My do-it-your-self terrarium
 

:hello
Couldnt sleep much last 2 nights thinking bout solution for my vivarium project:biggrin:
Here is what i've done in these 2 days:

Here is the link to high resolution slide show


http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Jlb5jWeA93Q/Sh...0/DSC01789.JPG

They are just two plastic box mesuring 60x40x28 and mounted togheter they take 56x38x54 maximum, containing around 100 liters (25 gall).
I keep them stacked and almost sealed very easily because i've trimmed some of their own cover plastic that fits perfectly;) (you can see that on the next pic on the right and on the left)
On the middle there are a couple of 8cm (3") fan, powered by an old nokia charger, 5v 0.8A. They both push air downward, should i care to make the air flow indirect for plants? Having the same temp and RO I supposed it's just fine.

I didnt want to put 220v inside because of humidity so i made 2 holes and screwed lighting bulbs trough. At the moment I'm taking care of reflecting light.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Jlb5jWeA93Q/Sh...0/DSC01792.JPG
As you can see on the left ther's a mysterious white-covered glass bottle, supposed to carry cooking oil. Using a 50liters(13gallon)/h air pump with relative porous stone i push air inside without compromising but increasing humidity.
I've choosed this container because white part inibits algae but you can still see trought to check the water level.
I've got this idea from Sponges and Misters: Imagine Tropic-Aire Terrarium Huidifier & Air Exchanger - PETdiscounters.com but i still gotta see if it works better than my old fan-over-wet-clay-pellets humidificator;)

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Jlb5jWeA93Q/Sh...0/DSC01795.JPG
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Jlb5jWeA93Q/Sh...2/DSC01798.JPG
As you can see my luxometer says 3500 lux:((
inside there are 25w, warm (2700k), 1500 lumens bulb and a 13w, cold, 850 lumen bulb.
So I've 2350 lumens spreading on 0.24 square meters, it should be 10000 lux!....Too far from the truth :( Gotta find a way to reflect light efficently!!!

Think I've said enought-too much. Now it's time for advice please!:biggrin:

PS: total has been 52.7€ including pretty everything you see inside

I like what your doing, but I,m not sure I understand how you are reading light intensity. Are you sure your meter is accurate? The lumens stated are at the bulb surface and actually are pretty dim. At the distance to the meter the readings could be true. Light in my tank ranges from approx 6500 Lux at bottom to over 18,000 Lux at top under lights. That should be plenty for most intermediates plus certain bright light Dendrobiums. Not enough for most Cats or Brassia/Brassavola/Laelia.

Thanks for posting!:waving
I'm reading lux with a luxometer, quite cheap to be honest but i hope aint that inaccurate to be useless.

I think you are getting confused bout lumens and lux. A light bulb produce an ammount of lumens, mean total light. These lumens then enlight surfaces where you mesure lux.
So again if i could reflect ALL light to the bottom that's a quarter of square meter i would have 4 times 2350 lumens, almost 10000 lux.
Of course i've made these calculation keeping in mind the real lux are gonna be much lower:evil:
The target plant is phalaenopsis like orchid! All other plant more light demanding are going to be hanged or raised somewhat to be closer to lamps.

By the way it's very tall so i was thinking to make 4" steps for phals and to keep paphio on the ground.

Lumens are rated at bulb surface (and is a measure/rating of output), Lux (or foot-candles) is measured by a meter at the subjects' location (as a measure of light per unit of area.) My meter is a calibrated Lux/Foot-Candle scientific meter so I trust its measurements down to decimal lux measurements. I use 4 tubes rated at 5000 lumens each. I measure 1800 to 2000 foot-candles at approx 20cm below lights. Conversion of foot-candles to lux is approx 1:10 (close enough).

From wikipedia
The matter of lux is not the distance but the area.
This also means the double of lumens, at the same distance, makes double lux as well, or can cover the double of the area with the same lux.
Of course all of this is true if you reflect the light properly!

EDIT: I'm sorry i'm reading again what you wrote and i think i just missunderstood you! do you think 3500 lux are too many for light bulbs i've got? the distance between the tip of the tubes and plants leafs is bout 35 cm (13")

My personal feeling is yes, your meter is reading too high, but I have no way of knowing. Approx 70cm below my tubes (20,000 lumens) I measure approx 650 foot-candles (6500 lux). The light travels through thick acrylic top before entering the tank. Maybe that will help? Only way to know for sure is a calibrated light meter you trust. I've thrown a couple meters away before because they couldn't be trusted.

Hello

How has this form of humidification worked out for you?

Thank You

Ian

At the moment I've turned the humidifier in an air pump to aerate the water of my hydro culture phal. However it's still increasing humidity and since I've sealed the terrarium beside 2-3 small holes the air pump can bring from 80% to 100% RO:)