# My plants aren't growing, suggestions? (DUW)



## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

I have a planted 36x18x24 Exo Terra with water feature and the plants are not growing. 
I am using a 6500k flourescent bulb for half of my terrarium and it recieves indirect light from a north facing window. The humidity is about 60% and the substrate (ABG mix) is moist. 
For cuttings I have peperomia prostrata, peperomia trifolia,and hoya lacunosa (which is on sphagnum moss that I mist heavily, other wise the hoya dries.) I also have oak leaf creeping fig which is down to 2 leaves, it is on substrate. I have a jewel orchid which seems to be the only plant growing new leaves (although my bacopa is looking good), heart fern -in damp soil, a bromeliad that isn't growing, a Ornithophora radicans orchid which is on a tree fern mount, I water it about 2-3 times a week and it gets air flow, and java moss in a pond.
The tank has been planted for 3 months and stays between 72 and 78 degrees. It has a drainage layer with water in it for the pond (which looks like tea because of wood I have mounted on the waterfall.

I would really like to see this tank start improving, does anyone have advice?

My sad orchid









oak leaf creeping fig









Brom & Hoya









Pond with Java Moss


















I turned the waterfall off a few days ago to see if it would make any impact to the java moss inside the pond.









This is the side that the 6500k light is on.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

What is the tank covered with? Glass, plastic, or screen?

Jake


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

jacobi said:


> What is the tank covered with? Glass, plastic, or screen?
> 
> Jake


An exo terra screen lid.


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

get a glass top instead. it'll keep the humidity in. that's why your plants are dying. too low humidity


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

^^^What he said^^^

Jake


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

Thank you! 
I'll try it out and hope it works. Could I just get plexiglass to cover to top or does it have to be airtight?


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Glass is cheaper. Go to a local glass store. Ask them if they can round the edges. Google 'silicone hinge' on this site.

Jake


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

plexiglass will warp so glass is your best option. i tried plexiglass and it is horribly warped.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Here you go. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/57871-custom-silicone-hinged-glass-top.html

Jake


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

jacobi said:


> Here you go. http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/57871-custom-silicone-hinged-glass-top.html
> 
> Jake


Thank you for the link
Since it is an Exo Terra tank and has doors on the front, I'm not sure if it is worth the extra effort to make the glass lid removable. I was planning on setting it on top and letting it be, maybe I would silicone it on if I felt it was unstable. 
It's a lot harder to find a glass place that will do this kind of work than I thought... yikes.


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## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Ah. I didnt realise you have an exo-terra. No local window places?

Jake


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## skanderson (Aug 25, 2011)

i agree with the above posters about getting a glass lid to help raise the humidity. to me it also looks like your substrate is too soggy. if you have standing water in the bottom of the tank and just have the substrate sitting in that water it will tend to get waterlogged. there are some plants that will grow in that but generally most like an airy root zone. if that is the case you will either need to rebuild with a false bottom, or only plant bog/aquatic plants in the bottom substrate.


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## mordoria (Jan 28, 2011)

Also for that size, you should have at least 2 - 26w CFL 6500k bulbs. At least! I would use 3. You can get a 4 pack at homedepot.
Seal that top up with a glass lid. You should see condensation on the glass to know if humidity is up enough. 
For glass tops, look in thrift stores for old picture frames with glass. You can get a glass cutter and cut it to size.


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

I'd add another full spectrum bulb in the same kelvin range. Even another with a kelvin of 7000 might be worth experirnenting with in addition to covering the screened areas with glass. Agreed your substrate appears waterlogged. What are you using for a drainage?


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

Loui1203 said:


> I would really like to see this tank start improving, does anyone have advice?
> 
> My sad orchid
> 
> ...


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

Thank you for all of your input!



fishr said:


> What is the scientific name if you have it for this orchid?


This was sold to me as a Ornithophora radicans. The care says it needs partial light so I didn't want to have it under the bulb. 

I use egg crate as a drainage layer and there is probably a little less than an inch of air between the substrate and the water. I will let me pond run fill up lower than usual for a while to see if that helps.

I called several window shops and they said they do not do that kind of work. I will check out habitat for humanity tomorrow to see if they have anything that could work. In the mean time, I put saran wrap over the top which increased the humidity from ~52% to ~88%.

