Mini Cool Terrarium (ok, it's a start...) - Page 3 - Orchid Board

Discus · #21 03-30-2011, 10:05 AM

Heh!
Yes, those components will work for the fan - plug it in and see

Reset button/surge protector is not a GFCI and does not do the same thing. You should be able to get a "wall wart" or inline GFCI to protect your terrarium circuits from ground faults (i.e. when you're busy electrocuting yourself!). Make sure the switching time is 20ms or less.

The reset button on the surge strip is an over-current device - i.e. pulling to much power (a conventional circuit breaker). It's not at all the same as a GFCI, which might save your life.

Paul Mc · #22 03-31-2011, 01:21 PM

I'm looking into the incline GFCI as I'm not sure how I would connect a "wall wart" to the current circuitry.

So I went and bought an exterior fogger today. I've gotta say I'm very pleased with it. It does an excellent job and it frees up so much space in my tiny little terrarium. I'm very excited about it! Now I've just to do some more scenarie work to make it look the way I would like it to.

Computer fan and components should be here this weekend, so I'm very excited about that as well!

Paul Mc · #23 04-01-2011, 08:44 AM

One question though. What about the water build-up on the bottom of the tank?

Originally, I thought it would be fine as it's a small tank and I would use moss in the bottom to "soak" up the remaining water condensation. I'm hoping that the introduction of the fan will help a bit, but there is still quite a bit of water on the bottom and I'm not sure it will help that much.

So is the use of a substrate really that important when using a tiny aquarium and making it a rock/mountain type of scene? I guess at the very least, I should get the moss out of the sitting water.

Discus · #24 04-01-2011, 08:54 AM

A lot of people use "egg crate" to raise the bottom of tanks like this.

Another option, assuming the glass is not tempered, is to drill a hole in the bottom and have a drain there. Use a bulkhead fitting and you can channel the water where you want it (but you'll need a hole through the surface it sits on).

If you're happier to have a slightly higher water level at the bottom, you can also install one in the side instead.

Paul Mc · #25 04-02-2011, 10:38 AM

Well, the fan components came in and I tested it a little bit on a GFCI circuit in my kitchen. With the condensation that accumulated on the fan, I now see the need for the GFCI! Thank you for that information. This is why I am documenting my journey because I have not found another source that did so and explained the in's and out's, pro's and con's.

I actually used a layer of Lava Rock in the bottom instead of egg crate. That egg crate stuff is expensive!

Also, I'm in the process of re-designing the interior but just not happy with any configuration I've tried thus far. But of course I think this will change even again as I put a few more ultra-mini's in there.

I will hopefully be getting timers and an GFCI power strip today to set everything up on automatic. I still have yet to figure out the "hood" situation though. I will have to cut holes in the glass top for the fogger hose and the fan, but I'm not sure yet where to make those cuts, or how big they should be for proper ventilation.

terrestrial_man · #26 04-02-2011, 08:11 PM

Like your initial try but would like to throw out a couple of ideas, maybe for use in another try?
1. stand the aquarium up on one of its ends.
2. use a slab of tree fern and mount your orchids onto it.
3. cover exposed side so that there is an opening in the bottom and one at the top and set the fan near the bottom pointing upwards to force air movement from the bottom to the top with humidity venting out the top.
This would give you much more room to mount plants and perhaps a better view of them?

Paul Mc · #27 04-02-2011, 09:27 PM

Oh wow! Thank you for that idea! It would give me that more upright look I was originally wanting. I mitt even be able to get a larger size doing that. Where can I find the slab of tree fern?

I think my only concern would be water drainage at the bottom from the fogger. I feel as though I'd need to seal about 2 inches or so to ensure no water spillage. I will have to chew on this great idea!

terrestrial_man · #28 04-02-2011, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Mc

Oh wow! Thank you for that idea! It would give me that more upright look I was originally wanting. I mitt even be able to get a larger size doing that. Where can I find the slab of tree fern?

I think my only concern would be water drainage at the bottom from the fogger. I feel as though I'd need to seal about 2 inches or so to ensure no water spillage. I will have to chew on this great idea!

Here is a link to one site that sells them at a decent price but I have no knowledge on the reliability of the retailer. Tropical Plant Products. Treefern Slabs
If you do buy suggest that you buy several if you buy the larger size as those sizes seem to be sold out from many of the orchid supplier sites.
For controlling excess water overflow I would find a rectangular or square shaped plastic food storage container or cut the top off of a one gallon water jug and sit your current misting set up inside of that. If the jug gets too full you can get some aquarium airline tubing and punch a hole in the "overflow jug" at the level you want to siphon off and insert one end of the tubing into the hole (use an awl) and run the tubing down into a collection bucket!

Paul Mc · #29 04-04-2011, 08:46 AM

Well, I placed the terrarium where I had originally wanted it. But the room tends to be warm in the late afternoon, and I found myself having to leave the fan on almost consistently during the day and night over the past two days. The temp would drop to about 70 but it struggled to stay that low. The one hour the fan was off every 4 hours the temp would rise quickly.

As a test, I turned it off last night to see what would happen and it shot up to 80 over the night. Way too high! Of course, it was about 85F yesterday, the house sure felt like an oven and I refuse to turn on the air conditioner yet, lol... So a new home might be in it's future.

RH stayed at around 55 to 60, but I think that was because the fan was on so consistently. I was hoping to maintain the tank between 70 and 80. Perhaps once I'm satisfied that the tank is dry enough and I reduce the time for the fan being on this will change.

On a different note, the fan took care of the water on the bottom and the smell that was growing in the tank. I'm guessing that I will have to re-adjust the times the fan throughout the year and had it on almost 24/7 to help dry it out a bit over the past few days. I was fearful of getting mold or bacteria to start growing in there as it was starting to smell.

I placed a phal keiki with no roots (previously in sphag and bag) inside the tank to see if it would help it grow more roots with the air flow. Unfortunately, the fan completely dried out the sphag it was in. Either I will have to water it everyday, put it back in the bag or move it from underneath the fan.

A few more days of testing should tell me what's going on I think, and then it's adjustment time.

Paul Mc · #30 04-04-2011, 09:00 AM

So out of curiousity, how long do you guys leave your foggers and fans on for? I know this is relative to your surrounding environments, but I'm curious what everyones ratios are.