My First Orchidarium - Orchid Board

JaneEyre · #1 10-23-2012, 05:22 PM

We had an empty 10 gal fish tank in the garage so I thought I'd put it to some use. I haven't made an orchidarium/terrarium before so I looked to this forum for help. Thanks to everyone for posting your setups - they inspired me.

I started with an egg crate. I was surprised how easy it was to cut it as I anticipated it to be much harder. Once I cut the egg crate, I attached a 120mm 12V fan to it. I mistakenly ordered 120mm CPU fan vs. the smaller one, but decided to use it anyway. I soldered its lead wires to a 12V AC adapter with a variable speed controller in line.

I found PVC pipe reducers to be good stands for the egg crate. Right now they are just sitting freely inside the tank but I might epoxy them directly to the egg crate. Any recommendations what epoxy to use?

I positioned the egg crate with the fan inside the tank so that the fan blows air onto the bottom of the tank.

I had hubby cut me an acrylic top with corners cut off for wires and easy access.
Finally, I filled the tank with orchids

At this time I don't plan on adding artificial lighting. The tank is situated 2 feet away from a western window and gets some filtered light in. So far the humidity reaches mid nineties on its own, without me misting orchids. It has been cold recently, so the heat has not been an issue. Although, I do anticipate it to become a problem in the warmer days.

I welcome your suggestions or critiques. I am not certain how I will be controlling heat when it becomes an issue; how often to mist, if at all; how high should the fan be running, should I be opening the lid to let old, stagnant air escape? Most importantly, how do I keep an over 16 lb cat from sitting on top of the lid, sagging it?

Thanks everyone for looking.