99% DIY Orchidarium Project - Orchid Board

kcpi3141 · #10 02-12-2022, 11:55 PM

I used plastic egg crate and 3/4" PVC pipes to make a raised bed which will be most of the land portion. The random objects in the pic are for me to get a better idea of what the borders will be like.

The border separating the land from the water portion will be made out of black corrugated plastic sheets siliconed on to another layer of white corrugated plastic sheet that will lie flat on the ground. The white sheet will also help distribute the weight of rocks and other decor to prevent damage to the wooden Pond Armor floor. As I do not want to directly glue the background to the tank to aid in teardown in case anything happens (as I am in school), for the background I carefully cut out 1" thick insulation foam and stuffed them together. The friction is more than enough to secure them and more foam that is coming later will further stabilize them so they won't fall forward.

From here on out it will be slowly adding foam to fill up and scape the land portion while securing everything in place, including the PVC drip-wall system you can see a part of in the picture above. I also drilled an overflow to keep the water level steady at about 7" high and will have a bucket underneath to drain it. The bulkhead and spigot are just a 3/4" rainwater barrel faucet attachment I found on Amazon. I also have a sprinkler riser that screws into the bulkhead to adjust the height of the water. Since I plan to have the misting system add more water than what evaporation will remove, the aquatic portion will essentially have a constant tiny water change, although once in a while I will perform a bigger one.

Will put this on hold for a couple of weeks because I will need to recover from a wrist surgery. Once I get better I will send more updates!