My Orchid Vivarium (Still a work in Progress)

[Jason-UK]

Hi all,

Well my Vivarium is starting to take shape. I will be creating this so there is no pots just mounts and also planted onto the floor hopefully making a full natural enviroment as best i can. There is currently around 25 orchids both hybrids and species.
I have placed a lighting unit in which throws out ample light and heat which uses two phillips 55watt 4pin Colour 865 Daylight White lights which give about 12000 hours but im expecting that will be decreased by about a third to more like 8000 hrs. I have placed a waterfall and fogger which are both by exo-terra. The vivarium is a Vivexotic AX36 measuring 4ft tall 3ft wide and 2ft deep inside loss is 1.5 inches on each measurement. I have used two backgrounds the back has a Willow trellis for ease of hanging and still allows access to the 8 back vents the side have had 2cm thick coco mats applied to them so i will either mount orchids directly onto the mats or i am still able to pass hooks through the mat. I have placed a layer of hydro pebbles on the base and course bark and sphagnum moss as i will be planting orchids directly into it. The rest of the floor mounting is made up of natural cork tubes. I have chosen to use the lucky reptile fan system as this can have upto four fans connected and configured to pass air in out and around the Vivarium. As you will see from the pictures i also planted some Dendrobium chapaense which is a species that was found in 2006 which i deflasked on the 30/07/11 some are in sphagnum moss and some are in hydro i chose to do this as an experiment to see results the remainder are in a propagation tank.














xscuse the finger prints haha.




Podangis dactyloceras



The small plant on the cork tube is a keiki of the Podangis dactyloceras above





Podangis dactyloceras keiki



]

[Brutal_Dreamer]

WOW Jason, what a beautiful orchid setup! This looks like it took lots of planning. I hope you update as you refine and change to mounts. (Btw - I edited your post to remove the multiple links that were being inserted with the photographs. See this post for more information: How to post photos from Flickr)

cheers,
BD

[Jason-UK]

Hi and Thank you,
Note to self read everything in future before posting on a new forum.
Sorry about that i got enthrawled in threads and didnt read what i have should have done.

I will post more pics as i get the Viv into shape ive been slowed down a bit by a flower spike that a blasted one bud in there so im trying not to disturb it too much at the moment.

Cheers
Jason

[walingwaling]

wow, fantastic job there, more like a piece of art!!!

[Zozzl]

That is really nice It must be so much fun to work on. I hope you keep posting photos of it.

[cdayinflorida]

Agree with Pat, please keep posting photos of its progression as it matures.

[AtantaR]

awesome set up....cant wait to see more

[EMos]

That's a great set-up Jason, nothing beats an orchid vivarium!

[Jason-UK]

Thank you everyone,
I will most definatley post more pics as soon as i have done more on it. Im just waiting for the den in bud to flower as 1 bud blasted which im attributing to all the movement its had so as soon as the buds start to open it will be full steam ahead on the rest of it.
I will update for you all whenever anything changes in there.

Thanks for all your comments and reactions
Jason

[Joyce184]

Amazing job! Looking forward to more posts