Building a new orchid enclosure.

[Call_Me_Bob]

just get the replacement filter cartridge, its easier to replace.

how many gallons is the aquarium part? thats something important to figure out

[tropterrarium]

Nice set-up. Can you tell me a bit more about the air-conditioner? brand, model, airflow rate, BTU rating, required temperature drop, low temperature reached?

Second, how do you keep humidity up? As far as I understand, AC units rather dry air out (hence the dripping from AC units). I would see the following options:
- take relatively dry room air, cool it and send it into the terrarium. If the air is very cold, the flow rate could be low, but you may get very pronounced cold spots in your enclosure.
- take terrarium air, cool it, but I would think that a lot of moisture is lost due to cooling.
- Humidify cool air (e.g., bubble through water), but then you get back pressure on the AC unit, and heat exchange with water, so water also has to be cool.

You also mention, that you keep the AC unit in a closet. Doesn't the unit overheat in no time? Or where does the excess heat go?

I've gone a different route, cooling water and have air blow over the water feature. That way, if anything, humidity is increased. The water chiller is in the main room, so the air volume available for heat exchange is the entire house.

I took note of the expanded clay you use at the bottom of your tank, have done the very same!

[Brotherly Monkey]

I'm getting ready to do a build myself

[Wouter]

help: The aquarium is +- 15 gal

tropterrarium: Its one of the cheapest i could find on ebay in my neighbourhood since i tried to do everything as much as possible on a budget. Here's the model :AC9000M Portable A/C Unit
So far humidity hasent gone down below 75%, most of the time it is around 90%.
I use the ultrasonic fogger 8x a day for 3 minutes but humidity stays pretty high even without the fogger. I think sealing the tank well and the amount of wet surface inside the tank with the AC blowing over it is making up for the dry air it takes in.
The closet the ac is in actually has a window so i hooked up the exhaust tube to blow outside, just like the manufacturers suggest you do.

Also you can see i didnt hook up any fans inside the tank yet, i thought the airflow of the ac would be enough but i think i might have to get 1 or 2 to cover to lower area anyway.

[Paul Mc]

I wish there was a manual for this sort of thing! I am trying to figure out how to build one and I'm not good with technical stuff, lol...

[Wouter]

The tank has been running for a while and seems to finally provide a good stable environment so i figured its time for a little update


First of all i got rid of the aquarium, i decided to choose for more room for the orchids and didnt want to sacrifice a few degrees in favor of fish against my masdies
All my pleurotlalli etc seem to be loving the end result and reward me with lots of new growths and some blooms


gastrochilus calceolaris

masdevallia coccinea

masdevallia collossus

masdevallia ionocharis

masdevallia civilis

haraella retrocalla

dracula vlad-tepes


The last image shows whats left of the aquarium, a small terracota pot to hold the humidifier. Also you can see my moss experiment starting to succeed. I mixed up some dried sphagnum moss with some live moss i picked from my older established orchid pots and some water to get a smooth paste. i only applied it on a few spots in the orchidarium as it looks quite ugly while waiting for the moss to grow and as i wasnt sure it would work.... but looks like i will be covering all the epiweb soon



Where i enjoy my morning coffee before starting the daily race

[Jeff9]

Wouter where did you find an A/C with a analog controls? To use with a thermostat?

[Wouter]

The model is AC9000M Portable A/C Unit and i just found it second hand in my neighbourhood by an auction site. It isnt perfect and costs quite alot to run but i did keep my enclosure around 21°C on the so far hottest day of the year (measured 35°C around the enclosure in the porch).