Orchid over a fish tank for humidity

11 years ago

People keep giving me orchids and I have one left that I am worried for. After reading a bunch of stuff I have come to the conclusion my Phalaenopsis will be happier as an air plant? The roots want constant humidity with freedom from a pot right? I keep reading they are usually found on trees in the rainforest.

Since I don't have the correct amount of warm humidity here in good old Massachusetts, how do you think it would fare if I wired it to a piece of driftwood and put it over my 125 gallon fish tank? I have a piece of driftwood that can droop into the tank about 3" so the plant would be above the water and have the humidity constantly around it, but would never be submerged in it. It's a freshwater tank that is kept at a steady temperature of 72 degrees and it's never filled to the top because the turtle would escape.

Would this work? Any and all advice is appreciated.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

ohrats9
Original Author
11 years ago
I forgot to mention that the tank is covered by pieces of plexiglass so the orchid could receive more or less humidity just by moving the pieces but would not have to be open or covered unless need be.

Also, the driftwood piece is simply going to hang from the side corner (perfectly I might add) and can be removed for feeding submersion or anything else the orchid might need. It will receive shadier indirect sunlight throughout the day and will be away from any UVA/UVB lighting.
gardenbear1
11 years ago
Hi, I'm also from good Ma.,Most of my orchid are on a self or hanging above my 30 gal. tank and they all do well it seems to be just enough humidity to keep them happy, I'm not sure if you Phalaenopsis would get enough light being in the tank,mine seem to like a lot of bright light but, I like the way you think on giving them more humidity. I'm wounding if they would get enough air movement being in the tank.Maybe some one else can give you more help on this

Bear
Related Discussions
using a fish tank?
Q
Comments (10)
The obvious reason, to me, why it wouldn't work terribly well is that, in order to provide enough light for growth of outdoor plant seedlings, the fluorescent canopy would normally be sitting directly on top of the seed tray, once germination has taken place. (The seedlings may even touch the fluorescent bulbs; it doesn't harm them, since the bulbs are not hot.) One would then raise the canopy upwards as the seedlings grow, simply to give them the vertical space they need. And nothing is more important in growth of seedlings than adequate light. Unless you do some modifications to your canopy, I'd guess it is designed, as per norm, to sit on top of the aquarium, right? You'd either have to raise the trays, or lower a shorter set of lights down into the aquarium in order to make an effective seed-starting table out of it. So, I'd question using the aquarium for growing.... but it could be useful for germination, if you set a tray (or trays, stacked with some space in between) in it, and kept it covered to preserve high humidity. Once the seeds germinated though, you'd have to provide light (but not until then). Hope this helps, assuming I'm interpreting your set-up correctly.
...See More
raising termp while maintaining humidity
Q
Comments (32)
hottielover14, Why ceramic... see my post on the blue flame/radient thing. I have, and would recommend an oil filled heater and a small table type oscillating fan. Why? I don't trust an exposed element heater as I have seen flaming objects come out of them.. (bugs) and a ceramic heater is very directional. I admit I have used, and will use an exposed element heater with a fan but it has a very fine filter on the air intake. Here is a link that might be useful: Fan vs ceramic (electric) or Blue flame vs Radient (gas)
...See More
Lighting recoendation for 3' tropical orchid tank
Q
Comments (19)
85W CFL output is around 5,500 lumens, that's about 65 lumens/W and is typical for all CFLs. A high output T5 or T8 tube will put out around 90-100 lumens/W, the equivalent of about 8,000 lumens if there was such a thing as an 85W tube. Seems like a big difference to me. I suspect you are mistaking the high intensity of the CFL output from a small area with the greater total light output from straight tubes over four feet long. Last longer? The quoted life for the 85W CFLs is 10,000 hours. I've seen CFLs up to 15,000 hours although not in the higher powers. F54T5 tubes are typically rated for 20,000 hours plus better lumen depreciation. 20,000 hours with better than 90% lumen depreciation is considered a minimum for a modern T8 tube. Lamp life up to 30,000 hours is not uncommon; the startup is sometimes slower but this is not an issue for a plant light.
...See More
Coral reef tank lights for terrarium???
Q
Comments (6)
Totally keep the halides! Most of us only dream about that kind of lighting! =) Of course you will need fans to take the heat away from those babies, and don't bother replacing the actinic (as already mentionned), or even the VHOs, since the halides will be plenty. If possible, you could run only one halide. This would enable you to put extremely high light plants on the side with the halide, and normal high light plants on the other side. You could also try raising the light hood above the tank several inches (this would also help keep the heat down). The spectrum is just about perfect (10,000 K). If you find it to be too white of a light for your tastes, you could try adding a normal 'warm white' fluo (the really cheap ones at Home Depot and similar stores) to balance the colour out a bit, but that would only be for aesthetics, not valuable to the plants at all. And of course you can't put a normal fluo. in a VHO fixture, as you'd blow the bulb. =) For plants, forget moss. I think that is way too strong of lighing for moss. You could try 'spanish moss', which is actually a tillandsia, and being one of the silvery ones, it would probably like the higher light. Think full, blazing sun plants. If your tank was big enough, you could grow vanda orchids! Speaking of that, you may think of getting a bigger tank eventually. You could have a very tall tank, and you'd be all set with the lighting. If you build the tank yourself from plywood and scrap glass, it becomes even cheaper! =) But anyways, back to plants. . . you could try cacti and succulents, as gary said. You'd need some really good fans going to keep the humidity down though, especially in Florida. Perhaps alpines? Or tomatoes, so you can have them year-round? The possiblities are nearly endless! But you really would burn broms, most orchids, and mosses to a crisp unless you hang the fixture from the ceiling, about 3 feet above the tank. That, of course, may be a possibility, but then you may as well just not use the tank and set up a growing area for more plants! I think you need a bigger tank. . . =)
...See More
arthurm
11 years ago
You can certainly try mounting and dangling your Phalaenopsis above/in your terrarium but note that the humidity doesn't linger in a great big cloud above and around such a place.
In this room where there is a 600 litre heated tropical fish tank the readings are Temperature 21.8C Humidity 57%. I am attempting to keep my Phalaenopsis collection alive on top of the tank because i can keep the door closed and keep out furry intruders.
Any humidity produced by the heating of the fish tank spreads throughout the house and the readings are fairly constant everywhere, just as well, because if green slime started growing on the walls there would be complaints from my better half.
ohrats9
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks so much for your thoughts!

I'm going to give it a whirl and see how it goes. It's not like it can be any worse when I consider the way of the other plants I have had. Poor poor little orchids.

Since the driftwood dips into the tank a bit without being completely inside, I am hoping it serves it's purpose well. It should receive indirect sunlight throughout the day so I am less worried about the light issue as I can move it up or down the length of the tank for it to receive more of need be. We're versatile up in here. ;)

Orchid over a fish tank for humidity

Comments (4)

ohrats9
Original Author

gardenbear1

Related Discussions

arthurm

ohrats9
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Orchid over a fish tank for humidity

Comments (4)

ohrats9Original Author

gardenbear1

Related Discussions

arthurm

ohrats9Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

ohrats9
Original Author

ohrats9
Original Author