Hi everyone!
I am currently in Manhattan trying to get through dental school and wanted something to keep me sane throughout my time here, as well as add some light and life in my apartment (I promise it's not an excuse
). I have been doing planted aquariums for a very long time (used to be a very active ThePlantedTank member), but since it is so high maintenance and requires at least weekly attention which college breaks do not afford, I stopped after high school and began slowly collecting orchids. 2 years prior to this project, I made a mini terrarium out of a 10-gallon aquarium (pics
here) for fun, but also as a prototype. Many things I will show here, especially regarding automation and the circuitry/coding involved, I learned from that little project.
Feel free to ask me about anything I did or my thought processes for this build! Internal dimensions are about 40" wide, 20" deep, and 36" tall. The overall concept for culture is mounted orchids, high humidity, and daily watering of plants to mimic natural conditions. Water will come from an aquatic portion that may potentially have fish in the future which would also make this an aquaponic system, but that is for much later. Without further ado, here are the pics for the construction phase. Please pardon my phone camera quality:
Mock-up with TinkerCAD (first time using CAD software so wanted something easy to learn/use). Everything is to scale
Lighting is a 108W COB LED light I bought the parts for and assembled. I also constructed the stand out of mainly 2x3's. It is only going to have a little bit of water, (25-30 gallons) so does not need to be ridiculously strong. As for the frame, it is constructed out of 3/4" plywood that I pre-cut back at home in FL before driving up to NY. Also got some nice metal shelf brackets for help with supporting the canopy.
Sanding, staining, and applying poly over the wood by hand took a whole month by itself
but was well worth it. I sealed the frame with Pond Armor and ordered glass online. Used curtain tension rods, some tape, and the weight of the glass itself to hold everything together while I siliconed it all.
More images coming soon!
99% DIY Orchid Paludarium Project
. Researched extensively about finding my own parts and stuff, but it turns out it's still better, more reliable, and may even be cheaper to go with 
. I personally did something more along the lines of "nature aquariums," which is basically gardening with aquatic plants. A very satisfying hobby (everything grows soooo much faster lol) but definitely requires a good deal of sense and experience.
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