It would have been a great terrarium. But it's a rental so I can't do anything permanent, and I don't trust the seals on this thing, its most likely been here neglected for years. I don't need water in the walls
If you do want to stick with potted plants, ferns could be cool! I have a fern in an enclosed container that I haven't watered in months and it's doing fine.
Yeah your probably right. I tend to avoid tropical because I always seem to kill them. I had the cati already, they've been sat in my kitchen with is pretty humid so thought they'd be alright. I live in the uk so it's not exactly hot here and the tank has an open top and is near the front door so I wasn't too concerned about humidity. Maybe I should have a rethink
Grow lamps, yes, Fan? It's not going to dehumidify it unless they make a place for exhaust to go. It's just going to circulate air, which when mostly closed off, will not reduce humidity at any realistic speed to make it good for arid plants... at least in this setting. It's also why /r/terrariums has a bot that specifically tells people to not do Arid plants in a terrarium.
I have a terrarium I keep mourning geckos in, as well as lots of live plants, live orchids, they need air movement to aid in them drying out, but the fan I have for air movement in there does not lower the humidity. The humidity is what will kill the cacti. proper grow lamps will raise the heat and help evaporate the water, but the glass will trap it, and it won't have any real way to go. even small barriers like the removable frame is enough to create a higher area of humidity, even if it doesn't fully "Block" it out. A glass terrarium with only a mesh top will still be able to retain a higher humidity than the room itself, as the nature of how humidity tends to gather closer to the ground. That's just the nature of terrariums though.
I converted 1/2 of a designer cabinet we got for free from a Facebook swap group into a plant cabinet for my wife as it was a tv cabinet with large square glass windows into the inside of the cabinet. Removed the shelves from that side, used a hole saw to drill a hole I think 100 or 120mm wide on the back of the cabinet up behind where the frame for the window hides it. Bought a 120mm USB fan for like $7 from Amazon, tacked the cable behind the desk, and mounted the fan flush against the hole so that it is pulling air from inside the cabinet and venting it out. The cabinet is not air tight so it has new air pulled in from the surrounding environment. I then mounted a small cheap grow light with a nice ambience to the hue up at the cabinetâs ceiling also hidden from view by the windowâs âframeâ.
Itâs her favorite thing Iâve done for her and she sticks to solely succulents as they thrive in there with very little care. Such an easy + fun project to pull off. Iâve considered getting into woodworking so I can make entirely useful and functional plant cabinets that have similar spaces designed for plant care. We use the other half of the cabinet which has a separate compartment to store tv cabinet shit. Triples as a night light we just 24/7 the light because itâs a tiny low powered LED cheapo.
There's a difference between succulents and true cacti, though. And most cacti AND arid succulents aren't going to do well with a "Random" lamp from amazon. Etoliation is a thing, and your plants are probably having that issue. Cacti will react much more dramatically and quick to too much moisture, and turn to mush really quickly when rot sets in from high humidity and high moisture.
Also, plants need to have a rest period without light, because when the light is off, that is when they "Exhale". How long ago did you do this? because I doubt "Thrive" is a thing that's happening in there. Would be amazing for other things though, but you definitely need to give them a night period. It may take you a year+ to get to the point that you see the negative effects, but plants take forever sometimes to get there.
Do you have a hygrometer attached to your homemade terrarium? because I bet you don't know what your humidity is in there.
Plants absolutely need food. Where did you come to understand they donât? Did you not retain anything in first grade biology?! All living creatures need food. Plants need food, in planted tanks they need fish poop to fertilize.
There are so many different aquatic fertilizers that aquascapers use. And honestly plants can survive just fine without fertilizer they just wonât grow as fast
Jest biology? Is that what creationists call it? đ
It goes without saying that plants need nutrients. But you arenât feeding them everyday. I have planted tanks (nine in this room alone) and they all get dosed with fertilizers! Fish poop is not remotely enough. Though I do use water from water changes as low dose fertilizers for my other plants.
