So about 3 months ago I came across a posting on orchid board, I think, about a "nano viv". Here is the rough idea:
http://www.dendroboard.com/parts-con...opic36437.html. I found some more information about its construction and components and a conversation with the maker as well. Since I had finished my first viv and it was still winter in Wisconsin, I thought it would be fun to make and have on my desk at work.
So, using a terra cotta "wine chiller" vase from Hobby Lobby since I couldn't find any terra cotta drain pipes around here, I made one. I don't have any pictures to post, partly because I took it to work and never had plants in it while it was at home. I used plexiglass that was 36" wide, so that was the circumference. It was a b*tch to bend the acrylic into a cylinder and fasten it together, and I ended up breaking the first half of the sheet. If you try it, I recommend you use a helper. I also made a stained glass top for it that held the lights. It looked really cool. In two months it was starting to grow well. The leaves of the jewel orchid that I burned holes in by having the 20w halogen spotlights too close had been replaced by new growth, and moss was beginning to grow.
And then one morning while I was sitting in my office, I got the bejeezus scared out of me when the plexiglass snapped. One minute it was fine, the next, -pop-, bye bye. :cry: I am guessing the heat and humidity made it want to warp, and it snapped instead. I ended up wrapping some strong tape around it and the stained glass top kinda holds it together. But now it looks like crap.
So I searched for clear cylinders. I didn't want to form another tube from an acrylic sheet again, because if it snapped again, I'd get angry. But where do you find a clear cylinder about 12-18" in diameter?
And then I was at the Habitat for Humanity Restore store. I found a light fixture... nay, a chandelier.
Here it is, the lighting part already removed:
_ _ _
It unfortunately dwarfs the 14" high terra cotta pipe that is to go in the center, so now I am struggling on how to complete this sucker. I do have a partial Way Forward.
I'll mention that my goal is to make a good show case for orchids and other tropicals. I have no immediate plans to put frogs in it... but I'd like to leave that option open for the future.
The glass bevels are wrapped in what I guess to be steel, and then soldered together. It's old, so I'm sure it is lead solder. My first step is to coat the interior metal with clear silicone to seal it up, so the only thing exposed to water is glass and silicone. Then I was going to put in a false bottom 1-2" high. I was going to place the terra cotta tube on a platform; I have a clay pot that will lift it up about 5-6 inches. By then the tube as a center piece will be closer to the middle. I'll put substrate in the bottom and plant it as well. I plan on hand misting through the door, and of course the tube gets filled with water.
The biggest puzzle is how to light it.
A fluorescent PAR bulb would fit through the top nicely, but the tube would leave a big shadow.
A 8" circaline would fit inside, and I could get about 30 watts from it, I think. But I don't want to stare straight at the bulb. I thought about ripping off the top section. I could either replace the clear bevels with translucent stained glass or make or use some other hood, but that seems like a lot of work.
What I need is a diffuse, high lumen, low heat, compact light source with it's own reflector that I can fit inside.
I would have been so much easier just getting a 10 gallon vert. :sigh:
My not-so-nano nano viv.
put now it jus sits in front of the window with some drift wood and and a home depot vine that just wont grow here is a pic[attachment=0:2mrzahvf]tankfront.jpg[/attachment:2mrzahvf]
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