Have to build a big orchidarium...pls help - Page 2 - Orchid Board

bodaciousbonsai · #11 01-16-2008, 12:02 AM

Hello, sweet choice! I am actually going to have the whole front consist of 2 doors 2'x4' maybe a tad smaller for opening and closing on paino hinges. plus in the top on both sides, I am going to drill a series of two rows of 3/8" holes in a length of 12" x 4" space. Then there is going to be a slideable piece of ss sheet stock to control air exchange and humidity levels. To many modifications to list.

bodaciousbonsai · #12 01-16-2008, 12:08 AM

Hello, sweet choice! I am actually going to have the whole front consist of 2 doors 2'x4' maybe a tad smaller for opening and closing on piano hinges. plus in the top on both sides, I am going to drill a series of two rows of 3/8" holes in a length of 12" x 4" space. Then there is going to be a slideable piece of ss sheet stock to control air exchange and humidity levels. To many modifications to list.

bodaciousbonsai · #13 01-16-2008, 12:16 AM

If I were you I would not go with the 1/4" plexiglass, It will warp from the heat. I am using the ploycarbonate its 250 times stronger then glass, it is also goes by lexan. im pretty sure its the strongest stuff out there. should handle the heat too.

Ocelaris · #14 01-16-2008, 12:24 AM

hmm... you're going to use polycarbonate in 1/4" sheet? I wasn't expecting too much heat because for the lights there will be air moving across it constantly... Is it much more expensive? That's all I'm concerned about, and scratching. I found a place locally here in NYC which has the 2x4x 1/4" sheets for 28$ a piece... I'm almost exactly building the same thing, 2x4 sheets in the front hopefully opening by piano hinge...

You can see in my current tank, I had a 150w metal halide suspended inside a tube of plexiglass, and it did not have any heat problems, there is a 120mm fan blowing very softly across it, and doesn't get hot enough to warp it.

Then again I could use lexan/polycarbonate on the top, and still use 1/4" plexi on the sides and back.. just because I don't expect it to get hot except for the top?

I will have to take more pics of my current setup, it has a bunch of features I think everyone might like to see, such as the exhaust fan, humidity tubes etc... the humidistat was my best find... turns things off at the right time, keeps a nice even temp and humidity... You can see the temps and humidity over 3 days here... blue is temps, red is humidity. You can see the night and day temps, the thermostat in our brownstone (town house) turns on in the morning, off in the day, and then back on at night... pretty clearly seen... I might eventually add a water chiller for a little more stability and/or cooler growing temps for the smaller tank.

Ocelaris · #15 01-17-2008, 09:18 PM

Here are some innovations I've garnered from this site and others which have worked very well for me.

First the humidity. I have a bucket with an ultrasonic fogger, it sits in a doughnut floating ring so it's at just the right level about 1" below the surface of the water. It has a 120mm ~4.5" fan blowing down into it, and then tubes going to each of my chambers. The clear tube is so that the fan isn't close to the water, I have gone through like 5 fans because they rust and die... so this one keeps it far enough away that it doesn't get too much moisture on it. I have a dimmer switch on the fan which is 120volts... it's at about 3/4 on, if you go too low, it will pull too many amps and burn up the fan (I learned the hard way). I got the fans on ebay for about 5-20$ a piece. I've found the industrial strength ones work better than computer fans. Mine are Comair rotron a very good brand, and their website has great specs to determine the noise level of the fan, the air pressure it can push, and the volume. They are always in good supply too on ebay, it's my little secret I'm sharing

I also use a fan like this in the chamber to move air around, it does a good job in the high humidity, where as the computer fans burned out regularly.

