replicating the "cloud" forest while accepting the limitations of my technology

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You can calculate ice cooling of water easily if you know the mass and temperature of the two bodies of water.

[DirtyCoconuts]

how exact does my math have to be? the mass of the tank water is hard to get right bc it is both flowing and the reservoir has charcoal and lava rock in it displacing and making it hard to estimate very closely

i guess i can just toss one in one night and see LOL

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If you know the temperature of water inside the terrarium, the temperature and mass of the ice you add, and you measure the water temperature after the ice melts, you can calculate the approximate mass of the water.

[DirtyCoconuts]

googling the heat loss formula and i need to find a decent thermometer

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It's just a simple proportionality. Convert T to Kelvins. The total heat in the final mass of water equals the heat in the liquid water plus the heat in the ice.

You can also treat temperature as a solute and calculate the dilution.

[MJG]

I'm going to chime in again. If you're ok with putting fresh ice in there every night then go for it!!

I'm still wracking my brain for a way to make this self sustaining, so that one could go away for a week and everything would work automatically. Sprinklers and foggers and fans can all do that. Cooling that requires fresh ice every night doesn't cut it. (Unless you can train one of your dogs to deal with it.....🐕. Dogs need jobs! Btw, I do have a book about dog training that includes instructions on how to teach your dog to get you a beer from the fridge on command. But then you've taught your dog how to open the fridge. I digress.)

So how on earth would a person cool this thing automatically? Or is it not worth the trouble?

[DirtyCoconuts]

so i had a decent idea and then a good one....

i added 5 1/4" holes at the bottom of the door (see here) and that increased the air movement a LOT (relative to a closed box)

Plants and animals by J Solo, on Flickr

then, i realized, the only source of heat is the light so why not see what happens if i reduce that. so, i made these little stands to life the light off the top about a half inch...temp dropped 6 degrees

Plants and animals by J Solo, on Flickr


Plants and animals by J Solo, on Flickr

so with the holes and the lifted light the "day" temps are 8-9 degrees lower and we will see what happens at night

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Attach an automatic ice maker to your cooler.

[Jmbaum]

DC how's this all going? are you getting the temperature drop?

I started a thread for my project as well, trying for cool growers toward the bottom, and intermediate-cool by the top. make use of the temperature gradient.

[DirtyCoconuts]

It is a static fixture now. 6 orchids and a LOT of moss lol

I have gone through 5 atomizers but the original pump is still going strong.

I get a 12 degree swing from high to low daily

My concern now is if I need to replicate a seasonal change with more light and lower temps??? We shall see