Suggestions please :)

[Kimbubbley]

Hi Guys!

Please find attached, pics of what used to be my hospital tank when i kept tropical fish. Its really tiddy...
H25 x W35 x D21 cm. I also have a beautiful piece of Ozzy redwood from the tank.

Id like to make a feature out of these for my dining room. The dining room gets NO natural light...

So my first thought is that im gonna need artificial light, and im looking at one of those bendy desktop lamps with a decent bulb on a timer??

My second thought is that ive never mounted orchids, so id like to mount one or two on the redwood??

And my third thought is that maybe with a heatmat and rheostat, i can make a resevoir in the bottom of the tank i could up the humidity??

Ive never had experience of doing ANY of this, so im not sure whats practical, whats possible or what sort of orchids would be suited to the small space and hopefully flower repeatedly to make a nice feature??

I guess the big question is... if you had this little tank lying around and such a lovely piece of wood... what would YOU do with it?

Thanks

K

[PaphMadMan]

That is a very tidy little tank and a peice of wood with a lot of character. I think almost anyone on this forum would find the same inspiration you did.

With this very small tank you may be able to get enough light from the right kind of bulb in your desk lamp, but you will need to keep it just a few centimeters above the top of the tank, and you probably will not be successful with orchids that need high light levels.

The wood should be suitable for mounting orchids but with the smooth surface they may take a while to firmly attach themselves. If there is any possibility the wood picked up mineral salts during its aquarium use you might want to give a long soak in distilled water first.

Rather than messing with the heat mat, reservoir, etc, if you can cover the tank it will be easy to maintain fairly high humidity. Or filling the bottom of the tank with some kind of vegetation, orchid or not, will do more to maintain humidity than evaporation from a water surface, even with mild heat.

If you do cover the tank you might consider a cover with built-in lighting, like an aquarium hood with fluorescent lights. Potentially better light over a larger area and humidity retention all in one. Hoods with light do raise the temperature inside, but as long as you aren't planning on cool growing orchids it should be fine, and you get a natural temperature drop at night with the light off. With a cover of any kind you might want to consider a tiny fan for air circulation inside.

There are thousands of small to miniature orchids to choose from. Check the miniatures section of this forum, or ask for suggestions after you have figured out what the light, humidity and temperature conditions will be.

Remember to show us photos of your progress.

[Kimbubbley]

Hi PaphMadMan

Thanks SOOOO much for the suggestions! I went off and viewed the miniatures section as you said, and HOLY MOLY!! that was more information than i could possible have dreamed of!!

I must of scrolled thru over 300 posts of THE most gorgeous setups and blooms that i have EVER seen... and i still have over 500 posts left to read!!

First on the top of the list was Wondrboy's nano viv at
3x3x5inch high and well... im just lost for words on how tiny, and unique and BEAUTIFUL it is... cant WAIT to see it bloom!! ...And scrolling through everyones bloom images (including yours! )... SUCH BEAUTY AND DIVERSITY ... I really am so totally inspired

I have ALOT of research and work to do... all your pointers duelly noted ... nice strong light, no resevoir/heatmat needed, light should be enough to heat the tank, gonna need a fan to take the heat out the light source and circulate air, gotta make a lid to house it all in.... get it all set up n measure my specs see what needs tweeking and what ive got to work with

Thanks so much for sending me in the right direction to get started!!

Kim

[Kimbubbley]

Hi not sure how pics will work, I'm sending them from my phone! This is an update if the project so far.

Kim

[Kimbubbley]

So.... The light unit is an exo terra compact single with 27w bulb 6700k and 98cri. Light meter arrives Monday so I can check out what that means for me in Lux/fc but from what I've read the colour spectrum is good for plants?

The lid is an upside down photoframe, altered so the light unit fits snug into it, which then sits on top of the tank. The light unit otherwise was a couple of centimetres too short all round to sit on the tank as I made it I'm really chuffed with it and think it looks great, but then I'm biased! Lol.

I bleached the wood for 24hrs (10% strength) then soaked it in tap water over a few days, and finally in di water.... So I'm hoping no bugs or mineral deposits remain. The substrate is hydroton and orchid bark that I blanched in boiling water, I'm hoping this will stop any mould developing.

So far the over night temp is 21c and daytime slowly ticks up to 27c.... but then our ambient day temps are warm this time of year, which won't last! The humidity is sticking at 80-90%.

I think it's going to need a little fan? To help take the heat out the bulb and keep the air fresh? Although it's high temps in there now I'm wondering what it will behave like in the winter when the room temp is much cooler... I guess it's easier to warm the tank than cool it? How do I choose between cool to intermediate plants or intermediate to warm? Maybe see what a fan does for temps first?

Thanks

Kim