I've been tending toward external plumbing. It lets me treat the plumbing and other supporting equipment as more of a supporting utility, and leaves more space in the tank for plants! But the equipment is a big part of the hobby for me, so I mess with it a lot.

I do get small leaks occasionally, but it's not like aquarium plumbing where you could flood a room. Most terrariums just don't deal with much water.

As you say, just depends on what you are trying to do.

I watered again today and I'm seeing even more new growth. I love this part of growing, everytime I look there is a new leaf or root!

Between Covid and the fires in California, it looks like it will be quite a while before I get a chance to pickup my big terrarium. I'm strongly considering just rebuilding it here, and then just running two shelves worth when I'm finally able to get everything back. It seems a little silly to build the same thing again, but I did eventually want a second shelf...

a shelf of egg crate light diffuser would not affect the air flow much at all.

you could simply make the one where you are a 'holding' tank and then slide the shelf in :)

Mine is designed with 100% external plumbing too. Don't want to use up any valuable orchid real estate. I am counting on no leakage because all of the tanks and tubing will be inside a wooden cabinet. I'll let you know how that goes when it's finally up and running.

Draikan, what part of California did you live in / is your big terrarium in? Former OC girl here. I hope your loved ones are safe from the fires.

The upside of building another one while you wait is more orchids. :)

Just a small update. Plants busy growing.

Lepanthopsis astrophora is blooming! It has two flower spikes out.

Platystele apoloae has exploded with new growth. It has 6+ new leaves starting at once!

Trisetella hoeijeri has started pushing out a single new leaf. This one was down to just two leaves after shipping and my hopes for it were not high. It looks like this is a slightly cooler grower than I expected, so I was worried that would cause it to struggle too. I thought it would take it months to save up energy for a new leaf so this is great news!

The humidity sensor has now been in >85% humidity for about 2 months. It is still showing no signs of drifting or inaccuracy when compared to the ambient sensor. This is about as good a result as I could hope for, so I think it might be time to build a bigger batch of sensors and start working on the waterproofing.

---------- Post added at 06:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:26 PM ----------

Unfortunately it's right next to one of the fires, so my parents have been quite busy. Safe though fortunately, and it sounds like just about everything that can burn, has. So I guess that's it until next fire season. :bowing

First bloom from L. astrophora opened!

Everything is growing like crazy.

https://i.imgur.com/cT2I3xo.jpg

That is a totally cute flower!

That is such a little tiny one. Adorable! It sounds like everything is really taking off!

Yeah in most of the plants I've grown in the past, I'm accustomed to seeing them push out one new leaf at a time. In this tank, every plant has multiple leaves, roots, and flower spikes all going at once! P. apoloae just keeps starting new growth, it was past 10+ baby leaves coming out all at once last time I counted.

I'm tempted to get some more new stuff started in there...

Today L. dictydion has it's first flower open!

https://i.imgur.com/lhYa2Hj.jpg

L. telipogoniflora should be open any day too, that flower is going to be bigger than its leaves!

sweet!! great job!!!