99% DIY Orchid Paludarium Project
 

Hi everyone!

I am currently in Manhattan trying to get through dental school and wanted something to keep me sane throughout my time here, as well as add some light and life in my apartment (I promise it's not an excuse ;)). I have been doing planted aquariums for a very long time (used to be a very active ThePlantedTank member), but since it is so high maintenance and requires at least weekly attention which college breaks do not afford, I stopped after high school and began slowly collecting orchids. 2 years prior to this project, I made a mini terrarium out of a 10-gallon aquarium (pics here) for fun, but also as a prototype. Many things I will show here, especially regarding automation and the circuitry/coding involved, I learned from that little project.

Feel free to ask me about anything I did or my thought processes for this build! Internal dimensions are about 40" wide, 20" deep, and 36" tall. The overall concept for culture is mounted orchids, high humidity, and daily watering of plants to mimic natural conditions. Water will come from an aquatic portion that may potentially have fish in the future which would also make this an aquaponic system, but that is for much later. Without further ado, here are the pics for the construction phase. Please pardon my phone camera quality:

Mock-up with TinkerCAD (first time using CAD software so wanted something easy to learn/use). Everything is to scale

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Lighting is a 108W COB LED light I bought the parts for and assembled. I also constructed the stand out of mainly 2x3's. It is only going to have a little bit of water, (25-30 gallons) so does not need to be ridiculously strong. As for the frame, it is constructed out of 3/4" plywood that I pre-cut back at home in FL before driving up to NY. Also got some nice metal shelf brackets for help with supporting the canopy.

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Sanding, staining, and applying poly over the wood by hand took a whole month by itself :( but was well worth it. I sealed the frame with Pond Armor and ordered glass online. Used curtain tension rods, some tape, and the weight of the glass itself to hold everything together while I siliconed it all.

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More images coming soon!

Water test and some plants in for scale. You can also see in the pic that I put a piece of thick cardboard underneath to even out the weight distribution. The tank holds about 25-30 gallons, and the glass is regular 1/4" thick.

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Installed an AC relay system on the canopy to control lights, misting, etc. Also built my own little DC relay circuit for kicks for controlling fans, screens, sensors, etc. Don't worry I properly soldered everything eventually ;).

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And this is where the 1% not DIY part comes from, as I do not consider buying a MistKing kit DIY :p. Researched extensively about finding my own parts and stuff, but it turns out it's still better, more reliable, and may even be cheaper to go with MistKing. I also had enough things to worry about so did not want to bother with assembling my own. Reservoir is a new 20 gallon Rubbermaid trashcan (food safe) filled with RO water that I also got for myself, as I got sick of drinking NYC tap water.

Link here for video.

Thank you for sharing. This looks AWESOME. I cannot wait to see the finished product. I have a Beta in a fish bowl with some bamboo. Is this considered aqua scraping? Lol.

Is your led dimmable? You might need to keep an eye on placement for lower light plants. Looking forward to the build

Thank you! If you have a nice betta bowl, then perhaps :biggrin:. I personally did something more along the lines of "nature aquariums," which is basically gardening with aquatic plants. A very satisfying hobby (everything grows soooo much faster lol) but definitely requires a good deal of sense and experience.


Yup the ballast has two leads made for dimming! The less current passing between those two leads, the higher the current going through the LEDs. I will be using a transistor to connect those leads and passing a PWM wave from a microcontroller to alter the current. With this, I will be able to decrease the intensity, simulate sunrise/sunset, and give brief periods of more intense light to mimic a more natural setting. If I ever get to it, I could also code in some light flashes to simulate lightning when the mist turns on!

I was just kidding lol. My son is currently building his Aqua scaping business. The beauty and complexity of those projects is truly amazing. The tanks sitting in our garage are a joy to behold. I can't wait to see your orchid set up!

I love this project, can wait to see the setup

Those pics would be good to see too.

Haha in my experience so far the term "aquascaping" is definitely not in the average person's vocabulary, so I tend to explain it whenever I can :biggrin: (Although I guess those on this forum aren't exactly in the "average person" category).
I am very thankful to see you supporting your son's interest in this! The only reason I have gotten this far and learned so much was because my parents supported me more than I could ever deserve. Keep it up and yes share some photos!

---------- Post added at 02:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 PM ----------

The doors of the enclosure are 1/8" thick acrylic sheets, as that's lighter and less prone to breakage than glass. The protective film has not been removed yet in this picture, as it arrived the day before I had to leave for Christmas. You can also see my first little terrarium I mentioned in my first post chilling on the side :).

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Some blooms I got over the holidays when I got back. Second pic is Masdevallia 'Red Panda' (triangularis x princeps). And yes that is a random rose plant I just have that I got from NYBG.

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i am blown away- really nicely done- i will stay tuned!!