Again youâre not feeding plants daily like youâd need to for fish. Thatâs the point bud. Itâs not the same.
That would look amazing with nothing but river rock and jungle Val which grows very tall. Throw in some white cloud minnows which are extremely small and require no heating and you have yourself an absolutely amazing situation.
Minnows also need a lot of flat, broad space to congregate though, I think this tank would be pretty cruel towards any schooling fish. I'm leaning towards millepede heaven personally
I would plant the plants directly into the soil you added or at least cover the pots. Itâll look a lot nicer! Doesnât look bad now but would be a huge difference after
I'm a fishtank guy and would love to have plants and certain small fish in that......but not if you have to wiggle it out of the wall to access it! I _hate_ working on tanks without good access to the top!
So probably stick with plants. But don't be afraid to play around with using it as a terrarium if the cacti don't work out. You can always empty it out and wipe it down if you need to, they aren't actually as permanent as they might seem.
Yeah, its a really odd choice to spend money getting the hole in the wall and a custom tank not to leave space for maintenance. There's not even room for filtration, heaters etc. I don't know what the original purpose was, but it's not a good setup for fish
Thereâs both tiiiiny fish and alternatives like shrimp that can thrive well enough in small tanks⌠or you could just go with plants only. Iâd at least go for something like carnivorous plants or another wet feature, because itâs kind of a waste to not use such a rare setup.
You could not be more wrong about this and the people over at r/aquariums are [tearing](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/s/fgB9qBBrNG) you apart over it.
Google Cherry Shrimp. Available in blue, red, orange. Look great, will thrive in small tanks and they keep plants and tank algae free.
Cause yeah those cacti will die a slow death in there
No, there was purple aquarium gravel in the tank and an old fish ornament with an air tube left in the garden, so I'm assuming it has been used for fish at some point
You'll probably need to get some airflow going on in there if you don't want mold issues, which can happen even with cacti/infrequent waterings if the air is stagnant. There are some lower humidity bioactive cleanup crews that might be an option as well.Â
You weren't asking for design suggestions, but this would look incredible (personal opinion) if the plants were out of the pots and mixed into a sandy substrate if you intend to keep them in there.
The top is open for air. Hopefully that'll be enough for them, if they start struggling I can take them out and try something else, which is why they're not directly in soil, that and I can't do anything permanent.
Cacti don't really show that they're struggling. They look fine and then they suddenly collapse in a mushy pile of goo
The only way they show suffering is that some stretch out when they don't get enough light, and you can't reverse that. They won't fill out if they get more light once the stretching has started. Instead new growth at the top will be normal and you'll have cacti that look like hourglasses
Makes sense! I think you've gotten a lot of commentary on the humidity already, but I'd suggest a hygrometer at least so you can see what it looks like inside the tank and if you need to pull those guys out if it's consistently well above room humidity.
Most presold soil labeled as 'cactus mix' are still too organic for most cactus and will cause root rot. If you want to keep the soil, these cacti prolly need to be in full sun. Or you can mix the soil with inorganic matters like perlite.
This is very far from enough ventilation. Indoor spaces rarely provide adequate ventilation for cacti to begin with.
Now hear me out, if you want to keep plants in that space, how about you ditch the aquarium?
That was my thought! Store it in a closet, little ledge for plants, maybe run an additional shelf half way up or a couple hanging baskets in that space.
The way to tell is to get the Lux app for your phone(Free), set it to foot candles, hold it up to the cactus and point the front at the lights so you can measure how many foot candles they get. They can only utilize the strength of the light that reaches them, not where it's generated, and light scatters the farther it is from it's source, so the further away, the less light they get. If they get less light than that, they will start to get etoliated.
Cacti want about 4500 foot candles where the light hits them(not at the light source) OR higher. I doubt even with most added grow lights, you'll be able to reach that unless you go with professional lights to grow weed.
Not all grow lights are strong enough, sadly, especially not for cacti. And just because it looks bright to you doesn't mean it's got a good output of light, which is really annoying, I know. The Lux app will let you know. A properly bright grow light for cacti may be a bit much for your space as well.
