So what's the record for thread necromancy? 
It's been years since I received this terrarium as a gift. I've been through several iterations of design, built three failed waterfalls (from foam to 3D printing), tried two lighting setups, and still it's never really been used for much other than keeping the occasional herb or flower away from the cats. Unfortunately, it's been a rough decade, between work, kids, second job, basem*nt reno, third job, etc. I've almost forgotten what it was like, all those years ago, when I could have and enjoy hobbies like growing CPs....
But with the kids getting ready to head off to college, my finances stabilized enough to give up nights/weekends work, and some other family responsibilities gone, I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
The New Design
This January I decided to start moving ahead on this project again, now that I finally have a little free time and money, and hope to have everything completed by March. I've redesigned one last time to simplify the setup, and ended up with this:
- 4" round pots sunken into a foam base, both sprayed with Rustoleum textured spray paint
- A purchased, fully built waterfall
- A 5630 LED strip hidden around the top of the terrarium, hooked into a timer so it's on from 9am until 11pm
- A 300w Bloomspect LED grow light, seated in a custom built frame, hooked into a timer set for midnight until 7am
- A set of smart plugs to allow me to control the lights and waterfall by timer or via my smartphone
- No automated watering; just a measuring cup to do it by hand
This setup has the following advantages:
- Having a professional made waterfall avoids all the pitfalls I ran into before. Building my own was fun, and I'd try it again, but not until I have more free time.
- Having pots sunken into a foam base allows me to easily remove them to handle dormancy. I have a backup pot or two with miniature decorations to put in their place when they're gone.
- Having the pots and base painted the same, to match the waterfall, helps make it look like a dirt ground, especially with some moss on top, without risk of insects, weeds, bacteria, etc.
- Running the grow light at night provides ample light, while the LED strip provides a much more visually pleasing light to enjoy the plants during the day.
I think I've decided on these plants (I'll need to choose 5):
- VFT - Austrailian Red Rossetted; I like the clumping growth
- VFT - Big Mouth
- D Capensis
- D Intermedia
- D Scorpioides
- Sarr - Scarlette Bell
Construction
So, for the part that others may be most interested in, here is the construction process:
I purchased a prebuilt waterfall. Then grabbed 3 sheets of 24"x24"x1" pink foam at Home Depot. Also ordered Axe Sickle 3.9" pots. These pots took a while to find. The tray is smaller than the top, which allows it to fit into the same size cutout. Meanwhile, the top is shelved, making it easier to keep level in a cutout designed for it. I also needed to pickup my grow light, LEDs, smart plugs, and a can of Rustoleum 'stone' spray paint and a polyurethane topcoat from Home Depot.
Shopping done, I started with the foam. First I cut the foam to fit the terrarium. Then I set the waterfall on top of the first foam board and traced it with a pen. I did the same with my pots, upside down. Using a foam cutter I cut out the waterfall and pot outlines a little bit big. This allows everything to rest on the next level of foam. I then cut out the pot outlines on the next two boards. Placing the three boards on top each other in my terrarium, with the pot saucers resting on the terrarium floor, I insured that everything fit well.
Unfortunately, the waterfall was a little tall, and hit the top of the terrarium, so I had to cut the middle foam board to let the waterfall rest on the bottom board.
Next I hit the top foam board and the tops of the pots with the paint. This worked great on the pots, but the paint solvent ate into the foamboard. While unexpected, this ended up giving it a nice, organic look. However, it also made the foam weak and the paint was easy to rub off. So I sprayed 2-3 coats of clear poly over both the foam and the pots; the former to strengthen it and prevent shedding and the latter to insure it was nonreactive with the soil. This gave everything a nice 'dirt' look.
Then on to the lighting. I ran the LED strips just under the top edging of the terrarium, out of sight from both above and below. This was hooked to a RF remote, and the power cord brought down the back corner and out a hole in the terrarium floor. There I hooked it into a smart plug. I may eventually paint this white wire dark brown, but I'm going for simple right now just to get things up and running; then I'll work on enhancements.
Meanwhile, I cut two pieces of plywood large enough to rest on the terrarium top shelf. I cut a hole in each, the first just larger than my grow light, and the next about 1" smaller in each direction. I screwed and glued these boards together, hit them with some white paint, and then set my grow light on top; it was a quickie job that doesn't look great by any means, but works for now. The grow light went into another smart plug.
Next Steps
So I think the finish line is in sight. From here I need to:
- Wait for the poly to dry and then get the foamboard into the terrarium, and the waterfall in place, filled, and running
- Wait for my sphagnum peat moss to come in and mix it with Perlite to fill the pots.
- Narrow down my list to 5 plants and order them in.
- Get the plants re-potted after delivery and put them in the terrarium, at which point I can…
- Start the light schedule running and begin watering and enjoying.
- Do a final post here with photos of how it all looks after coming together.
And it only took me half a decade to get there…
