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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 0:04:35 GMT -5
Hi guys, lol! just made this as a plan for my new setup which I have in mind. The terrarium will be unpotted and all the big VFTs will be removed and potted in their own pots and stuff with a lot more deep media and more room to grow.. A nice big porcelain pot with enough media to make a forest of VFT's the lighting for them will be the existing lights that I use. They will be placed on a piece of wodden plank....then I will put like 4 wodden pieces as a frame....use it to wrap around aluminium foil to make like a second enclousure for it. The terrarium will contain the small VFT seedlings and all the other small plants like sundews and so on. ---- I will also buy the mini greenhouse that insectivore and lloyd have. Put my plants in their. Underneath is again a sealed floor to prevent water flowing outside.....A container inside that will be housing for a ultrasound mister. Outside is again the container that will have 4 liters of water again for the neps with pipes to each and every nep. Each nep again in a larger tray to ensure the water doesn't fall on the lights below. Please let me know how practical is this idea? I want to make a complete hands off setup. One lighting timer conneceted to a power bar for all lights...and one digital timer for all the watering setups which is probably going to be like 3 times a day for like 2 min. cheers, varun
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Post by Flytrap on Apr 14, 2007 1:09:53 GMT -5
Great graphics Vraev! We can see you've really got the CP bug. Yup... you've been bitten. Everything looks like they're going to work. Only thought is - how are you going to collect the leftover water at the bottom of the enclosures? That's where all the muck and algae are going to be ... Reminds me of one of the early enclosures I had built - I used a plastic shower stall with glass door and all, hung a bunch of lights in it ...and the Neps were quite comfortable. Whenever I got lazy, I would just hose down the entire stall, plants and all. After about a year, the plants outgrew the space... and I got tired of cleaning the scum and stuff everywhere. Especially the dirt clogging up the drain. Good luck. You're well on your way to building an impressive CP collection!
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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 2:17:52 GMT -5
lol! thanks Flytrap! lol! I have been bitten and poisoned by CP's. Now there is no hope ... I am in the CP ditch . I remember this is the whole reason I was scared of having a VFT after reading all the necessary stuff like 2 years ago. .. .But now I am in....and I am loving every moment of it hmm.....collecting leftover water??? okay for the terrarium: It will be a contained bog. And I am going to try and see if i can adjust the flow such that there is only enough water like around 50-100 ml of release over the moss and just enough so that the media gets a little wet....I guess this one is a little undecided as I still have to see what plants end up going in there. For my main HEART of CP collection, the dear B52 and the great typicals etc....the motherplants will all be in the second one which I am hoping will have a deep enough dish so that I can collect enough water but at the same time not too much to overflow it all. I guess this is where the adjusting of the pipe opening comes in place. the aim is to make sure that there isn't too much but just right so that there is a nice 1 or 2 inch water level in there constantly. For the neps....that is dependent on the enclousure once I get it...I will try and see if I can seal it up from the bottom so that things stay inside. Well cleaning here WILL be an issue as humidity will be relatively a lot higher making it a breeding ground for all kinds of grose stuff. I guess I have to do a weekly sponge cleanup of the enclousure....once again....lets see how it works out. --- The main reason I am going to make this all is to try and automate it well enough that when I am going to be away for atleast 5 days in august....my plants will be able to take care of themselves. lol! I do not want to ask my friends to water them as I know they don't care enough as I do..and I better be safe then sorry. --- The main thing here will be the nep enclousre... u have no idea how annoying it is to make sure the FOIL pieces stand up right so that the plant gets nice light and relative conservation of humidity ... lol! I can't wait to get this thing. BUT...of ALLL my biggest concern: the POWER BILL. .. I do not want to make too much of a burden for my parents with the lights and all. this is my calculation of a net estimate of power requirements: Terrarium 1 + 2 ---------------- I'll see if I can get a shoplight fixture with 2 4 feet tubes. That will nicely be enough for my 10 gallon tank and my pseudo tank. I guess I have to see if my VFT's will like it estimate: 40 + 40 watts = 80 Nep enclousure --------------- Will have 4 tubes : 2 warm white and 2 plant plants ( thanks for the suggestion vincent) 4 x 23 watts ~ 100 watts The random extra plants ----------------------- existing table light fixtures 23 + 13 watts In total I am looking at around 200 watts approximately 16 hrs a day. What do you guys think the power charge be?? that is the biggest concern now. cheers, vraev
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Post by funkytechnician on Apr 14, 2007 4:00:25 GMT -5
looks good man, the only thing is, I see you have a tube going down to the tray on the right, I should warn you that you can't have the tube lower than the reservoir water line or it will siphon all the water out of your reservoir even after the pump shuts off, other than that keep it up
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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 4:32:03 GMT -5
oooh...yeah! thats true. Thanks funkytech! BTW....do u have an idea of how much 200 watts per month for 15 hrs a day would cost??
