99% DIY Orchidarium Project

[kcpi3141]

Originally Posted by nemesis

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.

Thank you! If you have a nice betta bowl, then perhaps . 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.

Originally Posted by Steve83

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

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!

[nemesis]

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!

[SADE2020]

I love this project, can wait to see the setup

[Diane56Victor]

Originally Posted by nemesis

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!

Those pics would be good to see too.

[kcpi3141]

Originally Posted by nemesis

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!

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 (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 .



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.

[DirtyCoconuts]

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

[kcpi3141]

I used plastic egg crate and 3/4" PVC pipes to make a raised bed which will be most of the land portion. The random objects in the pic are for me to get a better idea of what the borders will be like.



The border separating the land from the water portion will be made out of black corrugated plastic sheets siliconed on to another layer of white corrugated plastic sheet that will lie flat on the ground. The white sheet will also help distribute the weight of rocks and other decor to prevent damage to the wooden Pond Armor floor. As I do not want to directly glue the background to the tank to aid in teardown in case anything happens (as I am in school), for the background I carefully cut out 1" thick insulation foam and stuffed them together. The friction is more than enough to secure them and more foam that is coming later will further stabilize them so they won't fall forward.



From here on out it will be slowly adding foam to fill up and scape the land portion while securing everything in place, including the PVC drip-wall system you can see a part of in the picture above. I also drilled an overflow to keep the water level steady at about 7" high and will have a bucket underneath to drain it. The bulkhead and spigot are just a 3/4" rainwater barrel faucet attachment I found on Amazon. I also have a sprinkler riser that screws into the bulkhead to adjust the height of the water. Since I plan to have the misting system add more water than what evaporation will remove, the aquatic portion will essentially have a constant tiny water change, although once in a while I will perform a bigger one.



Will put this on hold for a couple of weeks because I will need to recover from a wrist surgery. Once I get better I will send more updates!

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[DirtyCoconuts]

you can always keep them in pots until the next new growth....dont rush or force anything in a tank...all mistakes are amplified by 100

[estación seca]

One thing I had to keep telling myself when I grew orchids in the school dorm - studying before orchids. Be sure you get enough sleep or you won't retain what you read.

[kcpi3141]

I appreciate all the advice haha and yes I am trying to sleep better. Finished with finals for cardiology and pulmonary, so had a little free time to work on it at last. Current update:

Initial planting completed and replaced the acrylic doors. The plants were secured with U-shaped metal pins I made with stainless steel wire. So many things still left to do such as installing the automation, fans, painting the PVC pipe black etc., but at least it is somewhat functional in keeping a humid growing environment. As I keep adding things, the plants, moss, and charcoal will break up the artificiality of the foam background and should look pretty good when mature, but that will take quite a while to get too.





The mounted plants from left and going clockwise (minus the misc. Tillandsias):
- Potinara Burana Beauty 'Burana' (the cattleya)
- Broughtonia Jamaica Jester (negrilensis x ortgiesiana)
- Tolumnia varietgata
- Brassavola nodosa
- Ascocentrum ampullaceum
- Cattleya schilleriana
- Neofinitia falcata
- Tolumnia Kalapana Red



This area will not be watered with the dripwall system during 1 or 2 of the winter months, as these plants prefer a drier winter rest. There will still be misting, however. As a result, this area will look more "scrubby" with less moss compared to the rest, and so I might add some larger lichens to fill up the space. Planning also to eventually find some rupicolous laelias to put here as well, as it also has the highest light. The rest of the enclosure will be pretty consistent throughout the year though.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials