Setting up a mini-terrarium for lepanthes/haraella

[Ross]

Jess, just one comment - be sure to include lots of air movement. I use 2 fans running 24/7 and a third one comes on at night to add more air movement. You'' want to see the plants moving in the breeze. The air holes idea probably won't provide enough movement. No need to bring lots of outside air into tank except at night when lights are off. I have an article on the board's home page you might want to check out.

[pandakitti]

I love the saying "bigger is better" which is probably a good thing since I have over 200 mini's. So if you are asking ME I would go bigger...I have made a couple of cases myself...not very pretty but very functional...
there is no such thing as "one" orchid...

[jess_hawk]

Originally Posted by Ross

Jess, just one comment - be sure to include lots of air movement. I use 2 fans running 24/7 and a third one comes on at night to add more air movement. You'' want to see the plants moving in the breeze. The air holes idea probably won't provide enough movement. No need to bring lots of outside air into tank except at night when lights are off. I have an article on the board's home page you might want to check out.

Thanks for clarifying exactly how much movement I need to have... I knew I needed more than just air holes alone, but was just going to have to experiment. I'll go see if I can find that article.

Originally Posted by pandakitti

I love the saying "bigger is better" which is probably a good thing since I have over 200 mini's. So if you are asking ME I would go bigger...I have made a couple of cases myself...not very pretty but very functional...
there is no such thing as "one" orchid...

Hehehe... 1 mini already became 3 minis for a terrarium plus the two I got from the society meeting... but I have a very strict rule of not buying anything during the second half of the semester, because I like everything to be well established and in good health when I move home. So I really won't be adding anything until I get my own apartment. And then I have visions of doing one of those things with the aquarium and fish on the bottom and plants on the top... and THEN I can buy lots more!

[jess_hawk]

OK so I have actually mostly built the terrarium. It's not quite finished, but I will post progress and completed photos once I get everything finished up. I'm actually quite pleased with it!
I would kind of like to put some non-spag moss in there to add some variety... do places actually sell moss? Or just go outside, find some, stick it in, and see how it works?

[pandakitti]

I bought mine at petsmart in the reptile area, it looks pretty dead at first then "pops" back in a couple of weeks...

[jess_hawk]

Thanks! I'm going to get my Spag moss from Lowe's, it's less expensive there.

I still haven't got the doors put on, but I got fans today. My grandma has a bunch of those little personal cooling fans people use in summer. So I brought home two (and I can always get more from her later). They are battery powered, which may be a problem as far as keeping them running for any length of time... But from what I've read, they don't need to run 24 hrs a day, so they will work for me for the time being. I'm going to be leaving a vent at the top of the terrarium (above the doors) to facilitate them, and allow air exchange.

[jess_hawk]

Is there a way to reduce hardness of tap water (dissolved CaCO4) in absence of an RO system and without using salt (which is so obviously a bad choice for plants that it isn't even funny)? I live in a dorm so collecting rainwater is not really feasible, and RO is simply out of my price range (and I think also not really feasible in a dorm setting). My thoughts are: Some bottled water brands may be OK (but expensive), or I could try running a steam distillation on my stove (I may be an ecologist but I know how to do a distillation). I considered Brita type filtration but nothing is mentioned on their site about the smaller filters at least (didn't check larger ones) reducing calcium.