Journal Aquarium to terrarium + Terrabase M

[Jake101]

120 litre aquarium to high humidity plant terrarium
After reading a bit about plant terrariums, the existing aquarium setup felt rather suitable for this purpose. I had a bag of Tropica's Aquarium soil, and read somewhere that it had been successfully used in a plant terrarium, so decided to try with it. The round shape seemed also to ensure that the soil won't be packed too tight. Then I added some orchid bark on top to make the appearance more pleasing.

This was the starting point two years ago:


The setup has worked better than I hoped. As expected, few plants from the original selection did not adapt well, but other have thrived and new plants have been added along the way. Today after pruning:



DOOA Terrabase M
In addition to the main terrarium, I started a DOOA Terrabase M setup at the beginning of this summer.

Mosses and twigs attached (1st pic). Today, 3 months later (2nd, 3rd pic)

 

[Jake101]

Like I mentioned in the first post, the terrarium has gone through some plants changes and additions, so it was time to do an inventory of the plants.

• Leucobryum glaucum (Pin cushion moss)
• Fittonia albivenis cultivars (could be white nerve, forest flame and pink)
• Asplenium viride (Green spleenwort)
• Asparagus plumosus (Common asparagus fern)
• Gynura aurantiaca (Purple velvet plant)
• Begonia rex (Painted-leaf begonia, no idea of the cultivar name)
• Begonia amphioxus (Red butterfly begonia)
• Ficus pumila (Climbing fig)
• Neoregelia lilliputiana (Dwarf bromeliad)
• Neoregelia 'Mephisto' (Bromeliad)
• Bulbophyllum falcatum orchid

Terrabase plants:

• Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java moss)
• Taxiphyllum sp. 'Spiky moss'
• Bucephalandra pygmaea 'Bukit Kelam'
• Bucephalandra Kedagang
• Anubias barteri nana
• Aerangis fastuosa orchid

 

[Jake101]

After having a setup long enough, one reaches a tipping point. New ideas accumulate until you have only two options:
1. get another hardware for a second (or nth) setup
2. redo an existing one from the scratch.
When you live in an apartment with a limited space and share that space with another person, usually the second option is the only viable one.

Even though I am happy with some aspects of my terrarium, there are some I definitely do wish to change. Some plants (mainly purple velvet plant and the big begonia) are too large for the size of the tank and other plants, so they look disproportional. Perhaps one regularly trimmed plant would work as a focal point. Also, the terrain is flat and the plant placing could follow more the foreground/mid-ground/background principle.

The next version is still in the development phase on a thought level, though I most likely will have more focus on bromeliads and miniature orchids. For orchids, I probably need to improve air circulation a bit while maintaining the higher humidity levels.

 

[Jake101]

I had couple of additional free days this week, so I spent them on redoing the terrarium. The tank (60 x 45 x 45 cm) is not, at least to my current skill set, ideal for creating verticality. 10 cm less to width and 20+ cm for height might be a good starting point. Although, looking it now, I could have placed some of the bigger elements a tad further away from the back wall and changed the observed width-to-height -ratio. But live and learn, do it better next time.

 

[Commander Shepard]

Cool setups!
Where do you get the miniature orchids and bromeliads from? They seem quite difficult to get hold of.

 

[Jake101]

Cool setups!
Where do you get the miniature orchids and bromeliads from? They seem quite difficult to get hold of.

Thank you, @Commander Shepard ! There are online shops mainland Europe I use. I have checked some UK stores, but I live is Sweden and for all practical purposes it is just easier to order from mainland shops. I sent you a PM.

 

[ianmianmianm]

This looks fab

 

[Jake101]

Still waiting for more plants to arrive to the main terrarium. Ordered some small bromeliads, couple of selaginellas and more moss. Added also vesicularia motagnei to a branch, but I probably need to find some other use for it, as the humidity it needs might be too high for the bromeliads. Meanwhile, some more details in pics.

Neoregelia mephisto


Bulbophyllum falcatum orchid


Sideview


Stone structures


Also, I added Bolbitis heteroclita "difformis" fern to Terrabase

 

[Nuno da Silva]

Cool setups!
Where do you get the miniature orchids and bromeliads from? They seem quite difficult to get hold of.

Hello,

For miniature orchids: Spice Plants | Essex United Kingdom | Spicesotic Plants
For bromeliads: Shop – Fantastic Frogs

Regards
Nuno Silva

 

[Commander Shepard]

Hello,

For miniature orchids: Spice Plants | Essex United Kingdom | Spicesotic Plants
For bromeliads: Shop – Fantastic Frogs

Regards
Nuno Silva

Awesome, thanks! These are very intimating collections, both of the orchids and broms. Don't even know where to start to find ones suitable for these open paludarium conditions. Best if I message the shops.