Test terrarium - lessons learned and questions

[L-Dub]

My masdevallias hate the dry weather here in Utah, so I decided I needed to create a terrarium for them. My wife quickly pointed out that we're on a budget, so I needed to make it as cheap as possible.

I got a free ten gallon aquarium off of craigslist. So far so good. I bought a fogger off of eBay for about $21. My wife wasn't so happy about that, but it was the cheapest way I could figure out to humidify and cool the tank simultaneously. I scrounged a computer fan and an AC adapter from my electronics surplus box. And I bought an egg crate light diffuser from Home Depot for about $12.

I lined the bottom of the tank with white plastic from a kitchen garbage bag. I cut a big piece and six small pieces from the egg crate. The small pieces are to lift the big piece off the bottom of the terrarium to promote airflow. The aquarium came with a glass lid that covers most of the top, and I just used some newspaper (temporary) to cover the rest.

Here's the setup with the fogger running:


Here's a view in the daylight:


You can see my intermediate orchid jungle in the background along with our dwarf lemon tree and a few other plants.

Okay, here are some of the lessons that I've learned:

1. A ten gallon tank is quite small - even for masdevallias.
2. Measure once, cut twice...unless you cut it too small. Which I did. There is a larger gap than I wanted between the egg crate and the sides of the terrarium, but it's not a big deal so I'll probably leave it.
3. The fogger does its job quickly - it only needs to run for a couple of minutes to get the humidty around 85%.
4. It's easy to forget that I've plugged in the fogger. I left it running the other night and the tank was a sopping mess by the time I woke up. Fortunately the fogger automatically turns off when the water runs low.
5. The humidity is seeping underneath the plastic on the bottom (partly from the flood), and I'm afraid it will start molding under there.
6. The salvaged computer fan is *loud*; I had to buy a quiet fan to keep our sanity.
7. The glass top that comes with the tank folds in the middle, and it's difficult to move the plants in and out to be watered.
8. I need to figure out lights soon.

I was using the plastic on the bottom to keep the tank and caulk clean. I don't like the water collecting underneath, so I'm considering using some heavy paper or cloth on the bottom instead. Does anyone have any better ideas? I don't want to mount the plants in the terrarium at this point, because I like to show them when they're blooming.

I've ordered most of the parts for the timer project in the recent timer thread (thanks Ocelaris!), and I'll be putting that together soon.

I'll probably replace the glass top and newspaper with some light diffuser plastic (not the egg crate) when I add lighting. I'm also going to figure out a way to hang the fan to get more space and better airflow.

I'm going to replace the sour cream container with something larger for water reserves when I'm on vacation.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can improve things more? Any hints from the veterans?

Bryan