Cool vivarium
It is a glass, polycarbonate build with aluminum frame. It is a converted snake terrarium that I bought used and then redesigned and built to suit my needs. It measures 175 cm wide, 160 cm high and 65 cm deep. You can read all my notes on the build here.
Light
I use 4 Dulux 80W lights. I could not find any proper fixtures for them, so I had to build my own. I got electronic ballasts then bought reflectors for regular T5 tubes, but them in half and put them together to make a perfect reflector for the Dulux lights. The new 80W Dulux L 840 are very intense and especially suited for tall vivaria – up to 180 cm tall. Color rendering is 85% accurate. Each light put out 6000 lumen, so I get a total of 24000 lumen spread out over 175 cm width. At 4000 K the white light is close to the natural daylight range of the color spectrum. I would prefer a color temp closer to full spectrum, but with a tall vivarium like this I still feel this is my best option. They have a rated service life of 8000 hours, but with the kind of use I do, light replacement is recommended every 2,5 years.
Temperature
For the cool air intake installation I got a simple bathroom fan that runs fairly quiet (at 33 dB) and installed it to pull in air from the old school vent in the orchid room (a square hole in the wall leading to the outside). Some plastic flex tubing bring the cool air to the viv. at the other side of the room. This works well about 9 months out of the year. I use a Bozz ACR6000 portable air conditioner to help cope during the warmer summer months. A Lucky Reptile Thermo Control PRO II thermostat handles the regulating part. I have it set to keep 22 degrees during the day and 12 degrees at night.
Humidity
I use a Honeywell 5L capacity ultrasonic cold air humidifier, and pipe it into the vivarium though a “chimney” made out of PVC pipes. I control the RH with a Lucky Reptile Humidity Control II humidistat, the same brand and concept as my thermostat, with two circuits making it possible to have different settings for day and night. I set mine for 75% during the day and 85% at night with a 5% differential, which means that the humidifier will start up as soon as the measured humidity drops 5% below the desired setting. A temperature and hygrometer which remembers high/low readings tells me all is working like it should.
Air circulation
I use 3 Scythe Gentle Typhoon, 120 mm, 1850 rpm fans – and they are amazing!! They move A LOT of air and are nearly silent (0.083 A, 28 dBA, 98 m³/h). All 3 fans ate link (daisy chained) to one 12V power supply. These power supplies are adjustable from 3,5–12 volt, so you can easily adjust the fan speed to control the air movement, but I run these at full power 12V.
Watering
I have a Vivaria rain system installed using an E.N.T. Power Pump (24 volt, 15 watt, 9 bar, 1,7 liters per minute) rated for 35 nozzles. Right now I have 14 nozzles, but am contemplating installing 8 more… I also have a drip system for the EpiWeb back walls complementing the rain system. Both are hooked up to the same timer and run 4 times a day in the morning and in the evening with 6 hours of drying time in between.
Warm vivarium
The small vivarium is yet another terrarium conversion, although this one is not automated like the cool viv, it is basically just a glass case with aluminum framing. It measures 75cm wide 80 cm tall 40 cm deep. I need to take a new photo, these ones are really old and it has changed a lot…
Light
I use a Nebula Hobby light fixture the same fixture for my warm vivarium. The reflector design creates a positive airflow, which helps to keep the heat away from both plants and gear. Complete with warmstart system for optimal lamp life as well as instant bright running. Unfortunately they do not come with a reflector, the fixture is just painted white inside. But I got some diamond mylar and glued them in place as reflectors for mine. Each Nebula fixture come with two 55W CFL tubes from Philips (PL-L 55W/865) which amounts to about 9000 lumen at 6500K (slightly cooler than daylight) with a CRI value of 85% per fixture. They are rated for 20 000 hours, but has a service life of about 16 000 hours, in other words 3 years at 14 hr per day. They work great, but when it is time to replace them I think I will look for the Philips PL-L 55W/950/4P, a full Spectrum light at 5300K instead.
Temperature
The ambient temperature in our apartment stays around 20-24, maybe as high as 28 on sporadic days in the summer. With the help of a radiant heat mat (the kind you use for reptiles) and the heat from the light, I am maintaining 26-28 degrees during the day most of the year, a degree or two cooler in the winter. The heat mat is controlled with a timer and I only run it every other hour during the day. I use synthetic wine corks to make an air space between the light and the glass on top to help ventilate some of the excess heat. In the winer I need all the heat I can get, but in the fall/spring I use 1/2 a cork, and in the summer a whole cork. Very scientific… For really hot days I place an 80mm computer fan by the end of the light as well for the same purpose. For the warm vivarium I place synthetic wine corks between the light and the glass in the summer to help ventilate some of the excess heat generated by the light away from the viv. For really hot days I place an 80mm computer fan by the end of the light as well for the same purpose. In the winter the light help heat the small growing space.
Humidity
I used to have 3 humidity trays on the bottom filled with water to help raise the humidity. But after filling the space with orchids I do not have to keep the humidity trays anymore, they serve as collection trays instead. Thanks to the amount of plants and the humid growing media, humidity hovers between 85-95% inside. I have the option to hook up an old humidifier (same as the one I use for the cool viv) if I feel the RH is too low. A temperature and hygrometer tells me all is working like it should.
Air circulation
I use three 80mm Fractal fans daisy chained to a 12V power supply. These power supplies are adjustable from 3,5–12 volt, but I run all the other ones at full power 12V, they are not terrible efficient fans I’m afraid but will do for now…
Watering
I water this vivarium completely by hand, 3-5 times a week the warmer part of the year 1-2 times per week during winter.
Growing room
The former guest room in my 19th century apartment is now completely dedicated to orchids. It is a small room with high ceilings and a tall window facing north-east.
Light
Since I grow in a pretty dark north/east facing window, my supplemental lights are on year round, but are especially needed during the darker months out of the year. We only get about 6 hours of daylight in Gothenburg in January, so supplemental lights are a necessity. I use two Nebula Hobby light fixtures in my tall window, the very same fixture I use for my warm vivarium (see specs above). One cover the top two shelves and a second one hangs about half way down and cover the lower two shelves and the nursery bench for the flask babies.
Temperature
I keep my growing room intermediate temperature. I keep one of the windows cracked open a little bit almost year around (except winter) and never turn on the heating element. By closing the door at night I can bring the temperature down quite a bit, then by just opening the door in the morning the temp creeps back up during the day. During the colder months (November-March) the night time temperature drops to about 15 degrees while daytime temps hover around 20-22 degrees. The warmer part of the year the temperatures are a few (3-5) degrees warmer thanks to a fairly shady location and thick brick walls.
Humidity
I use the same model ultrasonic humidifier for the room as I use for the cool vivarium. But since the cool fog kind of blows out of the nozzle then immediately falls I needed a rig to bring the flow further up in my growing window then have it gently fall down on the 3 levels of orchids below so I get better coverage and at the same time raising the over all RH in the room. However, I do not wish to keep the 5L water container for the humidifier 3 meters up in the air, so I built a chimney using regular PVC pipes and a cheap funnel. Three holes drilled in the pipe running across the top and the fog flows down the top like magic..! With the door closed at night, I get about 70% humidity. I keep it on a simple mechanical timer running the unit every other half hour for a half hour at a time every night.
Air circulation
I use 140mm Fractal computer fans – one on each sides of every shelf. Each fan is daisy chained to two 12V power supplies, 4 fans per unit. These power supplies are adjustable from 3,5–12 volt, but I run all these at full power 12V.
Watering
I water completely by hand, 2-3 times a week the warmer part of the year 1-2 times per week during winter.
