How to turn 3gal tank into terrarium?
 

Well Tindomul just sparked this (maybe) brilliant idea.

I have an empty 3gal Eclipse aquarium tank sitting around doing nothing.

How hard would it be to make it into a terrarium?
It has a hood with a bright aquarium light, would that be acceptable for some orchids?
The light is labeled as a "Natural Daylight F6 T5" if that means anything to you guys.

Blah, gonna try to get some more replies here.

Can't supply a fogger or fan.

What I CAN afford is some aquarium drift wood or reptile wood (moabi) to mount on, from a pet store.
Sphag moss.
Water.
The light mentioned.
The light puts out a good deal of heat.


that spur any ideas?

Funny you mentioned converting your Eclipse into a terrarium. I was thinking the same thing! Perhaps some miniature orchids, or maybe starting with some airplants...In either case, depending on how old your lights are, you may want to replace it. Let us know what you decide to do!

I could get a new light- that's just the one I've had in there before, figured I could get a new one.

I don't want to do anything too complicated setup-wise, but that might be out of the question.

Thought I could fit one or two minis in on a piece of wood or something.

Just NO idea where to start.

Hi Izzie!

Well I don't have experience with a terrarium of your size, the dimensions seem pretty small. My Exo-terra terrarium is a 18 x 18 x 24. I'm not sure if the light yours came with will be sufficient enough for orchids. An F6 light is only 6 watts and about 275 lumens per bulb. Compare this to a 24 watt 2 ft T5 Bulb at about 2000 lumens per bulb or a 4 ft 54 watt T5 bulb at 5000 lumens per bulbs. It's worth a try to experiment with since I don't think you have much for options since even a 2 ft T5 bulb would hang over the frame quite a bit. What kind of orchids are you wanting to put in it? Do you by any chance have a light meter to measure the foot candles it putting out? I'd also be consernd about the heat being trapped in the terrarium from the light. You would definitely want to try and find a way to put a small fan like a Coralife fan Coralife Fan Kit 3 1/8" Colling Fan 53070 for air circulation either in the terrarium or try and have a clip on fan running accross the light some how to try and help with the heat. In my exo-terra without a fan running on the lights the terrarium will easily get to 99 degrees even with the fans I have running inside. I know I haven't been much help but I'm just really thinking out loud hoping something might spark an idea for you. Hope I've helped a tad. As far as setting up the inside I'm not creative...both of mine are a wardian case style.

Thanks so much Becca!

Honestly, the kind of orchids will depend on whatever orchids could thrive in there.

Can't do much with the light- it certainly doesn't get up into the 90s, MAYBE low 80s, high 70s more likely. Don't have a light meter and can't warrant getting one. :(

Sound like something workable?

So we know you will be at looking miniatures since your terrarium is only 11.5 high x 12 long x 6 3/4 deep. And it sounds like your temps will be intermediate. Maybe some warmth tolerant masdevallia's or some mini phals? Also you could use a humidity tray or something for humidity, I prefer something easy to clean that you can take to a sink and wash out.

That's what I was thinking.

I just know next to nothing about setting it up, what supplies I need, how to put things together.

Izzie, maybe you can get a larger tank.

A 10 or 15 gal tank will really not take up much more space than a 3 gal tank you propose.

An even better idea is to use a 20 or 30 gal tall used for reptiles and amphibians (more like amphibians than reptiles).

Or even an Exo-Terra brand of tank:

Amazon.com: Exo Terra Glass Terrarium 12in. x12in. x12in. - Exo Terra PT2600: Kitchen & Dining

The only true miniature Phalaenopsis is Phalaenopsis appendiculata.

It is by far the smallest species of Phalaenopsis known to date. Each leaf is really no larger than 1" long, they're usually smaller though.

Other candidates are the micro-mini and small sized Pleurothallis (and kin, the genus got broken up into smaller genera), Lepanthes, Lepanthopsis, Masdevallias (and kin, the genus got broken up into tinier genera), and maybe some Ceratostylis or Mediocalcar.

IDK, these are some minis I can think of off the top of my head.

Some minis in the list are harder to grow though.

:D As lovely as that would be, I only have a 1000sqft townhouse with most of it's counter space occupied. No money for a stand or a larger tank. But I could afford the one or two 'chids that might fit in the 3 gal. Make sense?

What I know nothing about is what to put IN the tank. What kind of substrate, what water level, etc.

All I know is that I should mount the orchids on some cork/wood.
And maybe get some live moss?

But heck, is there like 1", 4" of substrate? water past the substrate, or just below? o.O;;;

I have access to CHC, volcanic rock, gravel, charcoal, nifty things called "grow stones" that are similar to LECA, only they're made out of recycled beer bottles and wick better than PrimeAgra- totally excited to try them someday.


And I totally think the P. Amabilis that I got yesterday, has some live sphag in it. Which will die when I fertilize.

Substrate depends on what you're growing terrestrially.

Miniature terrestrial orchids are available, but they're rare.

Perhaps something like Macodes, Anoetochilus, or Cheirostylis would work for a miniature terrestrial orchid. Be careful and research these though! Some of them go deciduous and dormant.

