Fan Placement?
 

I am looking for some input on the placement of the fan in my make-shift orchidarium. It's attached the the underside of a 3-tiered shelf ($2 spice rack from Sprawl Mart). The fan is really small, even for a CPU fan, but I was kid of worried about the direct air current on any plants. I'm not sure if this is adequate. My leaves don't move at all, but everyone seems happy. Fan runs 24/7.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community..._placement.jpg


Thanks in advance! :D

Yeah, that looks a bit small. I wouldn't worry about a fan running directly against the pots, but some orchids are sensitive. Others not. I have a 3.25 DC fan running 24/7 onto brassias and paphs and they seem to like it. I have had to move a lot of Angraecoids around to get them out of the breeze when in spike. Rest of time the direct breeze is ok. Try this fan if you want a cheap, larger DC fan Coralife Aqualight 3 1/8 Cooling Fan Kit It's $15 for everything, including power supply.

Thank you for the link Ross! I have been looking for a website that sells these fans that are not overly expensive, which is all I had been able to find, until now!

Becca, I have purchased about 6 of these so far (not 'cause there's a problem, but because I use them in multiple locations/applications) and they are really nice and very quiet. I bought one 4" fan as well and it's just too big, so far, for any current application, but still very quiet.

Thanks for the input. As for the placement, do you suggest hanging it up higher, like hooked the the edge of the tank?

I have two fans in my tank. One runs 24/7 and is located in one corner blowing towards front of tank to help clear the acrylic. You can see it at left in this shot: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...errarium01.jpg

There is a second fan, mounted on the outside of the tank, so that it blows through the whole thing for 3 hours at night and provides adequate air exchange. You can see this one in upper right beyond the door http://www.orchidboard.com/community...bs/DSC2052.jpg

Well I found the 4" fan on the same website and the price isn't much more! I was wondering if the 4" fan would work well in my larger orchidarium? I was thinking of putting two down on the bottom floor of the orchidarium....I just don't want it to decrease my humidity...I just want more air movement, and I know the smaller one's don't seem to have a powerful air movement, but it is enough for my smaller orchidarium.

Wow I had to do a double take to find the fan...lol....it is so tiny! I think you would really like the Coralife Aqualight 3 1/8 cooling fan that Ross recommended! Maybe two would work well for you, and if not, it never hurts to have an extra on hand!

You're going to need two fans. . .

I've found that one down in the corner worked really well. . .but takes up floor space. I am working on two fans on the back wall. Right now they're angled downward and that would be great except it's too much moving air right on the plants. . .I'd like for it to be less directional. I've got to devise some sort of air damn to throw the air up and off the plants.

Willl post pics when I get something figured out.

Thanks for the link, Ross-o. . .I ordered two more. lol

Hi Becca! I don't know if this will help you or not but I have the 4" in my 24"x18"x24' Exo-terra. It works out perfectly in there and I don't find it too be super powerful for the size of my tank. Hope that helps! :biggrin:

Thanks Sarah! I was thinking of ordering three of the 4", one for my Exo-Terra just about the same size as yours, and replacing the 3 1/8" fan, or I was thinking of just adding an additional 3 1/8" fan at the bottom below the flooring where I would have plenty of room. Then I was thinking of adding two of the 4" fans to my larger orchidarium....jeesh...so that is like 4 fans I would need to get just to be on the safe side!

One other question, where and how did you mount yours in your Exo-Terra? I have mine mounted at the top hanging down from a piece of acrylic glass I added.

Becca, I think those fans will do great for you! Yeah, it's a lot of fans to get but it's better to be safe. I was just thinking of getting another one just in case! You never know when an emergency will arise. :blushing: In my Exo Terra I just have the fan sitting on the bottom grating (I have prima agra at the very bottom and egg crate on pvc above it). I have never fully decided how I was going to mount it somewhere so I just plopped it there. :) But it seems to work fine but I'm sure it blows some of the humidity out. Maybe someday I will figure out something better.

You have prime agra at the bottom? How well does that work as far as needing to clean it from water getting yucky? You will have to let me know, because the second you tell me you don't have to clean it, I have a ton of extra prime aga left over (imagine that) and you know what I will be doing with it...lol. My exo-terra humidity is around 60-70% during the day and gets in the 90%'s at night so I end of having to crack the doors open because I don't want mold or bacterial problems and the one small fan isn't enough to cut it at night I guess....opening the doors at night brings down the humidity to around 40% at night, a little lower then I would like, so this is why I would like to try additional fans or a different fan. Off to go fan shopping!

Becca, I don't really keep water in the bottom except when the humidity drops too low. Usually during the day it's at about 60-65% and at night it's at 70-80%. I mist my mount's every morning and I have a Swampstick in there and that actually seems to boost the humidity too. When it dips too low I pour some water over the prime agra but not so much that's it's always sitting in water. It kind of sucks it up. So far no yuckiness but probably because I don't always have it wet. I also soaked the prime agra in physan for the final soak to hopefully prevent any algae. And sometimes the water i pour in bottom has some physan in it to freshen things up. :biggrin: I would really like the humidity to be higher but so far it's ok I guess. :)

Thanx Ross! :bowing I bought one for my viv this morning! I'm sure just the one 3.25 will be plenty for my setup...we'll see!

I totally agree. That's what I use and my tank is 36" long, 20" wide and 32" high. I took off the filter on the back and the wire grid on front and installed it bare. Seems to work just fine and can't hear it running.

Another fan source
 

Here is another good source for fans. Basically all computer fans wired up to power sources. Best thing with this site is the shipping prices:

BUYEXTRAS.COM

I just bought bare fans and wired one of them up to an old phone charger. Works fine, but could use a little more power for a bigger set up.