I try to keep a gradient of light in my tank since certain things like less light but I will order some more bulbs and watch for improvement.


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

Put serran wrap over the screen then as a cheap solution if you can't find glass.


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

> I try to keep a gradient of light in my tank since certain things like less light but I will order some more bulbs and watch for improvement.


You definitely need more light. 2 to 3 more lamps. You can add accents to create shaded areas like driftwood, flat rocks, or make your own naturalistic caves and what not.


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## AlexD (Sep 19, 2007)

Loui1203 said:


> The care says it needs partial light so I didn't want to have it under the bulb.


"Partial shade" is a lot brighter than you may think. I'd be astonished if any compact fluorescent bulb in the world would be bright enough to hurt even the lowest-light orchid in existence, even if you put it right under the bulb.


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

I would agree witht he too low of humidity ruling. However, I'd also add that its quite likely your lighting is to low if lumens. You said it was lit with a 6500k fluorescent bulb. If its a single bulb, that is simply not enough lumens for plant growth. If its a single T-5 bulb it'd be ok. But for good plant growth I'd go with a minimum of 2 T-5's, or 3-4 T-8 or T-10. Plants cannoit photosynthesize without light and C02


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## hylahill (Jan 29, 2008)

As far as CF Bulbs go, maybe the lumens won't be too much for most orchids, but the heat will fry them up in no time if you have them high in the tank!


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

Also, it looks like the tank is right by a window. If it's getting a lot of sunlight it could be getting too hot during the day - can you monitor the daytime temps? You'd be surprised at how much a little sunlight can heat up a glass box.


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

Shinosuke said:


> Also, it looks like the tank is right by a window. If it's getting a lot of sunlight it could be getting too hot during the day - can you monitor the daytime temps? You'd be surprised at how much a little sunlight can heat up a glass box.


The warmest I have seen it is at 78 degrees during the day. (Up from 74ish). 
I moved the tank by a north facing window so it could have more light to try and help the plants but if you guys don't think it would help I can move it back.

The new added heat and increased humidity make the wood chunk that was holding up the brom and hoya collapse. Great Stuff was holding it up in the first place. Any suggestions on how to reattach it to my tank wall?


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## fishr (Dec 20, 2010)

> The new added heat and increased humidity make the wood chunk that was holding up the brom and hoya collapse. Great Stuff was holding it up in the first place. Any suggestions on how to reattach it to my tank wall?


Bummer. But not all is lost. Silicone the wood. Use GE 1 silicone. You may want to leave the top off the tank for 24 hours because there will be a vinegar smell. After 24 hours, the smell should be gone, then you can put the top back on. 

Take note: Once the wood is bonded to the glass, you cannot or should not try and remove the piece. The risk of cracking the glass isn't worth it. Make sure where you silicone the wood piece is where you want it.


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## parkanz2 (Sep 25, 2008)

I didn't see if you tracked down a local glass place or not but a lot of smaller hardware stores such as Ace will still cut glass for you. As far as I know, most of the big chains like home depot don't do that anymore.


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## Loui1203 (Sep 29, 2011)

So as an update I still have saran wrap over my tank but it is working well. This weekend I will see if habitat for humanity has glass or Ace's. 
My bromeliad has started growing new leaves, yay! Other than that nothing much has changed. I'll keep watching for progress.
I've only been having to mist about 1x a day rather than 3-4x that I was misting before I put the saran wrap on.
I added a 5000k natural light fluorescent bulb today on next to the 6500k bulb so hopefully that will help out my plants.
Thanks again for all of your input!


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## GreenyMeany (Apr 18, 2012)

skanderson said:


> i agree with the above posters about getting a glass lid to help raise the humidity. to me it also looks like your substrate is too soggy. if you have standing water in the bottom of the tank and just have the substrate sitting in that water it will tend to get waterlogged. there are some plants that will grow in that but generally most like an airy root zone. if that is the case you will either need to rebuild with a false bottom, or only plant bog/aquatic plants in the bottom substrate.


same - agree to all above answers - still think bottom substrate looks way to soggy and raising humidity won't help at all with that issue - sounds like you have made some nice improvements if plants on bottom dont recover I would take the above answer into consideration, as the leaves of those plants show all the signs of soon to be root rot and that would be a shame - maybe just need more airflow, with new top, may need anyway - on another note, very nicely done tank, I like it.


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