my new terrarium

[klasac]

Hi everybody!

Recently I found an old rusty fume chamber in the storage room of school chemlab and I remodeled it into a terrarium because the one i have right now is not big enough for my expanding collection. I would like to ask someone experienced about the lights. Its dimensions are 70cm x 80 cm x 60 cm (in inches: 27.5 x 31.5 x 23.6). There will be 3 sets of lights installed. Left side will be equipped with ultrasonic mister and filled with neps helis adelae schi and prolifera and maybe some bromelias or orchids and bedded with fibrous live spagnum moss.
Right side will serve for accommodation of (sub) tropical drosera and mexican pinguicula. How many watts and what type of lights would be the best for use in terrarium of this size?

Here are the pics:

Thanx!

 

[Capensis]

Wow, I really wish I had tank that big, but shorter. Very nice for Neps Are you certain those Sarrs are getting enough light?

 

[klasac]

Hi caps!
No I dont think they do actually. They are placed there only temporarily untill we finish painting balcony and windows The left side will be with hanging baskets of neps and tropical droserae on the bottom. On the back side there will be coconut fibre mat with some utrics and bromelias....but first i need to figure out the lights......any ideas?

 

[Grey Moss]

T8 or T5s would be good.

 

[Capensis]

Well, I wish you luck with your bacony and windows .

As Mr. Truncata stated, T12, T8s, and T5s are good, but T5s create more heat.

 

[klasac]

capensis thanx for wishing good luck with painting.....it is done now so i could move the sarrs into the sun
Update: i installed light in the right section where I also moved some droseras. My question is...since i dont have much experience with artificial lighting...is this enough>? That is one T5 with alobal reflector 8W 20cm from the plants (7.9'')
Here are the pics:

Now will the same light be enough for the left part where neps are to be accommodated? Distance is double...

Thanx for help!

 

[Capensis]

That seems about right. It looks very nice For the left side, I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

[klasac]

update: this weekend I brought some new nepenthes and droseras from the exhibition. Couldnt get sphagnum moss:-( so I went to the forest and picked up some. They are two different species of moss dont know what they are but look good (especially the one in nepenthes side) and create great microclima for the plants. Here are some pics:

The work is not done yet I am going to get ultrasonic fogger and also something to cover the back door and hang some more neps there. Hope the plants will like it there

 

[Capensis]

Very nice set up

 

[Grey Moss]

Incredible set up.

 

[Ant]

Cool! Awesome amp to! Are you going to plant the amp as well?

 

[klasac]

Ant: thanx yes it is my favourite nep. There are maybe 6 plants in the big pot so when I plant them apart I will place some of them in the moss as well (the small ones).....or on the back door when it is bedded with coconut mat or sth like it. I have big sarracenia psittacina I`d like to put in there but there`s not enough space. U think psittacina would thrive in there? ....on second thought maybe i should just have all the neps hanging from the top and I should plant some helis or darlingtonias in the moss together with adelae schizandra and paradoxa that are already there. Dont know yet nut i will post a pic when it is completely done

 

[upper]

loving it, if you get sphagnum, are you going to remove all the old moss?

 

[klasac]

upper: hm that is good question....if i get high quality live sphagnum moss maybe I will replace.....the moss inside of the right section of terrarium. But the one inside of the neps section looks much cooler than sphagnum. Although I dont know whether there is going to be an unfavourable interference with the plants if i keep this moss inside. I think it should be OK since this moss grows in the coniferous forest hence having low soil pH ( i mean high acidity). Besides this one grows much slower than sphagnum so there will be less need for regular trimming. So far all the plants inside seem to be cooperating quite well. I usually apply the error- trial method so if it all dies in there I will just do it again with the sphagnum instead If i am lucky enough there will be no need for this.

 

[Brokken]

Gorgeous setup! And your sphagnum is doing fantastic! You N. ampularia is doing great (as is everything else!). I love seeing progress pics too. It's inspirational!

 

[scottychaos]

Gorgeous setup! And your sphagnum is doing fantastic! You N. ampularia is doing great (as is everything else!). I love seeing progress pics too. It's inspirational!

Couldnt get sphagnum moss:-( so I went to the forest and picked up some.

Just for the record (and it sounds like you already know this)
but that is NOT spagnum moss!

its fine for filler around the pots, just for looks, but I wouldnt try planting anything in it like you can do with real spagnum..

Scot

 

[klasac]

scottychaos:
Thanx for the advice....i know that is not a sphagnum moss but i will get some later. This one will do for now as for keeping the suitable climate for the plants (they seem to grow very well there). It is just a moss spread around the pots and growing in a water on a mix of perlite and ceramsite.

 

[mark.ca]

It looks nice! I have a feeling you're going to need more lights over the dews or bring the lights closer but only time will tell. Personaly, i don't think your binata, for exemple, is going to do well with the lights that far up. I might be wrong...keep us posted!
One more thing....the petiolaris complex dew needs alot more light than the neps so i doubt that it will do well in same tank.

 

[klasac]

Hi mark! Thanx for the comment. The binata filiformis rotundifolia and other temperate sundews I only had there temporarily now they are (and will stay) outside on the balcony. I think you might be right about the lighting....since i covered the reflection surface with moss it looks like they are getting much less light then before. I will see how they react to that change and it is likely I will install another 13W T5 there. I cannnot move the light any closer to them since peltata is tall. Besides the light they get 5 hours of sunlight as well.The petiolaris drosera placed with the neps is hopefully getting enought light since the neps are being grown under strong lights (normally they demand much less light then they have right now). I have seen such terrarium before and it worked just fine...but as you say only time will tell maybe i will have to adjust that side as well. i am in Canada for 2 weeks so will see how they look when i come back I will keep u posted. is is more-less an experiment so it might or might not work out.

 

[klasac]

Sooo after some time I am back with more progress with building my carni terrarium
This weekend I had some spare time on my hands so I built in the fogger fan timer some lights i did the backwall and put in some more plants. Inhabitants:
N. ampullaria x rajah
N. sanguinea
N. ventricosa x alata
S. psittacina
D. prolifera
D. schizandra
D. adelae
P."Sethos"
P. moctezumae
H.minor
ferns
phaleanopsis

For the ones following this thread i enclose some pictures to see the difference: