Sophronitis coccinea

[Duane McDowell]

Here's a "quickie" drawing of the hood and the tank. The idea for me was to get as much good light into a standard (read: free on Craigslist) aquarium. There aren't any dimensions on the drawing because every aquarium is a little different. My main piece of advice along those lines would be to wait until you actually have the aquarium to start building the light hood. My light hood is a little oversized, and I have a problem with everything drying out a little too quickly, necessitating more watering than I really want to do.
I plan on modifying the design a little now that I've had it for a while. I'm going to add some aluminum angle to the back of the aquarium, which will seal up the long gap there. The weather stripping didn't hold very well with the constant sliding back and forth of the hood.
Hope this is useful! I'd be glad to write up measurements sometime if anyone thinks it would help, but I would emphasize that every aquarium varies from the others!

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by Tindomul

Wow, fantastic setup! Can I please see the specs and how you built it. I love the moss. The whole thing looks, wow.

When I first built it, I laid out the bottom with a single layer of styrofoam, then I took several styrofoam balls (green florist's foam) and cut them in half. I attached them to the foam sheet with black silicone and bamboo skewers. The balls suggest hills in the tiny landscape - I think they're a nice touch....
Then I covered the whole mess with black silicone and sprinkled it with coir (as suggested by Black Jungle). What I've been noticing is that the styrofoam half-spheres are coming loose from the sheet. This wouldn't be a problem if I weren't constantly moving plants around. Since the wires that I have the mounts supported on are not stainless steel (I use stiff floral stem wire), they rust on the end that's in the foam, and they resist being pulled out. I'm not sure what I would change in future iterations, but I would probably use more bamboo skewers to keep the half-spheres in place.
I've occasionally had a few fungus gnats in the tank. We're big on non-toxic gardening, so I thought I'd try a holistic approach to the problem. I planted three Frasier Island Droseras (Carnivorous Frasier Island Sundew Plant -Drosera - eBay (item 370443256039 end time Nov-08-10 05:00:58 PST) but I'm sure you can find a better deal) right into the moss. They seem to have eliminated the fungus gnats in short order, and they add interest to the floor of the tank.

[Bayard]

Nice flowers, neat setup!

[trdyl]

Wonderful flowers and setup!

[Tindomul]

Cool thanks!

[DelawareJim]

Duane;

How wet/moist do your Sophronitis stay since you water them every day?

I have one growing in sphag that has really been struggling in the year I've had it. It's in sphag. in a plastic Neofinetia pot for air on an east facing shelf in my bathroom. It's sheltered from direct sun by some other similar sized plants and I mist it each morning when I'm getting ready for work. I water when the sphag is almost completely dry.

I lost about half of the original growth and one of the three new growths to rot.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
Jim

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by DelawareJim

Duane;

How wet/moist do your Sophronitis stay since you water them every day?

I have one growing in sphag that has really been struggling in the year I've had it. It's in sphag. in a plastic Neofinetia pot for air on an east facing shelf in my bathroom. It's sheltered from direct sun by some other similar sized plants and I mist it each morning when I'm getting ready for work. I water when the sphag is almost completely dry.

I lost about half of the original growth and one of the three new growths to rot.

Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.
Jim

It's wet every morning and dry by nightfall. Soph. coccinea can take nearly full sun - they really love light.
-d

[orchidfever]

Hi Duane,

Do you have a temperature differential between day and night, and winter/summer? I am curious because I want to see if it is possible to keep them indoor in my living area which typically does not get significantly colder temperature at night.

[RJSquirrel]

Nice sophie duane

Larger than life big beautiful flowers

[Duane McDowell]

Originally Posted by orchidfever

Hi Duane,

Do you have a temperature differential between day and night, and winter/summer? I am curious because I want to see if it is possible to keep them indoor in my living area which typically does not get significantly colder temperature at night.

I just started measuring temps. I get a little drop at night (60-65 degree days, 57-62 degree nights). Not sure what summertime temps are, but I'm pretty sure they will be at least 5 degrees warmer, both day and night. I'll know after this summer!