Off The Wall Project

[Subrosa]

Ok the title is a lie, this project is going on the wall.....right above my aquarium/orchid display. Here's a link to an earlier thread which shows the setup right after construction Subrosa's Orchid Aquarium , and a few current pics:

[Subrosa]

And here is the current project under construction, a living wall fed by the aquarium water:

[Subrosa]

I guess I should give a few particulars on the setup.......it's based on an old 75 gal Oceanic aquarium with a 48" x 18" footprint. They're no longer made, but in their day they were the Cadillac of off the shelf aquaria. And they used a wide thick piece of plate glass as a center brace which made a perfect place to mount the wooden structure that holds the plants. The structure consists of 3 large interlocking pieces of Mopani and was actually very stable before I wired it together and glued it down.
The lighting is 3 x 45W low intensity LED panels with red and blue emitters supplemented with 2 x 9W 5500K LED flood lights to give a somewhat more natural appearance. Lights are currently running 12 hours, although I vary that seasonally from 10 to 14 hours on.
I don't use my hard tapwater in this tank, but did the initial fill with rainwater and have been using RO during the winter to keep the TDS down. TDS is monitored by the filter, a Fluval G6 and is currently a bit high at almost 300 microsiemens. It has no doubt crept up due to fertilizer usage, but as long as the resident Lemon Tetras spawn every morning I'm ahead of what my tapwater would give me! There were initially 6 added to the tank about 6 months ago and the current population is around 20. Considering there's also a 2.5" Sunfish in the tank and that the parents eat their own eggs and young without regard, any increase is pretty amazing. This is no doubt due to a 4"-6" thick carpet of Susswassertang. The current residents are only temporary until I get the current project done at which time a group of Coral Red Pencils will be the only residents.
Current orchids are a B. nodosa which is still in bloom and has two maturing capsules, Encyclia ceratistes and E. cordigera. Maxillaria tenuilolia, Laelia alaori, Leptotes bicolor, Dendrobium loddigesi and D. parishii, a pink Cryptanthus and a Tillandsia cyanea just coming into bloom.
Looks like tomorrow is a stay at home day, so hopefully I'll have some more progress to show for it!

[Subrosa]

Ok it's pretty much done except for the final plumbing connections and letting the epoxy sealer finish curing. A quick synopsis of the four previous pics: #1 I constructed a frame from PVC trim boards for water resistance, and attached a piece of old plexiglass as the back panel. #2 The first layer of growing media, a slab of EcoWeb which I got from Ray. I had a good amount left over after building the paludarium which I purchased it for, and I think that living walls such as this could be a nice add on to my aquarium business.#3 The internal plumbing, a spray bar setup made from 1/2" CPVC. #4 A second slab of EcoWeb to hide the plumbing. The material is a great media for epiphytes, but its moisture retention is very low so I plan on running the spraybar intermittently throughout the day with an extended off period overnight.
And now a pic of the almost finished unit in place:

[orchidsarefun]

Congrats - it looks great and is an interesting experiment. Your conditions must be just right to get fry to survive to maturity.
Just one thing - you may have to replace a couple of the larger growing orchids eventually.......but I am sure you know that.

[Subrosa]

I already plan to remove the Dendrobiums to make it easier to give them dormancy, which will free up a bit of space. Aside from that I'm playing it by ear. I forgot about the Holcoglossum kimballianum seedling.......

[Subrosa]

Ok, all I'm waiting for now is the cement to finish curing, around 11 AM. Here's a pic of the intake plumbing with the volute of the pump, an old style MaxiJet 1200 (rant to come later!) attached:

[Subrosa]

Up and running! One minor drip, but it drains back into the tank.

[Subrosa]

First resident. Ok so it's not an orchid......

[Subrosa]

A couple more plants. So far there's a Hoya imbricata and a couple of Cryptanthus, a 'Black Mystic' and 2 Pink Earth Star pups. The first orchid, a Neolauchea pulchellus should arrive next week.