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Post by sdeering on Apr 14, 2007 7:34:45 GMT -5
Your power bill usually charges based on $ per kilowatt hour. That is what they charge for using 1000 watts of energy for one hour.
200watts=.2 kilowatts
Take your rate $ X .2 KW X 15hrs/day x 30day/month=$/month
eg $.10 x .2 x 15 x 30 = 9$
Stephen
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Post by lloyd on Apr 14, 2007 7:54:15 GMT -5
Hi Vraev, nice pictures. Don't worry about the cost, it will only be a few dollars a month. And in the winter the cost is effectively zero because you're heating the house with the lights. If you really want you can invert day/night to take advantage of cheaper electricity at night and cooler temperatures at night in the summer. Also I don't find the cleaning is that much of a problem. Every few months I clean the glass, not a big deal.
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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 10:55:14 GMT -5
aaaah....thanks guys! I think the rate is like 6.7 cents per KWH...so that should be like 6$ or so ...thanks sdeering. lloyd, thanks buddy. I thought you have the same enclousure. Isn't it like PLASTIC sides and all??
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Post by martin on Apr 14, 2007 12:24:35 GMT -5
Be carefull about the fluorescents in your Nepenthes enclosure. If you have misting in there, coupled with high ambiant humidity, you might have to isolate the electricity fixtures to prevent damage to your fixtures or yourself!
You'll find that if your enclosure is a amost closed container, the humidity will be high enough without the misting. But I guess the cool effect if worth experimenting with. I have a similar setup with a Canadian Tire small greenhouse. I had to open the zipper a bit so that mould wouldnt thrive as much...
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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 12:39:31 GMT -5
thats actually the one which i am planning on getting as well. Where did u notice mould formation martin??
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Post by lloyd on Apr 14, 2007 13:45:38 GMT -5
Vraev, I don't know how easy it is for you to get into Toronto but the aquarium store I go to is selling off his old used tanks. I saw some 25 gal. ones for $45 and some huge ones for $100. They have glass tops too. It's a small store so there isn't a huge selection:
People's Aquarium 2591 Eglinton Ave. W. @ Keele St. Toronto.
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Post by brian on Apr 14, 2007 16:36:43 GMT -5
Its actually around 12 cents per kwh when you include all the volumetric distribution, regulatory and debt retirement stuff. I could provide you with a link on how to figure it all out but your system sounds affordable however.
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Post by vraev on Apr 14, 2007 17:56:50 GMT -5
aah....still as long as it would be within 10$/month I think thats the max I would consider. Hmm.....thanks for that info lloyd. I will keep it in mind when I plan on making a bigger setup the NEXT NEXT summer. ... this summer is basically using the same setup but basically expanding on the neps.
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Post by insectivore on Apr 15, 2007 0:21:52 GMT -5
.062$/Kwh to be more presise... (science) Cya
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Post by tom on Apr 15, 2007 7:30:49 GMT -5
Insectivore: don't forget that electricity price isn't the same between provinces
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