My second innovation is the humidistat I got for a steal on ebay, it's an Invensys HC-201 . I got mine for like 30$ but they're regularly 150$, you can find it on ebay for about 90$ shipped now:

Invensys Building Systems HC-201 Duct Humidistat NEW - eBay (item 320165547227 end time Jan-30-08 09:35:06 PST)

Basically it is a relay, so it turns on or off any power source, it even works for 120v AC, so I have my humidifier setup set to 80% humidity, and it goes up to about 80, turns off, goes down to 70% and turns back on... does a very good job keeping humidity at just the right levels. It uses a modern plastic humidity sensor, so it is more accurate and long lasting than the coil types. You can see the front which sits inside the chamber, and the back with the dial and box for power connections. You can either have it turn on or off something when it his the prescribed humidity.

lastly you can see my metal halide "cool tube" don't ask where I got the idea. But basically it is totally enclosed from the chamber, and it pulls air through it so it's wholly seperated from the orchids. I used to have a 150w MH, but that was too much light, so now I have a 100w MH. It's actually cooler on top than the CF 2x36w on bottom (which are also seperated from the tank:

heres the full chamber, it's about 2 feet square by about 5 feet tall...

I have a temp/humidity sensor in each chamber, and I can download the data to my computer as a text file, and graph it with excel. The system is a La Crosse Wireless Data Logger. it has a base station, and then you can add 3 more (for a total of 4) the model # is the WS-8610U. The data goes back ~2 weeks and records every 5 minutes the temp and humidity... Very useful, and not too expensive for what it does.

WS-8610U by La Crosse Technology - Tomorrow's Weather Today

Here's a pic of the tank as it stands today

moria0672 · #16 01-18-2008, 03:10 AM

WOW Ocelaris what a nice and genious solutions.
It's very interesting the fog system (It's exactely what was in my brain) and also the light solution with the fan to extract the hot air.
Belong you...for the sizes of my orchidarium what's the best choice for light? (CF means Compact Fluorescent?)

Thanks
Ciao

Ocelaris · #17 01-18-2008, 10:22 AM

Well, it depends on what you want to grow, how much power you are willing to use, and the asthetics (beauty).

7 feet ~2.1 meters is a very tall orchidarium, the problem is that light falls off exponentially from the lighting source, so even a very strong light at 7 feet away might not be very much light at the bottom. To over come great distances you should use a point source of light rather than a diffused source. A compact source of light like a Metal Halide or High Pressure Sodium bulb is ideal for great distances.

The key is to get as close to the plants with the light as you possibly can without causing too much heat. Many people use compact fluorescents when the can get very close, but from far away CF can't push as much light as a point source.

Since you already have the 96w Compact Fluorescents, I would reccomend putting them along the back or sides to get them as close to the plants as possible.

The 175w Metal halide, I would put on top, but I don't think you're going to get much light to grow bright loving plants past 1,2 meters ... ~4 feet.

Another way to boost your available light is to get a High Pressure Sodium bulb, which is more efficient per watt than Metal halide or compact fluorescents, but is a very red (arguably ugly) color. but it works realyl well.

I think if you are considering a cool tank, you need to keep in mind isolation of the lights from the tank... I have had every kind of Metal Halide, High Pressure Sodium from 35watts to 400 watts, and a good amount of experience with compact fluorescents... If I were designing a huge tank like yours, I wouldn't hesitate to make a 400w Metal halide for each chamber! Or use the compact fluorescents on the back side.

Tindomul · #18 01-18-2008, 11:06 AM

Wow Ocelaris. Very nice detail oriented tank.
The plexiglass tube for the light is open on both end to the outside correct? How do you keep the wood in good shape with such high humidity?

Ocelaris · #19 01-18-2008, 11:20 AM

Yes, the plexiglass tube is open on both sides outside the tank, and there is a 120mm fan blowing air across it at all times. The wood is sealed pretty well, about 3 layers of polyurethane (oil based). We originally built it for a bonsai, but the pony tail palmtree grew into a giant-sai, so I took the opportunity to pick up orchids after an extended time away from the hobby.

moria0672 · #20 01-21-2008, 02:55 AM

At the moment I've planned to have an orchidarium 1,60mt high but considering the fact that i won't spend too much money for power consumption,if necessary I will reduce the orchidarium high to obtain the necessary quantity of light.
The farest orchids form the light surce will be Paphiopedilum and Phalaenopsis, and the nearest plants orchids like Cattleyas and, maybe, Vandas, in this case what you suggest me?