FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hey Plant Bois

This is the beginning of my semi-ultra highland terrarium build. For years I have been in love with high-altitude CP's, but never had a means to grow them. I have killed my fair share of plants. That ends now!

This is the Chilling system parts. I'm going to circulate cold water to a radiator w/ fan inside an exoterra tank. the chiller is 1/10 HP and the controller gets down to 32 Degrees Fahrenheit. It's largely over-sized for my water volume so I can hedge my bets that the heat exchange is sufficient to drop the air to the low 60s/high 50s. I tested it on the water reservoir and it dropped the water temperature to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in under 40 minutes.
I'll need some help making decisions on the equipment I'm going to use to piece this beast together. To kick this off, I was planning on using my Kessil A360we Tuna Blue unit and a Kessil A350w Tuna Blue that I had from an earlier Reef Tank. If I dialed these all the way to their white setting, should I be good to go?

Thanks!

GiddyORION wrote:Hey Plant Bois

This is the beginning of my semi-ultra highland terrarium build. For years I have been in love with high-altitude CP's, but never had a means to grow them. I have killed my fair share of plants. That ends now!

This is the Chilling system parts. I'm going to circulate cold water to a radiator w/ fan inside an exoterra tank. the chiller is 1/10 HP and the controller gets down to 32 Degrees Fahrenheit. It's largely over-sized for my water volume so I can hedge my bets that the heat exchange is sufficient to drop the air to the low 60s/high 50s. I tested it on my reservoir and it dropped to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in under 40 minutes.

Chiller testing.jpg

I'll need some help making decisions on the equipment I'm going to use to piece this beast together. To kick this off, I was planning on using my Kessil A360we Tuna Blue unit and a Kessil A350w Tuna Blue that I had from an earlier Reef Tank. If I dialed these all the way to their white setting, should I be good to go?

Thanks!

I'm a noob still but man all of that sounded very impressive. Definitely looking forward to seeing more about your adventures!

Best of luck!!

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how big is that tank you are planning on putting it in? That chiller looks like it will do the job regardless though.

Looks good to me I think, I don't know much about kessil lights but I think 2 of them should do the job no problem.

the only tip I can give you right now it that your radiator will condense a lot of water, you might not want to put any plants under it. Depending on the type of radiator the water may slowly break down the metal and start dripping high ppm water onto your plants.

Also if you snake your chiller line back and forth a bunch of times in the tank it will aid in cooling as you will have more cold surface area in direct contact with the tank.

Rammplins wrote:how big is that tank you are planning on putting it in? That chiller looks like it will do the job regardless though.

the only tip I can give you right now it that your radiator will condense a lot of water, you might not want to put any plants under it. Depending on the type of radiator the water may slowly break down the metal and start dripping high ppm water onto your plants.

Also if you snake your chiller line back and forth a bunch of times in the tank it will aid in cooling as you will have more cold surface area in direct contact with the tank.

The tank is 36"x 18"x 18". I will place a catch under the radiator in the case it starts leaching. to your point about exposing chiller line in the tank, I was using the radiator solely for this purpose. there will also be a fan behind the unit to push already-present warm air in the tank through it.

oh boy! a 50 gal if my math is correct, nice and big!

with a tank of that size im unsure if 1 radiator will do the job, although if your radiator is that huge black square in the middle of the pic then it might be fine.

As for your chiller line I was thinking about burying and zigzagging it in the middle of the media (if you are going to be lining the bottom with something), that way one of the warmest parts of your tank will be cooled relatively quickly and drop the temp faster. Air is a very poor conductor of heat/cold, water is one of the best. If you already have a cold water line running to the tank it will only help your case to take a couple extra minutes to snake it around the bottom and into your radiator. The only problem with this is if you want to fiddle with your lines, it will then become a hassle because you have to unbury everything. But its up to you, just sharing what I know

Rammplins wrote:oh boy! a 50 gal if my math is correct, nice and big!

with a tank of that size im unsure if 1 radiator will do the job, although if your radiator is that huge black square in the middle of the pic then it might be fine.

As for your chiller line I was thinking about burying and zigzagging it in the middle of the media (if you are going to be lining the bottom with something), that way one of the warmest parts of your tank will be cooled relatively quickly and drop the temp faster. Air is a very poor conductor of heat/cold, water is one of the best. If you already have a cold water line running to the tank it will only help your case to take a couple extra minutes to snake it around the bottom and into your radiator. The only problem with this is if you want to fiddle with your lines, it will then become a hassle because you have to unbury everything. But its up to you, just sharing what I know

Yeah about 50 gallons. The square is indeed the radiator with the low speed fan attached to it. I probably could snake the tubing across the floor of the tank, as there will be small PVC pedestals on the bottom holding up an egg-crate 'stage' anyway to allow for drainage from the pots. I'll first experiment with the radiator only and see if I'm getting the results I need.

I'm still unsure about my lighting scheme. it seems divided among people whether or not the aquarium line of Kessils work for plants. I am a bit more comfortable with the A360WE than I am with the A350W (Both are capable of white light, but the lowest color temp for each is 6500K and 10,000K, respectively). I believe to be effective the white LEDs must operate within 5000-6500K, correct? Any help from anyone who has experience with LEDs would be much appreciated.

I am willing to invest in a Mars Hydro panel if absolutely positively necessary, though I don't want to.

I decided to build a custom stand. Here are the "Blueprints." apologies for the crude images, I'll bust out a better camera soon.

Hey, great job. It seems for people that aren't able to normally grow plants with highland conditions (basement for example), a 1/4hp chiller is almost necessary. However, pretty damn expensive.

I've been trolling through Kijiji and calling stores every so often in case they have used ones they don't need.

My current system is very rudimentary, ice packs in a lunch pale with CPU fans blowing cold air into the bin. Will need a chiller eventually for sure. Gets me to around 60F for now which is good for the plants I currently have.

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craigam wrote:Hey, great job. It seems for people that aren't able to normally grow plants with highland conditions (basement for example), a 1/4hp chiller is almost necessary. However, pretty damn expensive.

Thanks. Honestly if your set-up is unusually large, a 1/10 hp should be just fine (assuming its a well made one). For example my JBJ 1/10 will handle the heat load without issue for a 50 gallon tank.

My advice is to never get one off ebay. the first one I bought off ebay was supposedly "new without box," which basically means doesn't work. Just returned it to the seller a week ago. Do yourself a favor, skip the hassle and buy it off a reputable website brand-new.

Just got this in. Now it's just a matter of putting it all together.

Update: Tank stand and conduit light rack are built. Light rack needs painting.

I am in the market for an LED panel that can comfortably cover a 36"x18" space at 2-2.5 feet above the plants. Will a MarsHydro 300W panel pull this off and pack enough intensity?

Thanks all.

at about 24" it covers a 24" x 24" area

Hungry Plants wrote:at about 24" it covers a 24" x 24" area

Do you think I should go for two then? the plants going in will be a mix. I swear my house is going to look like a disco club.

I don't have one but two may be much. There are a few people on here that do and I would wait till they chime in.

You could get away with one just fine, assuming you use it efficiently. Wrap the glass in reflective tint, and one should be more than enough. Two in a 50 gallon tank would be over kill. You can also center it and put plants that like a little lower light levels off to the side, outside of the footprint of the light.

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