Indoor grow chamber up and running

[smokinjoe52]

I too was considering active humidity and temp. control but then decided if I could do it passively that would be best. My room humidity was in the low 30s, and rose nicely to acceptable levels with just a few plants in the chamber. Increase humidity by adding more plants, adding a humidity tray, or just adding saucers of water. In an enclosed chamber this does work. I do have the 4 fans running to move a lot of air, thus more evaporation. I may be wrong,but expect that my humidity wil not rise too high. Maybe with the chamber packed with plants it will.

Temp. - I get about a 10 degree rise from room ambient when all 8 lights are running. I have 2 extra fixtures high up in the chamber that i have not used yet. The plan is to raise the chamber temp to the lower 80s in the summer by finding the right wattage of ordinary light bulb to do the trick, and controlled by the main light timer. My objective is to get a 15 degree differential between day summer temps and winter lows.

I am glad it doesnt require cooling since that would require constant venting, and there goes the nice humidity levels.

[smokinjoe52]

I have been tweaking the grow chamber for the last couple months.

I have noticed that on the lower shelf, the air roots of the phals don't REALLY look plump and super healthy. I thought this might be due to too much air movement. I have 2 12v computer fans on the top equipment shelf facing UP. I also have 2 fans on the first wire shelf in opposite corners. They are 12v fans, but then I put a 9v supply on them, then finally a 6v supply. It really is just a gentle air flow now.

My chamber stats are:

Day: ~78 degrees and 56% relative humidity
Night: ~68 degrees and 67% relative humidity
(humidty measurement with a new ACCURITE INDOOR that is rated at +-2% between 20 and 80 percent.

So, just today, I put the lower fans to turn on only at night when the lights are off and the humidity has risen>

My question is whether you folks think that even a gently breeze could cause slight desiccation. Does having the lower fans only at night make sense to potentially help solve the problem?


On another note:
I replaced the individual grow lights with 2- 44" Fluence bio-engineering INDOOR lights. This previously was the BML company. Great lights, and I have dimmers on both of them. The lower light is running at about 30% output. The upper oncidium, catt light is running at 80%, but the light is quite higher from the shelf than the lower light so I can place the catts on 6" risers.


Thanks in advance for any insight on the airflow.

-Joe

[Tindomul]

Cool!! Great job on this.