My new Exo Terra tank

[cb977]

with the LECA down in the bottom of your Exo-Terra, do you have to take it out to clean it, and if so how often?

Yes, it's either aliflor or Hydroton. I haven't had to clean it yet, there really isn't a lot of water getting down into it.

which temps do you have in your tank? I am just curios because of your Masdevallias

These are all warmth-tolerant Masdies but I keep them in the tank because my orchid room isn't warm...it's more like hot on most days

The temp in this tank is around 70

[kavanaru]

hhhmmm.. .interesting.. I do not find many warm-tolerant Masdies around here. Just very few species, but none of them as espectacular as some the hybrids I have seen in a link that you (or anothe OB member) posted here once... I keep searching for potential plants for my tank.. I will receive the tank on Nov. 22th and think I will have it installed one week later or so... then... asses temp and humidity ranges, light intensity... let it run until spring to allow some moss to colonize the right spots... and in spring: SHOPPING TIME!!! Maybe I find some Masdies until then...

[VickiC]

Thanks for your help, everyone!

I lowered the fan into the tank and I'm going to remove the screen cover and replace it with either a piece of acrylic or else buy the Exo-Terra cover and do as you did, Susanne. (By the way, Susanne, I really like your idea of the little fountain) If I use an acrylic top, I'll do as you did, Becca, and mount the fan inside the tank on the under side of it. As for the light situation, I'm of course, gonna have to wait to deal with this depending on which route I take to cover the top. Either way, I will do as you adivsed, Magnas, and move the entire tank away from the window to avoid direct sunlight. Temporarily, though, I covered the screen top with two strips of plastic bag material, and indeed, the humidity did increase quite a bit. It was approx. 75-80% today and the temp. was about 75-76 degrees.
Thanks again to all of you for your help!
Vicki

[Royal]

Ahh, success! Ain't the OB great?!

[Becca]

I Vicki! One other thing I thought I would mention, and you may not have the same problem, is that even with the two fans running 24/7, my night time humidity jumps to 90% +. I say this is a problem only because depending on when I water, early morning or mid afternoon, if I water in mid afternoon the high night time humidity causes the 'chids to not dry out and this could lead to some nasty problems. I usually crack the doors open a tad at night to help drop the humidity down from 90%.

Keep us updated on what you do with the lights n stuff!

[VickiC]

Yes, DEFINITELY!
Thanks again, Royal!

Originally Posted by RoyalOrchids

Ahh, success! Ain't the OB great?!

[VickiC]

Ohhh....glad you mentioned it, Becca! No, I don't have the same problem NOW, but that's not to say that I WON'T....when I finally get my little project completed. If the problem arises, though, I'll know immediately how to deal with it....thanks to you!
Vicki

Originally Posted by Becca

I Vicki! One other thing I thought I would mention, and you may not have the same problem, is that even with the two fans running 24/7, my night time humidity jumps to 90% +. I say this is a problem only because depending on when I water, early morning or mid afternoon, if I water in mid afternoon the high night time humidity causes the 'chids to not dry out and this could lead to some nasty problems. I usually crack the doors open a tad at night to help drop the humidity down from 90%.

Keep us updated on what you do with the lights n stuff!

[VickiC]

Hi again Becca!
Your reply (and everyone's) to my initial question helped me very much, but I just saw that I failed to respond to something you said.....about the breatheable feature under the doors of my tank. Yes, it has those vents, too , but I can't figure out if they can be opened and closed, of if they are just fixed in one postion and cannot be moved (since my tank is a smaller version of yours). I looked around on the inside of the tank and didn't see any sort of lever, adjustment, or whatever. Do you have any thoughts on that.....where is your "lever" located? Or like I said, maybe I don't have one. ?? Also, I am still working on getting things organized....the temp and humidity levels working together, for one thing. It seems as though the temp is gonna run high in order to get a whole lot of humidity. I can open the doors, of course, or I can open the vents more, if I figure out how, that is.....but I lose humidity that way, of course. By the way, I do have my fan running 24/7. The vents seem to be slightly open now, but I'm not sure if they are open as much as they could be, as I said. It seems that a lot of the heat is coming from the lamp above the tank.....the one with the plant bulb as I mentioned in my other post. I get good footcandle readings from it, though. I can lower the temp in the tank by using a fluoresent bulb, but my foot candles diminish a whole lot....not enough for my orchids. Do you have any problems with your lights providing the correct amount of footcandles? I know you have more lights than me, though. In my orchid room, I have 2- 4' banks of 4 T5 bulbs in each fixture that I bought this last summer, and I really can't afford to invest in more T5s at this time for my little tank. I liked what Susanne did with the top of her tank, too, but as I said...I really can't put much money in lights right now. Do you or anyone have any other thoughts?

