Setting up A Custom Orchidarium

[Ross]

A new story entry has been added:

Setting up A Custom Orchidarium

 
This Article documents the thought process involved in designing and setting up a large custom Orchidarium. After following a lot of threads on this and other related boards, I decided to construct my own custom tank (or, as it turned out, having it constructed for me.)

Objectives for the new Orchidarium

• Need a tank large enough to house an expanding collection of, mainly, miniature species orchids. These will be low-light, high humidity/moisture species.
• Most of the plants will be mounted and hanging, as in stick or cork mounts.
• Need an environment that allows low maintenance for the plants. This means I want to be able to ignore plants for at least a week at a time. Occasional fertilizing is understood, but daily is not going to make it.
• Must have an environment where excess moisture drains away by itself, misting is taken care of regularly, light is not a problem, there will be places for lower wetness plants and higher wetness plants, and air movement is controlled over 24 hour period.
• I desire to use 48” T5 fixtures as the only source of light. Lights will be timer-controlled.
• Locating tank in basement where ambient temps are approx. 62 degrees F at night and 67 degrees F day during winter months will moderate temperature. Temperatures during summer months will be approx 65-70 degrees F at night and 75-80’s during the day. Cool to Intermediate growers are the best choices. A few spp on the edge of being warm-growers are also a possibility.
• Tank should be easy to care for by non-orchid grower for periods of up to a month or more. My caretaker, while I am away, is not an orchid specialist.
• Esthetics is NOT the primary issue – casual visitors will not see this tank. The tank is for hobby purposes and function is more important than esthetics. Quality of construction is important in order to eliminate future problems such as warping, separating of seams, etc.

[Marty]

Great Job on the Orchidarium Ross. Looks like it was well worth the effort. I'm all about maintenance free as much as possible also. I'm very curious how your plants will do, esp with the T5s

[markr]

Nice article.
I would be interested in hearing more about how you cool your terrarium to 15C.

I'm trying to set up a cool terrarium for some Restrepias and a few Himalayan orchids that require cool humid winters. Not having much luck under T5 and Compact Fluorescent lights. About 18C is the coolest I can get without dropping ambient room temperature to something unpleasant.

Any thoughts on terrarium cooling systems or strategies?

[Ross]

Sorry for the late reply (I am actually on break during a two-week vacation.) My regime is totally controlled by a combination of ambient room temps (mine is in cool basement) plus a fan that runs through the t5 bank to exhaust the heat before (hopefully) it gets into the tank. Right now (afternoon and t5s have been running approx 6 hours) the tank is approx 20C - this represents highest it will get during today. At night after lights shut off the temps will drop to approximate room temps. My plan is to open basement windows at night during summer months and run room fans to help lower basement temps. I will shut off windows when I get up in morning to trap cooler air in basement. My terrarium only runs 15C at night and only when basement temps are approx 15C. Hope this helps.

[Ross]

Another thought, if the orchids you plan on growing require cool winter temps, could you do something like I outlined above? Do you have a cool basement (preferrably unheated)?

[DasEmpress]

Thanks for the inspiration!! I've a 20gal. tank w/nothing in it, that is now reserved for a few orchids!

[Ross]

Originally Posted by DasEmpress

Thanks for the inspiration!! I've a 20gal. tank w/nothing in it, that is now reserved for a few orchids!

Have you checked out Tindo's thread at About to build my First Vertical tanks! Update on page 2 - Vivarium Forums

It's a recommended article on modifying an aquarium. I plan to do this with the retrofit aquarium I now have empty. Just a thought.

[DasEmpress]

Pretty cool...never occurred to me to set the aquarium sideways..I guess I've kept too many fish!!

[Ross]

Originally Posted by DasEmpress

Pretty cool...never occurred to me to set the aquarium sideways..I guess I've kept too many fish!!

Talk to Tindo. He's the expert on this process. I plan to convert mine permanently one day (it's setting there, waiting, right now ) In mean time I plan to do a lot of planning.

[RandiRae]

I love your set-up. Where do you find the fiber backdrop? Is there a way to hang mounted plants to it? I have a 75 gallon horizontal tank and need something useful and pleasing to the eye to cover the back.

Also, is there an alternative to the mistking if I have many phals? I'd be nervous of crown rot. I need to do something cause my temps are nice but the humidity is always settling to 48-50% despite the fact that I have the bottom of the tank filled with 1/2 inch of water-soaked perlite and an aquarium 'bubbler' going 24-7. HELP!

Thanks for being such a great source of info!

R