Terrarium is finally finished!

[Paul Mc]

Thank you for that idea Pluerothallid! I will keep that in mind as I monitor and see what happens.

This actually brings me to the next step in the built and how I think I may have gotten around this. I'm testing it now so we'll see.

Step 3:
Once I had all of the materials, the background picked out and sealed on (be sure to leave room for any wires to exit at the top and to cut off the bottom so the cork doesn't sit in the water), I moved on to air flow. Obviously, this may still be an issue for me though.

I read on the OrchidBoard a thread where a guy told exactly what he used. I searched online and ended up buying the smallest computer fan I could find, a 3 to 4 pin adaptor and a molex power adaptor so I could plug the fan into a regular power socket. I think I spent a total of about $15 or $20 dollars on everything.

After putting the fan in and having it run, I noticed that the humidity would drop if I left the fan on the entire time. This was not good. I tried having the fan turn on for 15 minutes every hour then off for the rest and it seemed to help but I noticed mold slowly starting to grow. Again, not good. At this time I also started putting my wood and other pieces in and situating them the way I wanted them and then I noticed that the air flow was not as strong as before due to the wood and overall structure.

So, I upgraded the computer fan to the next size up and completely covered the top of the terrarium to limit the ways humidity could escape. The later one was not my idea, again thank you to people on the OrchidBoard for that suggestion!

Now, other than when I'm watering the orchids which I will discuss in the another step, the fan stays on 24/7. While the leaves of the orchids in there do not really move other than a few here and there, the sphag that is not secured and hanging sways in the wind. When I open up the terrarium and put my face slightly in, I can feel a good draft.

Another reason why I'm very satisfied with the air flow currently is that the water evaporates off of the flowers and leaves of the orchids in about 30 minutes with the new fan, and most of the sphag is dry by the next watering time.

In fact, it works so well and gets the plants so dry, that I am going to add another time slot for the watering unit to go on in the evening. Currently, I have it set for 3 hours in the morning.

After having the fan in for about a week now, there is no more mold growing anywhere, and the mold that was there has completely dried up and disappeared.