Aquarium growing orchids

[kathyduncan]

I am just starting to look into growing orchids, bromiliads and other like plants in an aquarium set up what should I do to start? any suggestions are much appreciated

[Subrosa]

Do you mean in an aquarium or on one?

[Optimist]

A little fan for air movement. Some nice pieces of cork or wood to mount plants on...

[Subrosa]

You really need to think about what you want. Is this a setup for efficiently rearing orchids, or a full on orchidarium/vivarium for displaying them? Or something in between? Decide that first.

[Ray]

Yep. I use two 55-gallon tanks as "nurseries" for seedlings. They're in my basement, which is a little cool, so I use two seedling heat mats on the bottom of each, a plexiglass cover, and two 4', 54W T5 lamps on each.

One tank has a 3" layer of LECA on top of the heat mats for drainage, and I keep that moist for humidity, and set pots on that layer. The other is set up for bare-root seedlings, so I keep a 4" layer of sphagnum in that one instead of LECA, with the plants rooting into it.

[kathyduncan]

thank you all for your help, it sure seems like i need to study this more to learn what I need, I want it just yo be tropical plants, moss, no animals. where do I go to get the supplies, for the set up of something like that and is there a place to see a list of what is needed to get the tank ready for plants etc. thank you

[AnonYMouse]

Go start reading what people are doing in terrarium-gardening.

You need to decide if you are just putting shelves in a case or if you are creating a jungle.

[Subrosa]

When I built my 150 I used a product called "EcoWeb" to line two of the walls. EcoWeb Advanced Growing Substrate

[Paul]

There are any number of routes you can take. For instance, will it be utilitarian and out of the "public eye" or do you wish to have it also be decorative and displayed in a living room/public area? In turn, that may affect what size tank you choose to use as well as how you set it up.

[WhiteRabbit]

Check out "Terrariums" forum.