Pleurothallid focused terrarium - Orchid Board

pleurothallid · #1 02-14-2011, 08:27 PM

I'm not much of a forum person, but since I've used this as a resource on and off I thought this design may be of some interest to people. This is a terrarium I built the end of August 2010 and it has been growing in the past few months. The concept is simple and I wanted to grow a large amount of very small orchids. The terrarium is glass with the top half glass, half acrylic (so I could drill it), the rest of the glass is 3/8" with 1/4" doors.

The gadgetry is fairly simple, consisting of a misting system with 10 heads on it (Mistking-- the only type I use), 3 closed-circuit computer fans, and 2 x 96 watt compact fluorescents 3' fixtures. The dimensions of this is 3' long, 2' deep and 4' high, though with the stand it sits just around 6' 8" tall, which coincidentally is pretty much as tall as I am, so I can view it standing up and see it all. I can't recall the final list but there's at least 30 species of nearly all Pleurothallid alliance orchids in it, nearly all have bloomed so far.

Just this weekend I started planting a second that's a foot shorter, but it's easier to get the light and misting more even with the dimensions. That also features nearly all extremely small orchids. I've got a few branches where the idea is to have moss cover them and barely have the orchid leaves above the moss, only blooms will emerge.

The system is automated so I only have to fill the water reservoir every 10 days or so, and ever 2 weeks I have to empty the drainage buckets. I spend most of my summer out of the country, so things have to be automated as much as possible to maximize the chance of things surviving.

Tindomul · #2 02-15-2011, 11:20 AM

Hi, very nice tank. What are the dimensions of your tank. How strong are you fans? I find it really hard to keep pleurothallids alive in my naturalistic vivariums. They all tend to rot or dry out, depending on where I place them.
Would love to learn more about how you constructed yours. Thanks.

pleurothallid · #3 02-15-2011, 11:34 AM

The fans I use are:
Amazon.com: Antec PRO 92mm Double Ball Bearing Case Fan with 3-Pin and 4-Pin Connector: Electronics

Which I power with:
Amazon.com: Sunbeam MFPP Multi-Fan Power Port - Fan power adapter - 3 pin Molex (M) - 4 pin internal power (M): Electronics
and
Amazon.com: CG 110v AC to 12v DC 4pin molex Power Adapter: Electronics

The 90 degree elbows I buy from Lowes and cut down to make them lower profile. I also add 2 fans to the sides of the lights in the summer to keep down the accumulation of heat. The fans are strong enough to make leaves move slowly at the bottom of the tank, so there's a good amount of air movement. I tried to add at least 10 other images but the forum said they failed to load, so unfortunately I couldn't add more details of the terrarium, equipment or plants. The dimensions are 36" x 24" x 48" on this tank, the stand is 30" tall and has a removable front plate (held on with magnets). Access is via the top and side doors. I would not recommend only one side door unless you're sure your arms can reach, I'm quite tall and I can barely clean the glass, which needs done on occasion. I also use RO water for misting, which is later recycled into a Rivulus aquarium, or used to water my garden.

Tindomul · #4 02-15-2011, 01:05 PM

]Thats fantastic!!
I love your fan connections. I have been cutting and rewiring fans and didn't know they sold adaptors! You made my day.

I am currently researching on building a 26 l x 30 tall x 30 deep tank. I want to build it from scratch (which means putting the glass panes together). I wanted to make it a 30 inch cube but if I did that it would not fit through my doorways. I will definitely look to your posts for help. I wish I could see better the placement of your fans.

pleurothallid · #5 02-15-2011, 01:25 PM

If you can direct me to an alternative way of posting photos, I'm happy to supply you with any photos/help you need. The new one I'm currently planting is closer to your dimensions, it's 36" L x 24" W, 36" H. It features 'fake rocks' and an alternative background. The fans and parts took quite a while to search out how to do it, glad that could save you some time. As for building from scratch, I wanted to do it, but to be honest it came out much cheaper to have it built by a company that deals in bulk. I supplied them with blueprint drawings and specifics and they built it to my specs.

The placement of fans is just in the front pane of acrylic (the back hinged piece is glass) and I connect two elbows of black PVC to the fan with hot glue, then glue the unit to the acrylic with silicone. The two fan sets that run parallel to the front pane blow from center to the outside, the middle fan blows down across the front pane of glass.

Tindomul · #6 02-15-2011, 02:50 PM

It sounds like you can't upload because your pictures are too big. You can use photobucket, a free website to post your photos, and then you simply post the link to your photo here.
What I like to use is snippet tool for windows. It basically takes a picture of what ever is showing on your screen, so when I take a snippet of my large photo files, the new snippet is a much smaller file, but looks the same.

Hope that helps.

Which company did you use to make your tank? From my research, companies that make custom enclosures charge 3 times what I will pay for the glass.

pleurothallid · #7 05-03-2011, 12:26 PM

Sorry for the late reply. These (I'm posting a new one I made a little while back) were both made by Glasscages.com to my specifications. They've done 4 for me in the past few years and overall they do a really nice job. The following images of the newer one has about 12 species of Lepanthes, many intermediate/cool that I'm experimenting with growing. The terrarium is directly under the airconditioner and the temperature never breaks 80 degrees during the day, night drops I get a low as I can.

And the older one again:

Tindomul · #8 05-03-2011, 02:50 PM

Those are awesome pics!

Paul Mc · #9 05-03-2011, 03:08 PM

I am in love with those terrariums. I can't wait until I get mine designed that good!

pleurothallid · #10 05-03-2011, 03:39 PM

Thanks for the kind words. This new one also features fake rocks made of closed cell foam. Otherwise, its design is very similar to the first. I was hoping for mainly a lot of green with varying textures of leaves. I also wanted a ton of tiny orchids that you had to look for a bit to notice. Just like how they're seen in the field. I'm happy to answer any other questions you have too. Lately, I've been experimenting with a new misting schedule to maximize evaporative cooling to keep the day temperatures down.