Anyway, thanks again for your help! I always appreciate everyone's input.
Vicki

Originally Posted by Becca

Vicki, I have an 18 x 18 x 24 Exo-Terra. I too had problems keeping the humidity up. So what I did was I took the screen off and bought a piece of acrylic at Home Depot (it was a little thinner then I wanted) and then my hubby (bless his heart) cut the piece of acrylic down to the size I needed and rounded the corners a tad so they wouldn't be so sharp. I then mounted my fan from this to hang on the inside of the tank. So it is completely sealed on the top. My light fixture then rests on top of the acrylic and the frame of the exo-terra (I have an 8 bulb T5 fixture that is 2 ft long). It over laps my tank perfectly and the bulbs don't actually touch the acrylic or the frame. This has helped enormously! I am not sure if you have the same feature, but I have little vents that are closable that run along the door. I keep these open and maintain about 70% humidity during the day.

Oh, and if you take the screen off you will see a spot in the frame of the Exo-Terra that will allow a cord to fit through for your fan!

Hope this helps!

[Becca]

Originally Posted by VickiC

Hi again Becca!
Your reply (and everyone's) to my initial question helped me very much, but I just saw that I failed to respond to something you said.....about the breatheable feature under the doors of my tank. Yes, it has those vents, too , but I can't figure out if they can be opened and closed, of if they are just fixed in one postion and cannot be moved (since my tank is a smaller version of yours). I looked around on the inside of the tank and didn't see any sort of lever, adjustment, or whatever. Do you have any thoughts on that.....where is your "lever" located? Or like I said, maybe I don't have one. ?? Also, I am still working on getting things organized....the temp and humidity levels working together, for one thing. It seems as though the temp is gonna run high in order to get a whole lot of humidity. I can open the doors, of course, or I can open the vents more, if I figure out how, that is.....but I lose humidity that way, of course. By the way, I do have my fan running 24/7. The vents seem to be slightly open now, but I'm not sure if they are open as much as they could be, as I said. It seems that a lot of the heat is coming from the lamp above the tank.....the one with the plant bulb as I mentioned in my other post. I get good footcandle readings from it, though. I can lower the temp in the tank by using a fluoresent bulb, but my foot candles diminish a whole lot....not enough for my orchids. Do you have any problems with your lights providing the correct amount of footcandles? I know you have more lights than me, though. In my orchid room, I have 2- 4' banks of 4 T5 bulbs in each fixture that I bought this last summer, and I really can't afford to invest in more T5s at this time for my little tank. I liked what Susanne did with the top of her tank, too, but as I said...I really can't put much money in lights right now. Do you or anyone have any other thoughts?

Anyway, thanks again for your help! I always appreciate everyone's input.
Vicki

Ok....I hope I can describe/explain this correctly. That venting that is just under the doors....if you open the doors nice and wide, you should see on the top edging of the vents two spots, one on each side, that looks like a piece fitting into a puzzle kind of, or at least that is what it reminds me of. I would take your orchids out for this part just incase you may bump them trying to get them out, but these two parts that fit into that top ledge should somehow lift up and out, I had to play with mine for a while and I completely took it out and the humidity is fine and I still have to crack the doors open at night. If you have problems adjusting it or taking that part out so the vents are permanently open then let me know and I will see if I can figure out how I took mine out exactly. I just remember at first I thought I broke it, but then realized it would go back together...lol. Hope this helps, let me know how it goes!