Building notes of a cool vivarium for orchids, cloud forest style…

Cool vivarium 2.0

It would seem I have made the same journey that many people make when they build vivariums… starting off with something looking very close to nature, and eventually ending up with something a little more practical. Originally I aimed to recreate a little slice of the cloud forest in my inner city apartment and the result turned out great! Vivarium was fully operational in the beginning of May 2010. Everything was thriving and I was finally […]

Finally a really bright idea

dulux80This is what happens when good lights go bad… or at least when you wire them up badly. They eventually burn out and die. So after about a year and a half I had to bite the bullet and rebuild all four lights for the cool vivarium. Because one after one, they had all started to give me trouble this fall. Light being an absolute […]

By |2017-10-13T11:25:45+02:00January 6th, 2012|Categories: Cool vivarium build, Projects|Tags: , , , , , |10 Comments

Fog system 2.0

Orchid cool vivariumFinally, I have completed an upgrade to the fog delivery system in the cool vivarium. This new system is delivering the fog horizontally, cascading down about two thirds of the back wall and the right side, enveloping the plants mounted there in a cool mist, and filling the whole vivarium with fog in about 3-4 minutes. I have to turn the fans […]

Spring cleaning and another rain system upgrade

Cool vivarium - rain system up and runningYes you heard me right, yet another rain system upgrade… I have actually been wanting to simplify the watering setup I have for quite some time now. I basically wanted to take out the drip system and expand the rain system instead. Yes, admittedly I am a perfectionist and a little […]

Cool vivarium – some fine tuning and upgrades

Cool vivarium todayFor the past few weeks I have been working on a few  long awaited upgrades for the cool vivarium. Well, long awaited for me, I am not a very patient person… Now they are finally all done and I am very pleased with the results. So here is an updated photo of the viv today along with an account of all […]

The great root containment project

Stelis gelidaI have been working on solving a problem, a rather nice problem I suppose… but a problem never the less. All the mounted orchids in the cool vivarium are doing really well and are growing like crazy. They are also putting out roots like crazy. A lot of them have grown straight through the EpiWeb mounts and begun to attach to the back wall. […]

By |2017-10-13T11:25:54+02:00October 30th, 2010|Categories: Cool vivarium build, Projects|Tags: , , , , , , |8 Comments

Cool vivarium – a photo update

Ok… I think it is time for a photo update of the cool vivarium. It is really starting to fill in now and I am quite pleased with how the viv is performing!!  If you are curious to see exactly what orchids I am growing in there so far, you can look at this photo on Flickr instead. I have put up little notes on the photo labeling the orchids in it, just mouse […]

By |2017-10-13T11:25:58+02:00July 29th, 2010|Categories: Cool vivarium build, Projects|Tags: , , , , |6 Comments

Cool vivarium – a drip system modification

I have got to admit… growing orchids is easy compared to growing moss! Well, my moss is doing just fine actually, but not without effort. All the time on the brink of drying out, and dry moss equals dead moss, so it has been a bit of a challenge. Providing enough water for the moss on the EpiWeb walls without over watering the orchids mounted on the very same walls is not easy. I believe […]

By |2017-10-13T11:25:58+02:00July 22nd, 2010|Categories: Cool vivarium build, Projects|Tags: , , , , , |6 Comments

Cool vivarium – an even cooler installation

Air conditioning installationPerhaps it was wishful thinking believing that I was going to be able to cool the new cool vivarium all summer only with the help of outside air. But not really… we normally do not have such nice weather. I am not complaining mind you, it really is taboo to complain about “nice” weather in Sweden. It has been very warm here lately and […]

Cool vivarium – let it rain… and fog… and yeah, it is done!

Alright… the past few weeks have been very eventful in the orchid department, but I have also been extremely busy at work and I have not had time to write about everything that has been going on, mainly the cool vivarium build… but here we go.

Last time I checked in I had just installed the Vivaria rain system. I have since moved it twice…he he. Well, originally I had placed three nozzles along the top and […]

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