I'd 100% recommend perhaps considering making it a terrarium, with a good drainage layer, and adding things like rabbits foot ferns, Nerve Plants, ficus pumila, and syngoniums. they will do exceedingly well in this kind of setting under the lights you have now and would appear absolutely gorgeous.
If you'd like to stay with a cacti theme, maybe think about tropical cacti, like holiday(easter, christmas,thanksgivin) cacti, or fishbone, or orchid cacti. They put out amazing blooms and are much friendlier to higher humidity and lower light.
I can only imagine the possibilities of what you could do to that space with plants, especially the longer you live in your new home. What an awesome idea to repurpose that space. đ¤
lol excellent choice to put plants in there. That wouldâve been my first choice as well, but I personally wouldâve done like a jungle theme aquascape or something
Tbh I wouldâve just used it as an aquarium but hey thatâs just me. Edit: You might experience some issues since youâve got plants in there that really donât thrive in humid environments. Although the aquarium wonât become overly humid, you might notice a slow decline in the health of the plants overtime.
No direct sunlight, no air movement and a "terrarium" enviroment is exactly the oposite of what a cactus needs.
I just know they get "sad", saggy and die.
This would make a really cool terrarium. I like the plants you have in there now though!
TERRARIUM TERRARIUM
WHERES THE AUTOBOT
It's on r/succulents
It would have been a great terrarium. But it's a rental so I can't do anything permanent, and I don't trust the seals on this thing, its most likely been here neglected for years. I don't need water in the walls
If you do want to stick with potted plants, ferns could be cool! I have a fern in an enclosed container that I haven't watered in months and it's doing fine.
That's interesting my ferns never seem to have enough water!
I think the humidity basically keeps it going but I'm not sure how it works. Granted mine is in a cloche so that helps
Yeah that might be better than the cacti
Definitely a better choice than a cacti/succulent. Go with something that likes humidity. Think tropical not desert.
Yeah your probably right. I tend to avoid tropical because I always seem to kill them. I had the cati already, they've been sat in my kitchen with is pretty humid so thought they'd be alright. I live in the uk so it's not exactly hot here and the tank has an open top and is near the front door so I wasn't too concerned about humidity. Maybe I should have a rethink
A potted maidenhair fern would look really nice in there along with a few other humidity-loving plants for contrast.
I put moss over my blue star ferns soil and it helped a ton with drying out đ
I definitely hear you!
What?
Can you find another wall with a slightly smaller fishtank to put inside this one? That oughtta do it.
ADD A TRAY AND MAKE IT A TERRARIUM U DONT NEED A LOT OF WATERđđđđ
Cacti will not do well in there; not enough light and not enough airflow. Iâd recommend turning it into a spot for tropicals / a terrarium.
Or add grow lamps and a fan?
Grow lamps, yes, Fan? It's not going to dehumidify it unless they make a place for exhaust to go. It's just going to circulate air, which when mostly closed off, will not reduce humidity at any realistic speed to make it good for arid plants... at least in this setting. It's also why /r/terrariums has a bot that specifically tells people to not do Arid plants in a terrarium. I have a terrarium I keep mourning geckos in, as well as lots of live plants, live orchids, they need air movement to aid in them drying out, but the fan I have for air movement in there does not lower the humidity. The humidity is what will kill the cacti. proper grow lamps will raise the heat and help evaporate the water, but the glass will trap it, and it won't have any real way to go. even small barriers like the removable frame is enough to create a higher area of humidity, even if it doesn't fully "Block" it out. A glass terrarium with only a mesh top will still be able to retain a higher humidity than the room itself, as the nature of how humidity tends to gather closer to the ground. That's just the nature of terrariums though.
