mikefallen13
Mr. veitchii
My addiction has returned.
After quitting CP's (and plants in general) a few years back to put more effort into my other hobby, fish tanks, I decided a few months back that I wanted to get back into CP's (nepenthes in particular) and I've slowly been rebuilding my collection since. The main issue I had when I'd consider keeping neps again was, where am I going to grow them? I used to grow them in household conditions under T-12 shoplights, with some success but many sensitive species (of course the ones I enjoy the most) just couldn't adapt and slowly wasted away. I was temporarily keeping the plants in an enclosed rack system with T-12's, it was effective but was just plain unsightly and I really wanted to move them somewhere they'd be enjoyed by the rest of my family. I actually found my solution on Black Friday when a local aquarium shop had good deals on new tanks, I ended up buying a new 125 gal aquarium as an upgrade for my fish which freed up my 100 gal cube. i was originally thinking I'd set it up for more fish but then it dawned on me that this would be a perfect terrarium.
After it was cleaned (literally 6 straight hours of work), the tank was moved upstairs and has been outfitted to act as a highland terrarium for my plants. I wanted to keep this setup as simple as possible, the equipment i ended up using is as follows.
-A small window AC unit to provide that all important nighttime temperature drop
-DIY ultrasonic humidifier, made from a 5 gallon bucket, a ultrasonic fogger and a PC fan
-2, 4 bulb T-5 HO fixtures
-2 heavy duty PC fans in the tank itself for air movement
The terrarium was setup for a few days to make sure everything was working properly and today the plants finally moved into their new home. I was originally planning for this to be a nepenthes only setup but the pleurothallid orchids have always interested me and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to grow these little beauties. So here begins my journey with this new setup! I'll be sure to document any changes to the setup itself or its inhabitants. As usual, I forgot to charge my camera today so i was only able to snap one picture before it died, so here's how the terrarium sits today. The plants were quickly placed in today, I'll probably rearrange them tomorrow.
Thanks for looking,
-Mike
DAY 1
After quitting CP's (and plants in general) a few years back to put more effort into my other hobby, fish tanks, I decided a few months back that I wanted to get back into CP's (nepenthes in particular) and I've slowly been rebuilding my collection since. The main issue I had when I'd consider keeping neps again was, where am I going to grow them? I used to grow them in household conditions under T-12 shoplights, with some success but many sensitive species (of course the ones I enjoy the most) just couldn't adapt and slowly wasted away. I was temporarily keeping the plants in an enclosed rack system with T-12's, it was effective but was just plain unsightly and I really wanted to move them somewhere they'd be enjoyed by the rest of my family. I actually found my solution on Black Friday when a local aquarium shop had good deals on new tanks, I ended up buying a new 125 gal aquarium as an upgrade for my fish which freed up my 100 gal cube. i was originally thinking I'd set it up for more fish but then it dawned on me that this would be a perfect terrarium.
After it was cleaned (literally 6 straight hours of work), the tank was moved upstairs and has been outfitted to act as a highland terrarium for my plants. I wanted to keep this setup as simple as possible, the equipment i ended up using is as follows.
-A small window AC unit to provide that all important nighttime temperature drop
-DIY ultrasonic humidifier, made from a 5 gallon bucket, a ultrasonic fogger and a PC fan
-2, 4 bulb T-5 HO fixtures
-2 heavy duty PC fans in the tank itself for air movement
The terrarium was setup for a few days to make sure everything was working properly and today the plants finally moved into their new home. I was originally planning for this to be a nepenthes only setup but the pleurothallid orchids have always interested me and this seemed like a perfect opportunity to grow these little beauties. So here begins my journey with this new setup! I'll be sure to document any changes to the setup itself or its inhabitants. As usual, I forgot to charge my camera today so i was only able to snap one picture before it died, so here's how the terrarium sits today. The plants were quickly placed in today, I'll probably rearrange them tomorrow.
Thanks for looking,
-Mike
DAY 1
) it just wasn't going to work out, even short term. So I decided to upgrade...
