New terrarium Masdies have arrived!

[cb977]

Thanks everybody
I'll be playing around with this to get it "right"...does such a thing even exist?
I want to change the backing and I still have to get the fan.

I'm sure to be asking questions of you guys along the way

[Tindomul]

Getting it right might be an eternal quest. I mean, do we even get it right when it comes to growing people? Even with all our medical knowledge? Perhaps we can learn to get it better than nature right??

[Tricho]

Hi

I guess that is one of the reasons this hobby is so addicting. The eternal seek of perfection and the gift of beauty now and then!

Yes, I believe we can do better than nature, after much experience/work or luck.

[cb977]

I've been able to get the right day temps keeping 4 frozen bottles behind the background but they weren't low enough tor the night temps. Last night, I added a frozen bottle directly between the two new Masdies and it seemed to do the trick

I think once I replace the background with more of an open grid arrangement (as in Gwen's - gmdiaz) the lower temps will be easier to maintain.

[Tindomul]

How low temps do you want to reach Sue? Just out of curiosity. I have a few Masdies in my orchidarium who's temps reach around 80 in the day and low of 55 in the night because I leave two AC's on in the office when I'm gone. This seems to work for my M. rolfiana or M. floribunda, I lost track of which one it is as it is in bud right now.

[cb977]

According to what I've read:

Masd rolfeana Day- 65-70 and Night - 48-52
Masd schroederiana - Day 64-69 and Night 47-51

With the frozen bottle placed between them last night, I was in the correct range

[gmdiaz]

I bought three of the "blue ice" bottles that are used in picnic type ice chests at Walmart. . .wonder how those actually compare to the frozen water bottles?

They're much thinner and more compact, for sure. I am just using one per morning and one at night. One always in the freezer ready to go.

Susanne, I'll do some tests to see if maybe one or the other works more effectively to cool down the tanks.

P.S. And you know, that panel material can be glued together with epoxy, so you could build yourself a perfectly sized holder for the bottles or some size of the blue ice container. . .

[shakkai]

Sue, Most times, my night temperatures don't drop that low, and my Masdies do fine. I think it is only when the day temps get above their ideal range that they really need to have the really cool night temps to recover. If you can keep the daytime temps from soaring, you should be fine at night with temps a little higher than what you quoted. At the moment, I'm only getting down to 60F at night - but then its only getting to 70F during the day. All of mine are still growing new leaves, new roots, and new flower spikes.

[cb977]

Thanks for the info Gwen and shakkai

I looked for the blue ice packs today and couldn't find any I'm sure I'll find them in the next store I walk into.

I think the temps will be okay. The house is cooled all day, usually at 79 so with that room temp and a few ice bottles, all should be okay...

we need a fingers-crossed smilie

[cb977]

The canopy and fan finally arrived! The tank is now set up as it should be...except for the cut-out leaf idea of Gwen's that I'll be stealing soon