As for epiphytes you must grow micro miniatures.

Micro-mini to small Pleurothallis include:

1. Plths alata
2. Plths barbata
3. Plths baudoensis
4. Plths breviscapa
5. Plths corniculata
6. Plths grobyi
7. Plths leptotifolia
8. Plths nipterophylla
9. Plths ornata
10. Plths rubella
11. Plths serracenia
12. Plths setigera
13. Plths sigmoidea
14. Plths tribuloides

There are much, much more than this, take your pick from these.

Micro-mini Scaphosepalums are:

1. Scaph ovulare
2. Scaph rapax

Micro-mini Trichosalpinx:

1. Trichosalpinx arbuscula (vining)
2. Trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes (vining)

Micro-mini Dryadella:

1. Dryadella aurea
2. Dryadella cristata

There are more, I just don't know them very well.

Most Platystele spp. are micro miniatures. Here are a couple:

1. Platystele stenostachya
2. Platystele umbellata

Micro-mini Phalaenopsis:

1. Phal appendiculata

Micro-mini Lepanthes:

1. Lepanthes telipogoniflora
2. Lepanthes tsubotae

There are others, but there are simply too many.

Trisetella spp. are almost all micro-minis.

The list can continue...

But I think I've given you plenty of species to start with.

As for lighting you're not limited to that crappy stock fluorescent light fixture that comes with the tank.

There are mini power compact fixtures you can get to power up the lighting in the tank. 12" fixtures are available.

Aquarists amend their tanks all the time.

This was the least expensive one I could find:

MINI F/W AQUALIGHT 9W POWER COMPACT STRIP - CheapPetProducts.Net

Now that I've given you tons of stuff to look up.

I think we should back up and try to figure out what kind of set up you want.

Do you want a cloud forest set up?

Do you want a wet forest?

Do you want a dry forest?

Do you want a swamp forest?

Which is it?

Or...

This might make it easier...

Pick your most favorite micro-mini and let's go from there.

I want..... :D low maintenance. Nothing special. Honestly, not looking to get any obscure species that I'd have to pay through the nose for and end up killing.
As I said, if it's possible to make this into a terrarium with the light being the only real hardware, that's what I'd try.

Izzie;

If you want to boost your lighting, try a compact fluorescent like King suggests. Another source is Catalina Aquarium Lighting. We use them all the time in my aquarium club; great people to work with. If they don't have it stock they can customize fairly easily. I use their 12 inch 13 watt, 2 bulb fixture for a lot of small tanks.

Cheers.
Jim

Thanks for the link Jim, I'll check them out. :)

Philip- I could get a den. oligophyllum and/or neostylis Lou Sneary from a grower near me. Those workable?

They're both too big.

More minis:

Bulbophyllum alagense

http://www.firstrays.com/Pictures_or...o_alagense.jpg

Bulbophyllum catenulatum

http://purificacionorchids.com/image...atenulatum.jpg

Bulbophyllum tixieri

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...DAKZyUMpXllK4M

Ceratochilus biglandulosis

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3088/...b6fb558e4b.jpg

Constantia cipoensis (the one in the link doesn't show the white striations on the leaves)

http://crispata.tea-nifty.com/blog/i...7/206_0667.jpg

Dendrobium cuthbertsonii

http://www.orchidboard.com/community..._title_web.jpg

Dendrobium eriaeflorum

http://www.orchidspecies.com/deneriaeflorum.htm

Dendrobium garrettii

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...3wBYjIMrPH3OYD

Dendrobium peguanum

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2354/...a9cb7d6e_b.jpg

Dendrobium sp. (delacourii type)

http://www.andysorchids.com/picturef...ompact%20white)

Dendrobium tenellum

http://www.orchidspecies.com/orphotdir/dentennelum.jpg

Dendrobium toressae

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...aCDIaSNo2wpNsD

Dockrilla cucumeria

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...WtCpaoM4TVpOcD

Domingoa keinastii

http://www.orchidspecies.com/domkeinastii.htm

Epidendrum porpax

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...ed=0CAwQ9QEwAQ

Meiracyllium trinasutum

http://www.orchids.it/wp-content/orc...trinasutum.jpg

Psygmorchis pusilla

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...n_E4SqNoGYvdkK

http://www.belizebotanic.org/images/..._pusilla-2.jpg

Pteroceras semiterretifolia

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7JEbL_BIVB...0-h/ptero1.jpg

Schoenorchis fragrans

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...s-fragrans.jpg

Schoenorchis seidenfadenii

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...enfadenii3.jpg

Sophronitis cernua

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/4...37357323dc.jpg

There are also mini Neofinetia falcata (they're genetically altered or selected to be small, I don't know the details).

Then there are also the mini Sedirea japonica (again don't know how they ended up being so small - normally these are pretty good sized plants).

While I agree these would be great choices to use, they can be expensive (at least 35.00 and up) for the special varieties.

Depending on how tall the sides are Phal equestis might work.

D: Sad day. Guess I'll have to go searching again. It's hard to find a plant that isn't above my budget once shipping is added on.

double post

Quote:

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:) (Post 301518) They're both too big. More minis:

:D Kudos for all those links.