Suggestions for a Masdie setup?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Hmmm. . . I should look into making a micro swamp cooler. . .

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by Ray

There is a guy in our society that grows all sorts of plants in "cool tanks" that either started out as aquariums, or are built using foil-faced foam sheathing and duct tape. With a glass or plastic door to contain the humidity, and small muffin fans to keep air circulation, the environment is great. In all cases he used my LEDs, specifically to keep the heat down.


Ray Barkalow
firstrays.com

I'm in the planning stages of just such a set up Ray. I'm also very interested how these are kept cool. Would the society you mentioned be BCOS?

[stonedragonfarms]

A few questions:
a) how long are you at 30C; ie are we talking 3-5 days out of the entire summer or the entire month of August...
b) are there a few species of masdevallia that you are looking at specifically? It is a very broad generalization that they all "need" cool temps; you are on the mark with humidity, but I'd say they are 50/50 on cool and intermediate terms
c) have you wandered over to the terrarium forum here at the OB? It will give you a place to start; many of us grow this way and are more than willing to share our experiences
Just my $.03,
Adam

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by stonedragonfarms

A few questions:
a) how long are you at 30C; ie are we talking 3-5 days out of the entire summer or the entire month of August...
b) are there a few species of masdevallia that you are looking at specifically? It is a very broad generalization that they all "need" cool temps; you are on the mark with humidity, but I'd say they are 50/50 on cool and intermediate terms
c) have you wandered over to the terrarium forum here at the OB? It will give you a place to start; many of us grow this way and are more than willing to share our experiences
Just my $.03,
Adam

1.) July and August usually sit around 28*-30*C. Inside is another story, with it being a consistent 21*-23* all year round.

2.) From all the looking I've done, I specifically want decumana. Outside of that I am planning on breeding with what I get, so I want to create an environment where a vast majority of species and hybrids can thrive in.

3.) I'll have to check it out!

[FairyInTheFlowers]

So, I'm gonna bounce an idea that's been sitting in my head for a few days. I've been thinking about ways I could make a miniature swamp cooler, and I think I have a good idea. It would pretty much need a small computer fan, epiweb, and a small aquarium pump. Here's the concept. I would take two slabs of epiweb, plus some smaller strips, and make a slim box out of it, with all the sides sealed besides the top. Inside the little box, I'd insert one or two horizontal slabs, just to catch the water. I would then set this up over some form of water reservoir, where I'd then have the pump sucking water and pouring it into this epiweb block. I would mount a fan onto the front of the epiweb, and maybe seran wrap all the epiweb so as to force all air intake through the wet epiweb. I don't know how this would affect the fan, so I'd maybe consider mounting the fan onto the back of the epiweb. From the quick reading I've done, this seems to be the basic concept of a swamp cooler, but who knows how well it would work.

Another, much simpler idea I had was to simply make a small wire cage I could mount to the back of the fan, and just drop ice cubes into the cage on a daily basis, thus letting the fan draw air that has passed over ice.

My ultimate plan is to have a small tank of sorts with a constant layer of water, and make a setup similar to Rosie's. I'd have the plants in clay pots sitting on saucers that are resting in the water, with leca surrounding it all. I'd also drop some ice into the leca to try and further cool things down. I just have no clue how efficient this would work and if it'd be enough to keep things cool. Like, if all I'd need to do is drop a few ice cubes into the setup once or twice a day, I'd be willing to do that.

[stonedragonfarms]

You might also consider retrofitting a wine cooler and doing a terrarium build that way; there are a few threads in the terrarium forum about this; alternatively, if you are FB friendly, look in the Orchid Species Journal group...
Your mini swamp cooler sounds about correct, though I'm not sure if you will get the temperature correction that you are looking for in a small space; you might also consider automated misting with cool water... What is the volume of the space in which you will be growing?

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[RJSquirrel]

I grew mine indoors much simpler. These worked good for me until I moved them outside and into a greenhouse. The glass jars have dyna roks in the bottom with moss surrounding the plant which is planted in a net basket..Im able to set these up indoors again.


