An incubator needs to be as STERILE as possible. It also needs as source of light and heat.
I had at my disposal a small refrigerator in my workshop that had more than served its purpose, its kept my beer cool for 3 summers now. It still seals fairly well.
I began by adding a light source to the inside of it. In order to accomplish that I simply drilled a hole in the left side and ran my 120v cable inside AND THERE WAS LIGHT.
I also added a thermometer inside and monitored how well it maintained heat with the light source, a 120v 30w incandescent bulb. 30 watt was the smallest wattage I could find. Even this small wattage sent the thermometer above 120F, which is way too hot. I also needed a light source that I could leave on 16 hours. So incandescent was out, so I tried a new fangled fluorescent bulb and it put out almost no heat whatsoever. BUT THERE WAS LIGHT AND IT WAS GOOD. Just no heat and also more importantly no was to regulate said heat.
So having been lulled / tricked / suckered into purchasing Amazon Prime with free two day shipping, why not put it to good use.
I searched many offerings on Amazon and decided to give the Inkbird Itc-308 Digital Temperature Controller Outlet Thermostat, 2-stage, 1100w, w/ Sensor a try. I has two 120v control outlets. One for Heating and one for Cooling.
I also used a reptile heat bulb, I had on hand, to generate heat / even when I did not want light.
So my algae incubator looks like this on the inside.
I tested this setup and it works great. I set the lighting on a seperate $3.00 timer from walmart
So now I can control the temperature to within a degree, 27C or 80.6 degrees, and the lighting set to 16 hours on and 8 hours off.
So now I need to go back and research the number and see what the recommended temperature setting and light setting and air time settings.
In my next post I will show off my new purchase from Amazon...........
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