 euros, including shipment. I don't remember the price of the aquarium pump, but about 20-30 euros I guess. + many hours to build the "box" (I got most of the materials for free - second hand). My aim is mainly to use it next year when my terrarium will be on the balcony. Turned on during the day when it will get direct sun. And also to allow a temperature drop during the night. But that's not possible this year because they are doing some work outside of my building. Limitation: it creates a lot of humidity in my living room currently... Girlfriend not happy... but it won't be a problem on the balcony next year General view from inside the terrarium: Water distribution: Helliamphora side: Nepenthes: And finally a general view, that is sometimes missing when people show their plants. I like to see the whole set-up. Edited October 1, 2014 by vincent 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Stelmach Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 Beautiful setup. Looks that plants are doing great there. Could you please give me some info on the light you use - the wattage and light spectrum if possible. As I see your plants are far from the light source, for Helis it's like 50cm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted August 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 Hi, some details about the lights can be found here (middle of the page and also a bit on the next page): http://www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=48350&page=6 The Hellis are about 70cm from the main white LEDs and 50cm from the additional blue/red lamps. Don't hesitate to ask if some information you need is not on the other page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maciej Stelmach Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 Hey, Your plants are coloring VERY well considering distance to the light source and wattage. I did something wrong with my led panel as with 150W of LED strips and distance to the plants at around 30cm they are mostly completely green. I'm using a mixture of 3 types of strips: cool white, warm white and so called led grow strips bought from Chinese seller (red:blue ratio 5:1). 50% of the panel was built using those red/blue strips. Strips weren't expensive so I'm thinking if they're doing any good to my plants... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted August 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 To be honest, I'm not convinced by these strips anymore (but I haven't tested them, though). The power seems very low. I trust more the high power LEDs like the one I've used. I think it is also more convenient since I can easily manage the emission angle with lenses. I did a lot of testing with LED lenses (with or without beads, different angles, etc), if someone is interested, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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