what are good tank dimensions?

[wadave]

Hey folks,

I'm starting to feel the nepenthes bug biting hard and have been looking around various websites for their fish tanks to see what sizes they come in. It's surprising how many websites don't give you photos of their stock.

Can some of the more experienced growers make some suggestions to a good sized tank please.

I have quite a substantial wish list so the tank needs to be large, like 4 foot long. I guess I'm not sure how far the lighting should be to get good growing conditions. So I'm really looking for advice on how high and how wide the tank should be to get the best viewing and growing experience. I've even thought about getting a custom tank made if the standard tanks don't suit.

Ultimately I would like to have both a highland and a low land tank.

Clint, I remember reading some of your posts where you had included some great photos of your nepenthes tanks but I can't seem to find it. There was something about a water filter you had attached to the side of the tank. Any chance you can remember which thread it was in?

Thanks in advance for the help.

Dave.

[Brian Barnes]

Hi Dave! My indoor grow tank came from a reptile shop. It's much wider than a normal tank and isn't as tall as most, so the lights can be closer...Alot of reptile lovers use them for bearded dragons. It's as wide as two ten gallon tanks but not quite as tall as one. Works great for slower-growing Neps and especially for Drosera. Brian.

[Clint]

Here ya go. It's a standard 75 gallon tank. It's only 18 inches wide so I've constantly got to trade larger plants for smaller ones. Motor burned out on the filter, so that's gone now lmao. It worked great while it lasted!
icps.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=indoor&action=display&thread=1186177906

I'll post a newer picture later.

If I could go back in time, I'd get a 120 gallon. It's like 4 feet long by 2 feet wide. A 180 gallon is 6 feet by 2 feet. Another option is to make your own grow chamber out of wood and plastic sheeting/shower curtains but it's not as pretty


Oh yeah, I can promise you a 4 foot tank can only hold so many plants I've resorted to double-potting some plants to save space

[wadave]

Thanks for the replies guys.

So would I be correct in saying that it is better to get a wider tank to give the plants room to spread and not worry too much about whether the lights are 16 or 18 or 20 inches above the plants?

I'm thinking 4 fool long so I can use standard shop light fixtures.

Thanks for the link Clint, no wonder I couldn't find it..... I was looking in the "nepenthes board" instead of the "indoor board".

Another question there Clint: I've noticed the plants are not sitting in water, do you allow the humidity to sustain the plants or do you manually water? How do they get water if you go away for a week or two?

Dave.

[Clint]

Depends on your lights. I use MH so I've got some freedom with my height. If you use fluorescent lights you should go as low as possible, and if you use high output fluorescents you can have a little more freedom with how tall your tank is. For example, my Heliamphora made really wimpy nectar spoons until I moved the light 4 inches closer to them, and now they're very pronounced. Remember that a tall nepenthes is usually going to be synonymous with a wide nepenthes and that's where you need the width A 4 foot long tank would take a shop light well.

My humidity stays pretty high, and I use straight LFS since it hold so much water. That lets me stay out of town for about 5 days at a time, a week is pushing it but the larger pots would probably be OK. I water once or twice a week. If you're going to stay away for two or three weeks, I'd get a plant sitter or invest in a good automatic mister so you don't have to worry.

[wadave]

Ok so the gist is:

Go wide to allow the plants room to spread and go long for the same reasons?

Go with metal halide so the height isn't so much of an issue?

Do MH lights put out much heat?

It's going to be fun setting this up, and even more fun sourcing the plants on my wish list.

Dave.

[Clint]

Metal halide are THE best in my opinion. After having metal halide, I'll never go back to normal output fluorescents. They do put out a lot of heat. My basement is big and cool so heat isn't a problem. Get a fixture with a remote ballast and a couple of fans and heat will be less of an issue. Power compacts and T5's are great, too. You can always use NO fluorescents but they don't give that "umph" especially if you have a tall tank.

It's enough heat to warp the acrylic covers I use a little bit. The aquarium doesn't get higher than 80 during the day and gets down to 70 on the dot every night during the hottest parts of the year. Right now the days are at 80 and nights 63. I expect it to go down to the 50's this winter.







You can see where I had to cut out the center brace in the aquarium. Since MH is a point light source there was a big bar of shadow in the middle. We can't have that! I also lined all 5 sides of the aquarium (bottom included) with mylar so I waste the least amount of light I can. This is a 250 watt light and It's good for a 4 x 4 foot area, by my standards. I tend to grow my plants "crispy" You could probably do a 6 x 6 foot area if you put shade lovers around the perimeter.

To give you a rough idea of size, here's a 120 and a 180 gallon aquarium respectively.

www.theimac.org/All_GlassTank.jpg
www.tuotoi.net/oskarimaailma/images/allasilta.jpg

[wadave]

Thanks Clint,

You've been really helpful, I feel confident enough to get started. It was only those one or two nagging doubts that was holding me back.

Step one get the right sized tank and then go from there.

Dave.

[Clint]

Glad I could help I'm no expert or anything, however! Hopefully some others will chime in.

And remember, you could always go the home made option and make your own tank, or grow chamber.

[wadave]

I was seriously thinking about getting one custom made hence the questions about how high and wide others could recommend from their own experiences.

I think I might go with a shallow tank and the compact fluros though as heat is more of an issue here in Perth. We officially reached 39.8 deg C today, the hottest November day since '03, plus it was only 6% humidity.

That 180 gallon looks like it's steel reinforced around the edges.

Dave.

[Clint]

Good eye! I didn't even notice that.It could just be for aesthetics. Most of them aren't steel reinforced, but just have center braces. I've never looked at the top of one so it could be two or three braces. Since you aren't filling it with water, I wouldn't worry about braces at all as it'll just waste light. Or go with clear acrylic braces. If you go custom, you could probably get sliding glass doors for the front,too. Sexy!

Glasscages.com is really popular. I doubt they'd ship to Australia (plus imagine the cost) but they do have prices so you could get a rough idea of what it would cost, and they have pics on a lot of stuff.

[Brian Barnes]

Ahhhh... i see B.liniflora lurking there and looking good! ;)Nice color on the Cephalotus also. How old is your Ceph? Brian

[Clint]

That's D. indica Thanks for the compliments. I've had the Ceph for about 7 months and got it as a baby so in a 3 inch pot or so when it was just starting to make mature pitchers.

[kby]

The "solution" I had to the taller tank/need more light issue when the plants are relatively small—at least for the relatively slow-growing highlanders—is/was to use some plastic-covered mesh hung along the inside walls of the tank. In the same thread that Clint has on the filter (referenced above but here: icps.proboards105.com/index.cgi?board=indoor&action=display&thread=1186177906&page=1#1191909354), I have some [mediocre quality] pictures toward the end. In two of the middle ones you can see the mesh and how the pots are hung (although it's mostly a heliamphora tank, you can see the N. rajah that's next to the ultrasonic nebulizer). The bigger pots go on some Boston Market containers in the bottom (but the kind of grating Clint has supported in his tank would be better). However, while the plants are still relatively small, this can get those closer to the lights and allow you to stack the tank more (I do also some small pots stacked in the larger ones; the main disadvantage to all of that is that it's hard to get things in and out, but that's more an issue of the overcrowding than anything. And things will have to change if, for example, N. rajah ever gets to "adult" size, but that's at best a long way off still.

[wadave]

I like that glasscages.com website, and I fully agree on the sliding doors.

I've been thinking of converting a standard tank by tipping it forward and adding a lip across the bottom to hold the water then have either a hinged front or, as you've shown, a sliding front.

Dave