My transformed aquarium tank

[Aleksa91]

Hello everyone!

I would like to share with you my tank which I initially wanted to be a paludarium/aquarium. It did kind of work out, but I constantly had algae issues (despite the fact that I did not have fish) and the humidity in the room was too high from all the evaporation. It was too much hassle, so I ditched everything and decided to go for orchids only. I already had experience with them so it had better chance of success.

Here it is. I have a Mistking system with two nozzles (tank is 60cm/23in x 45cm/18in x 58cm/23in), but I do not use it unless I am away since it is hard to control the amout of water each plant gets. I spray them manually every morning. Tank is at room temperature, but I keep the window open during the night to have some temperature fluctuation. I live in Germany, so typically room temperature rarely goes above 25C / 77F. Humidity in the terrarium fluctuates from >90% after spraying but by evening it falls to ~80%. It rarely drops below 80%. I have two fans: one on top, below the ventilation hole, constantly pushing fresh air inside and one at the bottom which circulates the air within the tank. The LED light is actually intended to be used for aquatic plants (Chihiros WRGB II). It is one of the pricier ones, so I assumed it's good enough for the orchids as well. I keep it at 70k Kelvin and I started it at 30% intensity and gradually increased to 70%. I will probably keep increasing it slowly because my experience with orchids is that they grow best in a highest tolerable light.

Plants in the tank:

Angraecum: leonis, distichum
Aerangis: calantha, mystacidii, luteoalba var. rhodosticta, kirkii, ellisii, biloba, articulata
Ascocentrum miniatum
Dendrobium: jenkinsii, hekouense, tetragonum, unicum, Hibiki (def. not a miniature, but could not resist)
Bulbophyllum: bolsteri, thiurum, habrotinum
Cattleya(Sophronitis): cernua, riograndensis
Chilochista parishii 'Sakura'
Potinara C.T. Goldenorange 'Golden boy'
Diplocaulobium abbrevatum
Dinema polybulbon
Schoenorchis tixierii (absolute cutie, even without flowers)
Leptotes bicolor
Neofinetia falcata
Mediocalcar decoratum

Pleurothallids:
Lepanthopsis astrophora
Masdevallia nidifica
Anathallis pabstii
Pleurothallis grobyi
Restrepia trichoglossa

These pleurothallids are still holding on, but they are definitely not vigorous and I may eventually move them to the separate tank.

Plants that did not do well and had to leave the tank:

Lepanthes: uxoria, caprimulgus, reticulata
Trisetella hoeijerii (I desperately want this beauty to be happy)

Lepanthes calodictyon and telipogonifera (they should be more warm-tolerant but they are neither dying nor growing for 6 months already...)

Dendrobium mohlianum x cuthbertsonii (just got it last week, let's see what happens).

So, as you see, I underestimated the requirements for cold temperatures of some species. I plan to keep them in a separate, small tank in the kitchen which is unheated and gets chilly during the winter. Winters here are quite long, so I hope these cold-loving species will recover until next summer. I really do not know where do people grow these here in Germany, since we sometimes have summer temps close to 30C...

I made a stupid mistake of mounting A. calantha and A. mystacidii with sphagnum and keeping them in a very humid terrarium. They started to rot and drop leaves. Mystacidii dropped all of them, but there is a keiki which strives to grow from the stem and a relatively preserved root system. Calantha is still kind of holding on. Other Angraecoids are doing good without any moss, so that by evening their roots get fully dry.

I still keep some moss below Angraecum distichum. This plant hated mounting and grows suuper slow. I have a feeling it needs a bit more moisture since the roots are thin.

Other plants seem to be happy. I am especially surprised that Sophronitis riograndensis grew well this summer despite high temperatures and poor day-night fluctuation.

Some of the plants need winter rest. I will probably keep them where they are, but stop misting them.

Any comments, advice, suggestion, criticism is welcome!

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[Aleksa91]

Some photos are rotated, and I did not manage to fix them... Not sure why this happens. :/

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by Aleksa91

Some photos are rotated, and I did not manage to fix them... Not sure why this happens. :/

A "feature" of the old software of the Board. (In my IT days, the joke was, when someone found a bug in the software, document it and call it a "feature")
If you save the photo, rotate it 90 degrees, save it again, then rotate it back and save it, that often fixes the problem. But we're all accustomed to looking at photos sideways.

Great terrarium environment!

Which plants need a winter rest? I have found that many that supposedly need a dry winter rest do fine if they just have an opportunity to get cold. I grow outdoors, winter night temperatures typically in the 3-5 deg C range, occasionally lower. They get rain, they get watered when it doesn't rain, and they bloom anyway. (Including a bunch of deciduous Dendrobiums) You have a few warmer-growers (like some but not all of the Aerangis, and the Angcm. distichum) but the majority of your collection will do fine getting chilly in winter, and likely will benefit.