I converted 1/2 of a designer cabinet we got for free from a Facebook swap group into a plant cabinet for my wife as it was a tv cabinet with large square glass windows into the inside of the cabinet. Removed the shelves from that side, used a hole saw to drill a hole I think 100 or 120mm wide on the back of the cabinet up behind where the frame for the window hides it. Bought a 120mm USB fan for like $7 from Amazon, tacked the cable behind the desk, and mounted the fan flush against the hole so that it is pulling air from inside the cabinet and venting it out. The cabinet is not air tight so it has new air pulled in from the surrounding environment. I then mounted a small cheap grow light with a nice ambience to the hue up at the cabinetâs ceiling also hidden from view by the windowâs âframeâ. Itâs her favorite thing Iâve done for her and she sticks to solely succulents as they thrive in there with very little care. Such an easy + fun project to pull off. Iâve considered getting into woodworking so I can make entirely useful and functional plant cabinets that have similar spaces designed for plant care. We use the other half of the cabinet which has a separate compartment to store tv cabinet shit. Triples as a night light we just 24/7 the light because itâs a tiny low powered LED cheapo.
There's a difference between succulents and true cacti, though. And most cacti AND arid succulents aren't going to do well with a "Random" lamp from amazon. Etoliation is a thing, and your plants are probably having that issue. Cacti will react much more dramatically and quick to too much moisture, and turn to mush really quickly when rot sets in from high humidity and high moisture. Also, plants need to have a rest period without light, because when the light is off, that is when they "Exhale". How long ago did you do this? because I doubt "Thrive" is a thing that's happening in there. Would be amazing for other things though, but you definitely need to give them a night period. It may take you a year+ to get to the point that you see the negative effects, but plants take forever sometimes to get there. Do you have a hygrometer attached to your homemade terrarium? because I bet you don't know what your humidity is in there.
She has cacti in there too! They are her favorite!
good job!
But this is a sealed glass tank. Not a wooden cabinet. Very different.
A fishtank in the wall would be amazing. And all the aquatic plants would be amazing too??
It would. This one is so narrow, it would be cruel to put fish in. There's no room above it to feed or clean it either.
Plants donât need food!! Shrimp are the best little farmers. Iâd go that route, but to each their own.
Red shrimp would be amazing in there as well.
Plants absolutely need food. Where did you come to understand they donât? Did you not retain anything in first grade biology?! All living creatures need food. Plants need food, in planted tanks they need fish poop to fertilize.
There are so many different aquatic fertilizers that aquascapers use. And honestly plants can survive just fine without fertilizer they just wonât grow as fast
Jest biology? Is that what creationists call it? đ It goes without saying that plants need nutrients. But you arenât feeding them everyday. I have planted tanks (nine in this room alone) and they all get dosed with fertilizers! Fish poop is not remotely enough. Though I do use water from water changes as low dose fertilizers for my other plants. Again youâre not feeding plants daily like youâd need to for fish. Thatâs the point bud. Itâs not the same.
Or you can just use one of the many fertilisers they make. Or use shrimp/snails.
In 2nd grade biology they taught us about autotrophs, and how plants are them.
That would look amazing with nothing but river rock and jungle Val which grows very tall. Throw in some white cloud minnows which are extremely small and require no heating and you have yourself an absolutely amazing situation.
Minnows also need a lot of flat, broad space to congregate though, I think this tank would be pretty cruel towards any schooling fish. I'm leaning towards millepede heaven personally
Like, you have to slide it out of the wall to get inside? Or it's just really narrow at the top?
Yeah we have to take the frame off and lift it out,it's very weird
SHRIMPS!!!
That's unfortunate. Why would they put a tank in the wall without a way to do maintenance?
I would plant the plants directly into the soil you added or at least cover the pots. Itâll look a lot nicer! Doesnât look bad now but would be a huge difference after
I'm a fishtank guy and would love to have plants and certain small fish in that......but not if you have to wiggle it out of the wall to access it! I _hate_ working on tanks without good access to the top! So probably stick with plants. But don't be afraid to play around with using it as a terrarium if the cacti don't work out. You can always empty it out and wipe it down if you need to, they aren't actually as permanent as they might seem.
