Orchids on a Wabi Kusa Wall

[Tonio]

Hello all,

As the title says, I want to try an keep orchids on a Wabi Kusa wall above a fish tank. this is roughly what I want to create:

NATURE IN THE GLASS 'In The Jungle' | ADA

A Wabi Kusa wall is an acrylic wall on top of an aquarium. water is continuously flowing down trough slabs of an epiweb like material. Aquarium and terrarium plants can grow on top of it. The newer versions also have a fog-maker build in.

Since DOOA does not make those in 45 cm version (my tank size) I will make my own. (do you want to see pictures of the build?) I don't want water to run continuously because in my experience with terrariums those systems often get cyanobacteria/algae problems and or to wet for terrestrial plants. For aquarium plants it is fine but those grow very fast in most cases. So need much more maintenance.

In stead I'm planning to use hygrolon on top of the slabs in order to wick up water directly from the aquarium.
the slabs reach 20-23 cm above the waterline, the wicking-effect should be able to keep that moist all the time.

The alternative is turning the water flow on the wall only on for small periods of time. I do not like this option to much because I would need an extra pump for that. And hiding it and keep it reachable is just a pain in a small tank. But if you think it is better for the orchids...? I never grew those on hygrolon before...

About the fog I'm not sure yet, it looks cool, but it also is more complicated to build. Humidity wise it does not make a huge difference I think. Simply because there is not that much water in the fog. but it might help a bit. The 40 liters of warm water below the wall also should raise humidity..

Temperature of the room is between 17 - 20 C (62-70 F)

So questions:
1 hygrolon or dripwall?
2 Fog yes or no?
3 What orchid species would you recommend trying?

[WaterWitchin]

I've done something similar outside, with a pond. But nothing inside where splashing/dripping water would be a concern. I would experiment first with adding the hygrolon to see if it actually wicks enough. Why build it to find out you're not getting enough wicking?

Fog... I would. Because if you're building something cool, fog makes it way cooler.

I'd shoot for cool growing epiphytes or something that tolerates that range.

I don't build terrariums, so take it with a grain of salt. You might look through the Terrarium section for ideas, as there are a lot of folks who do it very well.

[Tonio]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

I've done something similar outside, with a pond. But nothing inside where splashing/dripping water would be a concern. I would experiment first with adding the hygrolon to see if it actually wicks enough. Why build it to find out you're not getting enough wicking?

Fog... I would. Because if you're building something cool, fog makes it way cooler.

I'd shoot for cool growing epiphytes or something that tolerates that range.

I don't build terrariums, so take it with a grain of salt. You might look through the Terrarium section for ideas, as there are a lot of folks who do it very well.

Thnx for your reply, I spend most of the afternoon reading in the terrarium section. It is inspiring for sure.

[Diane56Victor]

Would love to see pictures of the build.

[harpspiel]

What’s the average humidity in the room?

Hygrolon is tricky, it’s often either too wet or too dry (for orchids - marginal plants do well on it when it’s always wet). There are a few orchid species that would probably grow on it, but not if the humidity in your room is too low. All the orchids that want constantly moist roots also want ambient humidity of 75%+.

[Tonio]

Originally Posted by harpspiel

What’s the average humidity in the room?

Hygrolon is tricky, it’s often either too wet or too dry (for orchids - marginal plants do well on it when it’s always wet). There are a few orchid species that would probably grow on it, but not if the humidity in your room is too low. All the orchids that want constantly moist roots also want ambient humidity of 75%+.

I have no idea (yet) about humidity.
The orchids will be added last, first it will be mosses, liverworts, ferns and aroids: the tougher growers that will do well in most situations. I think the system should be running for a while and be grown in a bit before I can make an adequate assessment of the conditions.
A hygrometer will be added to log the humidity for at least a month, probably longer.

I think you are right about hygrolon being tricky. I have had it for years and never used it because there were always better more controllable alternatives. In this case however it reduces the change of water starting to spill, and the need for extra pumps, timers etc. Any system with flowing water combined with plants growing will result in water spilling over the edge of the tank at some point....

I'll try it, and if it stays to wet or to dry I can change it for a dripping system.

[Tonio]

I've put a humidity sensor in the room.
over the last 2 days with dry and warm weather humidity was between 63% en 69% temperature between 19.1 C and 19.9 C.

15 cm's above my cool open top fish tank (21 C water temperature) humidity is about 10% higher.
the water in the wabi kusa tank will be much warmer. So I will try it without a fogger first.

[Shadeflower]

Hey Tonio, looking at what you are doing, the climate in holland and the humidity you have logged so far I would say a fog machine is not needed. It will just waste electricity which you won't need.

You say you prefer it to wick and this is achievable but a regular wet/dry cycle is the best way to grow orchids. I don't do it much myself I have to admit as it requires constant attention to watering but it is the way to go if you have a choice with an automatic pump.

I have never used Epiweb- it sounds good but it is designed to not wick too much and can only lift water up to 3 cm. So if you want to use it you should weave some plant wick around it. Plant wicks can generally lift about 10-15cm (depending how much they dry) so that would help keep the epiweb moist high enough but still go for the pump if you can.

[DirtyCoconuts]

I have recently made a cloud forest. I learned many many things. First, make all of the mechanics accessible. They will fail and fail often.

Two. Do a long test with all the plants individually for MUCH higher success rates.

I basically put 13 plants in and then took out 8 (5dead ) in a week. Things were too different and, in a few cases, out right wrong for the plants. If I had just placed one in there at a time for a 5-15 day test I would have had a much fuller tank now and lost fewer

I would set up and add fish. Then monitor and get data for a few weeks then get one plant.

It is the opppsote of fun for an instant gratification guy like me but it’s way better than failure of any size

---------- Post added at 02:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

This is good advice. Another option is to include additional pocket for water to accumulate and act as reservoirs.

I have a living wall in my head and it will have a few “planters” in it to hold water and feed the hygrolon

Originally Posted by Shadeflower

Hey Tonio, looking at what you are doing, the climate in holland and the humidity you have logged so far I would say a fog machine is not needed. It will just waste electricity which you won't need.

You say you prefer it to wick and this is achievable but a regular wet/dry cycle is the best way to grow orchids. I don't do it much myself I have to admit as it requires constant attention to watering but it is the way to go if you have a choice with an automatic pump.

I have never used Epiweb- it sounds good but it is designed to not wick too much and can only lift water up to 3 cm. So if you want to use it you should weave some plant wick around it. Plant wicks can generally lift about 10-15cm (depending how much they dry) so that would help keep the epiweb moist high enough but still go for the pump if you can.

[Shadeflower]

DC still you have to do a lot wrong to kill 5 orchids in one week. Wow, sry for your loss.