Nanovivs/wine chillers?

I put one of the chillers from Hobby Lobby in my basement grow area. It was covered in moss within a couple of months. Granted, the base was set in a mossy area. I didn't place any orchids on it; though I think I might do that when I return. I would think that waiting for the moss to cover it and then putting orchids on it might work better than putting orchids on it without moss. But that's just a guess.

 

Oh, I thought someone was asking about the wine chiller for chilling bottles of wine. Guess I need to hang with a different crowd.

 

Save the trouble. They don't work.
I tried one actually *within* a ten gallon tank and it never grew any moss. In fact, the water seeped out of it so fast I had standing water in the tank before long. I tried the short and the tall and the water draining out too fast was a problem with all of them.

On a similar topic, I had no good luck with swamp sticks either. They had to be refilled too often and most roots would not attach to them.

But I *do* have a hand made terra cotta wine chiller that works muy bien as a nano-viv. You can pretty easily tell when something is hand thrown on a wheel, and the hobby lobby versions clearly are not. Skip it, I say.

 

Are the Hobby Lobby ones glazed on the inside or outside? IF so, that would prevent water from being absorbed into the clay.

Edit: If memory serves me right, I think the new Swamp Sticks are unglazed and work better than the original ones.

 

I have also tried a un-glaced winecooler and i did´nt work at all. So I bought a real nonviv and it works very well.

 

It´s 3 20w halidspots. They are conneted through a brasstape.
Epitubes should be no problem. You can always make one yourself.

 

oh, it was nothing.
Well, I fell sorry for ya´ll...

 

You may be able to get clay sewer pipes in TX, Chris. They're against code in Denver, so I can't get them there.

 

The cylinder in this vivarium is a drainage pipe, of terracotta, and they work well as long they aren´t damaged.

 

Both these places are in the US and carry epiweb.

http://www.firstrays.com/
http://www.dartfrogdepot.com/ (This place is getting in those nano tubes that the guys from Sweden always post)

 

What's the diameter of the glass enclosure?

 

In regards to the FirstRay link, this is what he said on another website about that:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/43451-real-epiweb.html

Dont know whats true or not, but who knows.

Either way, I really love the look of the epiweb tubes, and it looks simple enough to make.

 

There are posts of people using it on dendroboard site. To be honest, I think any hard porous fish filter material will do exactly the same job as long as its getting enough water. I dont think this will only work if you use name brand Epi-Web. Generic stuff should work exactly the same and for a cheaper price for those experimenting. Ill be buying a small piece in a week or 2 and trying this out.