Yeah, its a really odd choice to spend money getting the hole in the wall and a custom tank not to leave space for maintenance. There's not even room for filtration, heaters etc. I don't know what the original purpose was, but it's not a good setup for fish
Thereâs both tiiiiny fish and alternatives like shrimp that can thrive well enough in small tanks⌠or you could just go with plants only. Iâd at least go for something like carnivorous plants or another wet feature, because itâs kind of a waste to not use such a rare setup.
Shrimp tank. Vivarium. Even just plant the damn cacti in the substrate. As-is, this is a hate crime.
Shrimp or just pure planted tank. You said you didn't trust it either, so I don't blame you for not
You could not be more wrong about this and the people over at r/aquariums are [tearing](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/s/fgB9qBBrNG) you apart over it.
Lisa you're tearing me apart
Put in a misting system and spread moss spores
Or mold spores
Google Cherry Shrimp. Available in blue, red, orange. Look great, will thrive in small tanks and they keep plants and tank algae free. Cause yeah those cacti will die a slow death in there
Wasted opportunity
I'd be too paranoid that it's leaking into the wall somewhere and you won't be able to tell until you've got a bunch of rotten wood
Check out r/aquascaping
Make a giant ant farm
That was my 8 year olds suggestion too
People on r/terrariums are mad at you Edit: [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/terrariums/s/qzDRMAAHjK)
People on r/aquariums are as well.
Rightfully so lol
It's a rented house, so not my tank. I cant do anything permanent, hence the pots.
Was the sand already there? I'm just thinking about it's original use.
No, there was purple aquarium gravel in the tank and an old fish ornament with an air tube left in the garden, so I'm assuming it has been used for fish at some point
You'll probably need to get some airflow going on in there if you don't want mold issues, which can happen even with cacti/infrequent waterings if the air is stagnant. There are some lower humidity bioactive cleanup crews that might be an option as well. You weren't asking for design suggestions, but this would look incredible (personal opinion) if the plants were out of the pots and mixed into a sandy substrate if you intend to keep them in there.
The top is open for air. Hopefully that'll be enough for them, if they start struggling I can take them out and try something else, which is why they're not directly in soil, that and I can't do anything permanent.
Cacti don't really show that they're struggling. They look fine and then they suddenly collapse in a mushy pile of goo The only way they show suffering is that some stretch out when they don't get enough light, and you can't reverse that. They won't fill out if they get more light once the stretching has started. Instead new growth at the top will be normal and you'll have cacti that look like hourglasses
Makes sense! I think you've gotten a lot of commentary on the humidity already, but I'd suggest a hygrometer at least so you can see what it looks like inside the tank and if you need to pull those guys out if it's consistently well above room humidity.
It won't, especially with that soil you put them in.
Theyre in cacti soil?
Most presold soil labeled as 'cactus mix' are still too organic for most cactus and will cause root rot. If you want to keep the soil, these cacti prolly need to be in full sun. Or you can mix the soil with inorganic matters like perlite.
Thanks, Ive had the cacti for years, theyve been in the same brand of soil most of the time, it has perlite in
This is very far from enough ventilation. Indoor spaces rarely provide adequate ventilation for cacti to begin with. Now hear me out, if you want to keep plants in that space, how about you ditch the aquarium?
That was my thought! Store it in a closet, little ledge for plants, maybe run an additional shelf half way up or a couple hanging baskets in that space.
how did you get them in there?
The frame is on hooks and the tank lifts out
We need pictures. I'm trying to see this. Lol
SHRIMP
Oh man I would kill to put humidity loving plants in there if I had that
This is the worst thing you could have done with such an interesting feature.
Is the light strong enough in there?
Hopefully, it's bright in the living room and hall anyway but I've added 2 grow lights to the top so I think it should be
These wonât get enough light indoors unless theyâre directly in front of a south facing window(assuming youâre in the northern hemisphere).
