Indoor winter structure for tropicals

[Steve C]

Now that the weather has been dipping into the high 40's at night here in Michigan I brought my tropicals inside last week. What I plan to do with them this year is to put them in a large old aquarium since I am big into fish/aquariums I have an old 55g (48" x 12") tank that I plan to turn into somewhat of a nice little indoor winter house for my Fukein tea's and ficus. Couple questions though if I could get some input.

What I plan to do is to set up the tank with most of the top covered so that only about 6" of the top is open with a small fan blowing gently into the tank, 48" dual T5 lights, therm/hygrometer in the tank to monitor temp&humidity, then to give it humidity I'm thinking about maybe a 1" deep sand bed that I will keep moist.

Two main concerns I'm wondering are...Is there a better way to add humidity (without the use of a humidifier) or would the moist sand bed be ample enough?

Also is just the fan blowing in enough, no need to have air coming out opposite of the fan I'm guessing because I'm thinking that would just let too much humidity escape?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I've grown my trees in an aquarium before. They sprouted aerials like crazy. I used a bed of gravel that had a small amount of water surrounding it. The pots sat on top of that and grew like weeds.

 

[Steve C]

Did you do any sort of top on it Ryan or did you just leave it open on top?

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Did you do any sort of top on it Ryan or did you just leave it open on top?

I covered it with plastic wrap and set my lights on top of that. The only real issue I had was a buildup of algae. Didn't hurt the trees though.

 

[Steve C]

Ryan do you think I should even bother with a fan for air movement then or no?

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I used 2 50w led floodlights on top of and sealing a 15 Gallon aquarium which generated some hotspots, so a small CPU fan within the tank to circulate the air was a must. Your situation is a little different, but I think sealing the top and having some internal air circulation would work well for you as well.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Also, I think I would skip the sand bed. It'll likely end up being a mess to clean up when it becomes inundated with algae. Since the tank doesn't have drain holes (which might be neat if they could be arranged), I think wet, non-drained sand would be asking for problems. I think you'll find humidity won't be an issue once you have it in the closed or even slightly vented tank.

 

[Steve C]

Picked up the 55g 4ft aquarium my buddy was holding for me and started setting that up this evening. Taking the advice to skip the sand bed and ended up buying some long trays from the dollar store (to make them easier to take out and put in) and filled those with pea gravel and water. Ran some electrical to a power strip mounted next to the tank and just have to pick up a new light fixture tomorrow with some new bulbs. Also picked up a small 6" dia fan to use for moving air.

Going along well now so should have it all set up in the next few days. I'll snap a quick pic once its set up. Looking forward to seeing how the trop's do now over the cold Mi winters now in their new home.

 

[Steve C]

Here's what I just finished setting up today for my tropicals. For lights it has dual T12 40w 6500k daylight bulbs, plus a 24" "plant" bulb as well. The hanging incandescent bulb is to mainly just add some heat to the closed off tank. Also have a fan mounted up top to just move a little air around.

Mounted a thermometer/hygrometer inside it and the readings before water/heat were added (normal house readings) were Humidity-42% Temp-70F. After adding water and turning everything on it was Humidity-72% Temp-83F.

The humidity seems pretty good, it's enough to keep the front glass fogged, but I'm thinking about adding a small submersible heater in a pan of water to bump the humidity up a tad more be I'll give it a couple weeks and see how the trees react to this first.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Looking good. I think your humidity and temp are high enough, but I know part of the fun can be the tinkering. I need to get my setup setup soon for the winter. Our nighttime lows are still in the 50's so I have been putting off moving them in so far. I am still debating setting up one of the t4s in the shed with the Mediterranean type plants in order to give the a partial dormancy that I think they would appreciate.

 

[Steve C]

Thanks. Yeah I think the humidity should be good, I looked and now that it has sat for about 24hrs it's staying level at 78% humidity so that should work well. It also has a "high humidity" setting where it records the highest it reaches and it showed somehow it reached 99% overnight. I'm guessing maybe a water droplet fell onto the sensor or something though because I don;t see how it could have got that high. Long as it stays about 75-80% like it is doing now then I think that will be good enough.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Thanks. Yeah I think the humidity should be good, I looked and now that it has sat for about 24hrs it's staying level at 78% humidity so that should work well. It also has a "high humidity" setting where it records the highest it reaches and it showed somehow it reached 99% overnight. I'm guessing maybe a water droplet fell onto the sensor or something though because I don;t see how it could have got that high. Long as it stays about 75-80% like it is doing now then I think that will be good enough.

99% is very possible. It's something to do with the lights. When the lights go off at night, the temperature drops and the humidity increases.

 

[Steve C]

99% is very possible. It's something to do with the lights. When the lights go off at night, the temperature drops and the humidity increases.

Really.. okay thanks Ryan, I had no idea why that would have happened and figured it was maybe just a mistake or something, but that does make sense with what you said. I'll have to go down and check it again tonight after 1:30am when the timer clicks the lights off for the night and see if it does it again.

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Really.. okay thanks Ryan, I had no idea why that would have happened and figured it was maybe just a mistake or something, but that does make sense with what you said. I'll have to go down and check it again tonight after 1:30am when the timer clicks the lights off for the night and see if it does it again.

1:30 am?? What time do your lights cut on?

 

[Steve C]

Timer them on at 9am, that way I get around 16hrs of light which I always heard was "good" for tropicals.....or am I wrong??

 

[Redwood Ryan]

Timer them on at 9am, that way I get around 16hrs of light which I always heard was "good" for tropicals.....or am I wrong??

I wouldn't say that's a necessary rule to follow. Mine cut on at 8 and turn off at 10 and are very happy.

 

[Steve C]

Ryan I think you were totally right. I just went down and looked after 2 hrs of the lights/heat being off now....humidity was 92% right now.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Cooler air holds less water, so when the lights go off the relative humidity will start to skyrocket and you will even get condensation on the glass. What I'm not sure is if my cheapo electronic thermometer hydrometer measures humidity or relative humidity.

 

[ericN]

I am not a big fan of aquarium growing. I have not seen many good results with this growing technique.

Eric

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Well I have seen some pretty good results, but also some plants don't respond to it very well, and there are a ton of variables including pests to get right. My larger Benjamina just didn't like the aquarium while my willow leaf just exploded with growth. In my case, using a 15G aquarium I was really cramming the plants in there which may have restricted the airflow from my computer fan a bit. And some days there were roots taking from all of the drainage holes.
It isn't very constructive to say that you don't like it without providing any suggestions or personal experiences. I don't like mugos because I kill them all... Just kidding Vance. I haven't tried one for a few years; maybe next summer.

Thanks,
Dave