[Aleksa91]

Hi Roberta, thanks for the feedback! Yes, I remember your remark from one of my previous threads regarding the winter rest... The thing is, my terrarium is in the living room, so there will be ~6-7 C drop overnight if I keep the window open, but not more than that. For those Pleurothallids, I have a kitchen where it gets more chilly during winter. I plan to give Sophronitis riograndensis some cold treatment in a separate room, as well as to D. jenkinsii and maybe Den. unicum. I also read somewhere that Neofinetias bloom more profusely if they get cold during the winter, although it's not necessary. Everything else gets constant conditions + some diurnal temperature variation.

[DirtyCoconuts]

super cool- i find the terrariums to be a balance between wanting them to be awesome nature scenes with integrated plants vs the reality of that and how much better the ability to control conditions is in a box like you have.

I tried the vivarium route and had to bail as it was too hard to play god to that many factors.


well done


weird that Lepanthes calodictyon and telipogonifera werent happy- i grow them both in my bathroom and they are quite happy there with similar conditions as your tank.

[Aleksa91]

I also imagined a closed and self-sustainable ecosystem in a paludarium. I wanted it primarily to grow plants. But no one warns about balancing the health of all the plants. Some always take over and some sulk. Also, I don’t really think that paludariums are healthy to be kept in a space where people live. A huge amount of humidity is created, and the mould inevitably starts growing on the woody hardscape. So many fungal spores floating in a living room are quite problematic.

My favourite plants are healthy and vigorous plants, so this fulfils the purpose better.

I am also not sure what’s behind the problems with L. calodyction and telipogonifera, but I suspect that slugs ate the roots. I had a small slug infestation at the beginnning and especially telipogonifera suffered a lot of damage and did not recover. L. calodyction grew one a bit distorted leaf in the last 6 months, despite the high humidity and a decent light and that was it…

[kcpi3141]

I don't know where you live, but in general paludariums should pose no health hazards to a living space. With any terrarium though, ventilation is key and if you can nail that down it really shouldn't be an issue. If there is too much fungal growth, that is a sign of a watering and airflow problem.

Similar to a natural habitat, terrariums also have their own micro-climates and habitats that will benefit some plants and disadvanage others. Knowing where to place each plant you have will prevent certain species from taking over and others from getting smothered.

If you have a slug problem and do not have any other critters in there, I would give Sluggo a try. It is a very safe pesticide that basically works by giving snails and slugs an iron overdose. Just drop some in there and hopefully that will take care of them.

Keep up the good work and keep us updated!

[estación seca]

Nice!

[Aleksa91]

Thank you for your help!


So, the slug issue was (hopefully) resolved by using metaldehyde pellets. No sign of slugs anymore. I occasionally put a lettuce leaf and a cup of beer as a bait just to check if they started hatching again but at the moment, no sign of them!

Meanwhile, my plants seem quite happy! Plants in the upper part have reddish freckles on the leaves, but they seem to grow well which I interpret that light level is as high as they can take. Neofinetia's roots exploded and it is going to bloom (although the winter is coming but well, who am I to interfere?!) as well as Schoenorchis tixierii. Chilochista is off the hook with new roots. Sophronitis matures new growths, while Angraecoids generally grow a lot of roots. Bulbophyllums are a bit slow, I think it's too cold for them since daily maximums are around 22 C (71 F).

Dendrobium jenkinsii, christyanum are resting so I moved them to the cold room where I give them a spray or two occasionally. D. unicum is still growing roots but the newest cane is maturing so I am gradually reducing watering. D. hekouense and tetragonum are actively growing.

I moved all Lepanthes species and Trisetella into kitchen where I keep the window open during the night so they get chilly (15-20 C), and they all started to push out new growth within 2 weeks! Even L. calodictyon which supposedly prefers room temperature conditions liked getting chilly.

The only plant which kind of sulks is Restrepia trichoglossa. Leaves are healthy and it constantly makes keikis and blooms, but each new growth rots. I water it daily, and I pay attention that it is moist but not soggy but nevertheles... It's still in my living room terrarium, so I am thinking to try cooling it a bit as well.

It turned out that actually fungus gnats ate the roots of my Lepanthes telipogoniflora, I could see them with the magnifying glass. I killed them with hydroxen peroxide. I keep it in sphagnum, but it's lingering between life and death with only 3 leaves. I don't have much hope.

My small collection has now increased to more than 50 species. When looking at my selection I realized I have a soft spot for white, crystalline flowers (Angraecoids, oh my...). I also got two rupicolous Laelias (itambana and millerii) wich are irresistible even when not in bloom. I plan to keep them outside during summer. They'll spend the winter at the very top of the tank and with little watering. Maybe I'll chill them also for a month or two, they should be tough little creatures.

Lastly, I just ordered two plants of Dendrophylax sallei! I remember reading about the ghost orchid in the high school, and now I can finally get it! Keep fingers crossed!

Thanks once again for your help and sorry for my endless ruminations. I am very happy to see them growing, but I don't have many people around who share the appreciation!

[Leafmite]

Very nice!

Watch out for that Angraecoid addiction...it is a real issue.

Be careful when adding new plants to avoid introducing bush snails...they can do a number on a terrarium. You can add a Butterwort (Pinguicula) to your terrarium and it will take care of the fungus gnats.