Small 10 gallon Experiment

I was at PetSmart a week or so ago and noticed an aquarium setup they had on sale. It's a 10 gallon bowfront which is about 17" tall, 17" wide and 10" deep. I thought this would be a good choice to try and do a small water wall and grow some very small orchids like some of the warmer growing Lepanthes. I got it for $80. Not too bad considering they are normally $100. Here's one on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...=260512359658&ff4=263602_263622#ht_1652wt_870



So, I ordered a couple of First Ray's ECOWEB panels and constructed a background. Since I wanted to periodically run water through this I got a rigid piece of tubing and drilled small holes every 1". I then hooked a small fountain pump to this. I had to make another top since the one that comes with it has spaces for pumps and heater and I wanted a tighter fit. So I cut one out of some 1/32" lexan I had. I'm pretty sure the provided LED light fixture will be too week but I don't yet know what I will add light with yet. Here's the background complete with pump.



Now I wanted to get mosses growing on it so I mixed up a moss mixture by using various mosses I have collected over time as well as some from a few orchid pots here and there. I mixed this with a handful of sphagnum and blended it until it was a nice slurry. I then removed the background and poured the mixture over the background which allows it to make good contact with the ECOWEB. Here's how that looks.



I plan to add a couple of 3" computer fans to move the air around and run the pump on a schedule during the day. I will be monitoring the temperature to see what my highs and lows are as well as humidity. I also still need to cut a piece of ECOWEB to go in the bottom.

This is not my idea and has been done many times and most notably using the EPIWEB IIS system. But this is not available in the US as far as I know and this was much cheaper. I have so far about $100 in the setup since I already had a pump.

 

Thanks all. I will see how the moss grows in before planting much. I did add a bit of Riccia, a filmy fern and a bit of a Conocephalum species of liverwort. My first Lepanthes I wan to place in here is L calodictyon so if anyone has a spare they are interested in selling I would love to get one here in the US.

 

Mike, it's growing well. I have tried it with this one and a small experiment with floral foam and both are growing moss quickly. I'll get some pictures today.

 

I'm getting pretty good coverage. It stay a bit dry at the very top but everywhere else is fine. I'm using a small swivel lamp to supplement the lighting down low. But with Pleuros most don;t need high light.

 

Here's some updated pictures







Here's another experiment with floral foam

 

It's in a totally enclosed terrarium so I haven't added water but once. It doesn't wick water to the top but it's also not drying out fast. The moss started very quickly. It's getting a bit too much light I think. If I do another I will scoop out the top of the foam and make it easier to water the top.