New 40g intermediate tank

[harpspiel]

My current plant list:
Haraella odorata
Angraecum distichum
Schoenorchis fragrans
Lepanthopsis astrophora 'Stalky'
Pleurothallis prolifera x self
Phalaenopsis ? (Some Home Depot hybrid, put in there temporarily to encourage new growth)
Psychopsis krameriana seedlings (brought back from a recent trip to Costa Rica)
Gongora sp. seedlings (also brought back from CR)

The temperatures currently range from about 59F (15C) nights to 77F (25C) days. I will be setting up a cooling system before summer which should keep it from ever going above 77F.

Humidity usually hovers around 80%, but I circulate air with the room once a day to get it down to 60% for a period (not sure if this is necessary). There is a small computer fan mounted in the top which is constantly on for air circulation.

The lights I'm using are an LED Grow Lamp and a Philips Flowering Lamp, both purchased from Ray.

The background is DIY - Coco fiber (from those cheap coco fiber basket liners available at Home Depot) siliconed to Great Stuff on a sheet of egg crate. The egg crate is not attached to the glass, so the whole background can be removed.

The bottom of the tank has a hole for drainage, is elevated with pieces of PVC with window screen covering it and then a soil/bark mixture on top of that.

I have a very DIY fogger that comes on a few times a day - just so you can see that this is not a high-tech setup:


Plans for the setup include covering the whole background with moss - I have a live moss slurry coming from NEHERP as soon as weather permits them to ship. Other plants I'm hoping to add over time:

Various mini bromeliads
Some jewel orchids - ludisia might prove too big for the tank
A few masdevallias (I particularly love a hybrid called 'Confetti' and I know that both J&L and Parkside have had it at one point, but I can't find it for sale anywhere available to me)
Bulbophyllum sumatranum
Paphiopedilum helenae
Phalaenopsis violacea (possibly too cool for this one)
Angraecum breve or Aerangis punctata
Mediocalcar decoratum
Dendrobium cuthbertsonii
Trisetella hoeijeri

I'm hoping to keep the temperatures low enough that the cuthbertsonii and the Trisetella would be happy - I'll have to see how summer temps look before I spend money on those!

I will keep updating this thread with progress -in a few months there should be a lot more green.

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[WhiteRabbit]

Awesome!

[LovePhals]

That is very neat!

[Ferns Daddy]

Nice set up.

[Auri]

That looks great! I've been in the same boat with NEHERP, but they finally shipped. The last of my materials will be straggling in over the course of the week, so I can finally start construction next weekend. It's awesome to see pictures of other people's newly constructed tanks- gives me more of an idea what to expect when I'm "done" with mine.

[harpspiel]

Just got an order in from Andy's, so here's an update!

Current plant list:
Aerangis punctata
Angraecum distichum
Asplenium rutifolium (sp aff daucifolium)
Dendrobium cuthbertsonii (pink)
Dendrobium lichenastrum
Dendrobium limpidum
Epidendrum porpax
Gongora sp.?
Haraella odorata
Isabelia virginalis
Lepanthopsis astrophora 'Stalky'
Masdevallia coccinea 'Dwarf Pink'
Maxillaria juergensii
Microgramma piloselloides
Pleurothallis adeleae
Pleurothallis prolifera x self
Psychopsis krameriana
Schoenorchis fragrans
Sophronitis cernua









The Maxillaria juergensii is currently in bloom and has a wonderful spicy fragrance - someone compared it to cinnamon gum.

[Tindomul]

Very nice. I love the fogger. Make sure that Phal doesn't accumulate water in the crown. And also maybe your Phal is a little tougher, but I lost several due to standing water on the leaves, and the leaves would develop bacterial rot.

What dendrobium is it that you have in flower?

THanks for sharing.

[harpspiel]

I've since moved the Phal out of the tank and am trying it in a hanging basket crown-down, however while in the tank the circulation was good enough that it never had standing water on the leaves/crown for long. I've lost enough Phals and Paphs to crown rot to be careful now

The Dendrobium is D. limpidum. The little purple canes are adorable and it is supposed to be free-flowering. A camera really cannot capture the flowers' fluorescent shade of deep pink, and a Google search for images doesn't remotely capture it either. A really enchanting little plant!

[Tindomul]

Originally Posted by harpspiel

The Dendrobium is D. limpidum. The little purple canes are adorable and it is supposed to be free-flowering. A camera really cannot capture the flowers' fluorescent shade of deep pink, and a Google search for images doesn't remotely capture it either. A really enchanting little plant!

Awesome plant, I really want one now.

[harpspiel]

Anyone care to weigh in on what this is? Mesophyll cell collapse, bacteria, fungus, just the plant acclimating to a new environment? It starts as sunken, dry light brown spots on the leaves, and then goes black after a day or two. The black areas are somewhat soft and squishy. It seems to happen on the older leaves of my Masd. coccinea 'Dwarf Pink', and so far I've lost 4 leaves in three days.

I'm not too concerned yet since it has a good root system and at least 4 new leaves developing, but if this continues it could become a problem. So far I've sprayed Physan 20, removed the affected leaves, and coated the stems with cinnamon.