New 90 gal tropical terrarium with chiller

[Kaity]

Oh. I know that it isnt tempered...I'm a real DIY'er so I got custom cut glass sheets and siliconed them up myself :-) I might but in the drain just in case. Already bought the drill bits and ball valve...

[tropterrarium]

Originally Posted by Brotherly Monkey

Trop, you're just using an open top?

Nonono, not at all. I live in Southern California with indoor humidity at 20-30%, terrarium humidity at 75-95%. It's a pretty tightly fitting glass top, but because of the humidity differential of inside and outside, there still is a lot of water escaping the tank. With open top, I may get tropical humidity for one or two minutes, and then would be at 20-30% room humidity. Even a slit of 1-2 inches dropped humidity into the 30-50%.

[tropterrarium]

Originally Posted by Kaity

Oh. I know that it isnt tempered...I'm a real DIY'er so I got custom cut glass sheets and siliconed them up myself :-) I might but in the drain just in case. Already bought the drill bits and ball valve...

Cool, looking forward to seeing the result down the road. Drilling was really not bad, just took about 2-3 minutes for a 3/4" hole with very little pressure on the bit, essentially the weight of the powerdrill. Plus water, of course.

[tropterrarium]

Just a couple of pictures of recent/current flowers.
Angraecum distichum and Lockhartia lunifera. More on the way ...

[ewcia1028]

beautiful set up tropterrarium I have a question about your ghost wood,where did you get it?and another one,is it really necessary to have those heat pads underneat aquarium?

[tropterrarium]

I got the ghost wood from black jungle.

Regarding heating pads, it depends on the intended temperature range in your set-up and the usual room temperature where your terrarium is located. That will tell you whether or not you need *some* sort of heat input. The how question is separate. Heatpads, heat bands, indirect by heating water of a water feature all are options.

Bottom heat will help with avoiding water accumulation at the bottom of the tank. Higher water temperature = higher vapor pressure. In general gardening, when sprouting or rooting plants, bottom heat helps with root development. Not sure this also applies to orchids in a tank.

Last but not least, notice that there are two versions of heat pads: desert and rainforest. The former get much hotter, so you will fry the roots (or use a rheostat). Rather get the Rainforest version.

[ewcia1028]

Thank you very much for a quick respond and answering my questions.How is your terrarium doing?

[tropterrarium]

Terrarium is doing great. Had one flooding incident, because a branch of Lockhartia touched the waterfall and siphoned off all water into the main terrarium. I like when the problem is due to plants growing too well!
Otherwise, added Bulbophyllum tingabarinum (orange) recently flowered, second inflorescence forming; a Chilochista, Schoenorchis fragrans, Oncidium = Ornithophora radicans is in spike, Pleurothallis grobyi and P. brighami are almost constantly flowering, so is Restrepia muscifera. Had to cut back the Epidendrum peperomia, so put some cuttings into new greenhouse. Tolumnia calocheilum finally died. Zygostates pellucida and Notylia barkeri, though are doing great. The latter inflorescence is spectacular.

No complaints, none whatsoever.

Re assessment of need for heat, the winter night low is the critical parameter. During the day you will get heat input from the grow lights, but at night, it is just room temperature. My terrarium is also very close to an outside window, and outside is usually colder than inside, but due to proximity of the terrarium to the window there is quite a bit of heat loss that way.

[ewcia1028]

Thanks for update,talking about heat pads I will see if I need those heat pads,first right now I am in the process of buying misting system and fans and has been thinking to use this staff called habacrete like Marty used in his terrarium,but the problem is that their website doesn't work,they doing something with it and it is not ready yet.I checked the ghost wood and they are out of stock with every size possible, so it is going to take a long time to get everything.I have bulbo tingabarinum,pleurothallis grobii, brighamii, and some restrepia's too and my bulbo tingabarinum has 3 spikes.Just to let you know that some tolumnias like to be dry and thats maybe why it died.I can see you live in Southern California like me, and I was thinking that we won't need any heat pads because our winters are not freezing,but it seems roots are sensitive to even slighter colder temps.

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[tropterrarium]

Again, it depends on your temp range. I shoot for 60-85, but outdoor temps are regularly in the 35-40F at night in winter. If you want to grow cold species, then maybe you don't need pads. But given your plant list, that sounds quite intermediate. Sorry to hear blackjungle is out of ghost wood. Not sure about other sources, sorry.