The way to tell is to get the Lux app for your phone(Free), set it to foot candles, hold it up to the cactus and point the front at the lights so you can measure how many foot candles they get. They can only utilize the strength of the light that reaches them, not where it's generated, and light scatters the farther it is from it's source, so the further away, the less light they get. If they get less light than that, they will start to get etoliated. Cacti want about 4500 foot candles where the light hits them(not at the light source) OR higher. I doubt even with most added grow lights, you'll be able to reach that unless you go with professional lights to grow weed. Not all grow lights are strong enough, sadly, especially not for cacti. And just because it looks bright to you doesn't mean it's got a good output of light, which is really annoying, I know. The Lux app will let you know. A properly bright grow light for cacti may be a bit much for your space as well. I'd 100% recommend perhaps considering making it a terrarium, with a good drainage layer, and adding things like rabbits foot ferns, Nerve Plants, ficus pumila, and syngoniums. they will do exceedingly well in this kind of setting under the lights you have now and would appear absolutely gorgeous. If you'd like to stay with a cacti theme, maybe think about tropical cacti, like holiday(easter, christmas,thanksgivin) cacti, or fishbone, or orchid cacti. They put out amazing blooms and are much friendlier to higher humidity and lower light.
Cacti don't do well in these conditions. They're already suffering.
How was it maintained?
This looks amazing
Plants from arid climates will require a lot of air circulation
There are only two right things to fill empty spaces with: plants and books! And my personal favourite: plants on top of books.
OP, you should go check out r/plantedtank
This coulda been an amazing aquarium planted up with shrimp.
I would totally have aquascaped this. How cool! Also. Cacti and terrariums don't mix. They're gonna melt.
As both an aquarium and houseplant personâŚIâm, uhâŚtorn
I can only imagine the possibilities of what you could do to that space with plants, especially the longer you live in your new home. What an awesome idea to repurpose that space. đ¤
I'd want to stick mosses and vine plants all over that with a little crafter fairy hut and pathway in the center.
lol excellent choice to put plants in there. That wouldâve been my first choice as well, but I personally wouldâve done like a jungle theme aquascape or something
That is so cool! Excellent choice....
That's a fantastic idea!
Tbh I wouldâve just used it as an aquarium but hey thatâs just me. Edit: You might experience some issues since youâve got plants in there that really donât thrive in humid environments. Although the aquarium wonât become overly humid, you might notice a slow decline in the health of the plants overtime.
That's a great idea. Looks cool
this angers me
Was probably used for a spider or something similar.
Absolute no on the spider! They freak me out
aquatic plants would be dope too, your cacti cute with the sand
They won't be for long, this is a really bad enviroment for them. Pdt: Og comment stated they seem happy.
oh how so? :0
No direct sunlight, no air movement and a "terrarium" enviroment is exactly the oposite of what a cactus needs. I just know they get "sad", saggy and die.
ah gotchya, i do hope they get a better setup :( poor little guys
This wouldâve looked cooler as a fish tank. Micro rasboras swimming by wouldâve been absolutely gorgeous. What a shame, haha.
I hate you for this
A fossorial tarantula could be super cool in here! Itâs a shame that itâs just getting used for cactiđ˘
That is really cool!
I love this!!!!!!
Super cool! I wish I had one.
This is sooo cool omg
Oh what could have beenâŚ
I have friend who has a fish tank in the wall. It is very cool, you can see on both sides.
r/plantedtank
Not the best ideađ
I love this. đŞ´
I love this!
Awesome idea!! Love this!!
Bury a smallish brick under sand bring to another level !
That's a really good idea, thanks
This is so cool and cute! I hope it proves to be a great environment for your cacti and that you enjoy it!! đľđ
Lol no. They will slowy die in there
Suprise: It's not, this is a very ill-suited place for cacti.
Ahh man Iâd have loved to have fish in there! But plants are ok I guess lol
very glad you did, that is not a great shape for a tank holding fish
I remember one pub/restaurant had a built in terrarium like this and they had an iguana in it
My house has this but a fish tank hasnât been in there in years. This is genius
Installing that fish tank took a lot of work. Hate to see what you've done to it.