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Originally Posted by RPfeiffer
Wow thanks for the picture...that helps allot! I would think that for fresh air circulation that any orchidarium would need a thru-wall fan, wouldn't they? I have been told that it doesn't do any good to blow stale air around. Do you have the heat-absorbing glass with yours as well? I thought you did, but you said your light fixture was sitting on the acrylic, so I was just curious. Thanks again for everything!
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Thru-wall not necessary with most orchidariums. Mine is misted with three mist heads several times a day so water lies in the bottom (I have an overflow valve for that so depth never gets more than 1/2" or so) and I run a fan (yep, just like the others
) inside tank 24/7. I have heard that fresh air is mandatory, but my experience says otherwise. So "stale air" blows around 24/7. Now for the good part, there are big sealed doors on both sides for access. I need to open these to fertilize the orchids several times a week. So fresh air gets into tank while this is going on. Even with 90-99% humidity, the sphagnum on the mounts dries out and must be wetted.
I don't have "heat absorbing" glass per-se (I may add this in the future) but I use that old aluminum storm window laying on the acrylic and that serves pretty-much the same purpose.
Becca, don't try to copy my setup unless you want to grow wet loving miniatures. These are pretty specialized and tend to be impossible to grow outside these conditions. One orchid comes from the jungles of Borneo and must be kept wet all the time and in dim light. These conditions are extremely rare in the orchid world. The list of genera you stated above will be just fine with 70%, high light, plenty of air movement (thru-case or not) and normal watering regime. The orchidarium comes with a sponge system (I think) to supply humidity. When I tested my tank new, I placed a wet sponge in the bottom, closed the doors, left the vents open, but didn't run any fans and I achieved 75% overnight with one small sponge. So it works.
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