It might not be complex enough to satisfy the science guys, but they work.

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by TheBlazingAugust

So, I'm gonna bounce an idea that's been sitting in my head for a few days. I've been thinking about ways I could make a miniature swamp cooler, and I think I have a good idea. It would pretty much need a small computer fan, epiweb, and a small aquarium pump. Here's the concept. I would take two slabs of epiweb, plus some smaller strips, and make a slim box out of it, with all the sides sealed besides the top. Inside the little box, I'd insert one or two horizontal slabs, just to catch the water. I would then set this up over some form of water reservoir, where I'd then have the pump sucking water and pouring it into this epiweb block. I would mount a fan onto the front of the epiweb, and maybe seran wrap all the epiweb so as to force all air intake through the wet epiweb. I don't know how this would affect the fan, so I'd maybe consider mounting the fan onto the back of the epiweb. From the quick reading I've done, this seems to be the basic concept of a swamp cooler, but who knows how well it would work.

Another, much simpler idea I had was to simply make a small wire cage I could mount to the back of the fan, and just drop ice cubes into the cage on a daily basis, thus letting the fan draw air that has passed over ice.

My ultimate plan is to have a small tank of sorts with a constant layer of water, and make a setup similar to Rosie's. I'd have the plants in clay pots sitting on saucers that are resting in the water, with leca surrounding it all. I'd also drop some ice into the leca to try and further cool things down. I just have no clue how efficient this would work and if it'd be enough to keep things cool. Like, if all I'd need to do is drop a few ice cubes into the setup once or twice a day, I'd be willing to do that.

Once you get your ultimate plan in place, there's a much simpler way to keep your water cool than constantly dropping ice cubes in. There are chiller units designed for aquarium use that would do the job more efficiently. Depending upon the actual water volume you need to chill and how far below ambient you need to chill it there are two main types. For smaller volumes/temperature drops thermoelectric models such as the Ice Probe could do the job. For larger volumes/temperature drops standard units that operate with refrigerant like an air conditioner are available. If you keep an eye on Craigslist you might be able to kill two birds with one stone and find a decent price on a used lobster tank like they have in supermarkets and restaurants. They have a chiller built right in, and with simple modification to the overflow filtration system you can set the water level at any height you need. If you were in my area I could connect you with someone who's currently sitting on 3 of the smallest size that he would let go very reasonably.

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Originally Posted by Subrosa

Once you get your ultimate plan in place, there's a much simpler way to keep your water cool than constantly dropping ice cubes in. There are chiller units designed for aquarium use that would do the job more efficiently. Depending upon the actual water volume you need to chill and how far below ambient you need to chill it there are two main types. For smaller volumes/temperature drops thermoelectric models such as the Ice Probe could do the job. For larger volumes/temperature drops standard units that operate with refrigerant like an air conditioner are available. If you keep an eye on Craigslist you might be able to kill two birds with one stone and find a decent price on a used lobster tank like they have in supermarkets and restaurants. They have a chiller built right in, and with simple modification to the overflow filtration system you can set the water level at any height you need. If you were in my area I could connect you with someone who's currently sitting on 3 of the smallest size that he would let go very reasonably.

Ok, so from what I'm getting from this is that these units intake water, cool it off, and then push it back out? That might be useful.

I've also come up with another super DIY idea. I was thinking I could have a separate, thermally insulated box, which could be totally sealed. Inside I was thinking of having some kind of porous material that would wick iced water up on itself. It's kinda like an air conditioner, as I'd have it connected to the growing area, and have it so that air was being drawn from the tank, through the box, and being pushed back into the tank. My thinking is that drawing air past these moist, cool, clay slabs would maybe cool it considerably. Once again, I have no clue how effective it would be, but I think it would be worth a shot.

[Subrosa]

There are units of both types that function that way, and also units that have probe which gets very cold and chills the water simply by being submerged in it.