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Planted terrarium

Hi everyone,

Not 100% sure on the rules regarding linking to other forums due to sponsors etc, although I'm not trying to sell anything or promote anyone. I just want to share my experiences & don't want to type all this out again and if I need to edit it, don't want to be running around all over the internet changing things!

I've been in the process of constructing a planted terrarium for my plants... has been going for a few weeks and is almost complete. Pretty happy with how it's going - thread link is below!

http://pitcherplants.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=10223

Has anyone else here attempted a similar design before? Going to be interesting seeing how it grows and what works/doesn't over the next few months :)
 
My first thought was when you said planted terrarium, I thought it was going to be entirely planted in the same media, not in pots. You'll find nearly everyone here has constructed some sort of terrarium such as this at one time or another. Everyone has varying success, but it mostly has to do with the amount of light you can provide, and it looks your terrarium is a little dark. I'm not sure what lighting you have up top, but for a terrarium of that size, most people would have at least 4 t12 lights that run as long as the tank. You want as many lights as you can get up there without overheating the tank. Also, you will want to coat the sides of the tank in some kind of reflective material. I use aluminum foil, as it's cheap albeit a little ghetto, but most use reflective hvac material as it provides some insulation as well. You want to keep as much of the light in the tank as is possible, so the rays just keep bouncing around in there. The user on the other forum named MarkA....DO NOT USE HIS IDEA!!!! Moss scraped off the hillside, unless he has sphagnum growing there, will kill his plants. Decorative moss is highly toxic to CP's. Most people here grow neps in LFS (long fiber sphagnum), perlite, and orchid bark mixes. I use a 1:1:1 ratio. I also have a top dressing of live LFS. In constructing the terrarium, watch what chemicals you use in there, as they may leach deadly toxins into your plants and kill them. Most people use silicon for terrarium work. Now reading your post on the other forum more in depth, I see you did use silicon.

I would suggest taking a look at the following terrariums:

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127020&highlight=heli+setup+jeremiah

http://www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123304&page=2

Both are setup for helis, but the concept is almost identical, a lot of people including myself grow helis along side their HL neps. If your temps are good, and humidity is high, there is no need for the fans and humidifiers, but they do nothing but good anyway if you can afford that type of setup for ideal conditions. Good luck!
 
Hi dsrtfox,

Thanks for the input!
That was my original idea, but I figured it was only a matter of time before any Nepenthes outgrows its space in a tank. Also inevitably when I feel like rearranging the plants later, I won't be doing myself any favours if I have them planted directly into the sphagnum.

As for lightning I use 2 full-spectrum t5HO's. The light is very strong, I've had quite a few plants burn when they first move in - the extra 6" on each side is my acclimation area with lower light. The heli could do with more light still I think, but I only have two (this H.minor and a 'Tequila') so it isn't really worth building anything specific for them yet. Outside it isn't humid enough for my H.minor I don't think, although a healthy bed of sphagnum may keep the local humidity high enough. Might try it out sometime :)
As I mentioned in the thread I linked (probably buried somewhere) the bright light confuses my camera's contrast and it makes everything look way too dark to compensate. I could fiddle with it and fix it I think but these were just quick photos as I went along.
I really like those heli terrariums, thanks! Looks like the perfect setup for a controlled climate.. *dreamy eyes*
 
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