Yes: it is a good idea. Try the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Terrarium

Its a good idea with some disclaimers.

1. it will be way too small and almost all plants will quickly outgrow it in addition to not being able to contain nearly as many as you will want.
2. it will be nearly impossible to get a range of temperatures which will limit your choices of plants.
3. it will also be nearly impossible/impractical to put in a fan, which limits the plants you can grow (mostly leaves out many orchids)

having said that...they're great for small tropical plants that like it uniformly warm and moist. Mosses and ferns would love it. A great many carnivores thrive in those conditions including sundews, VFTs, nepenthes (some require dormancy so keep that in mind...they may need to be removed). Gesnariads also seem to love living in such a terrarium. I started out w/ a ten gallon tank which i still have...filled w/ moss, CPs, and gessies. Then i got a 29 gallon tank which is crammed full. I have a third tank i haven't set up yet...and grand plans for a GIANT orchidarium. Point being, its a great place to start...but beware the future.

One of the main advantages to the ten gallon is you can use smaller, cheaper, lights and get good results. And you can pick it up and move it around easily. Don't try that w/ a 29 gallon tank...

Go for it! Just make sure you start out with the right plants, or you'll end up frustrated when they quickly outgrow the tank. I'm making a 5 gal. terr for carnivores right now, because a lot of them stay quite small. If you like them, try pinguiculas (butterworts), VFTs, mini neps, sundews (drosera). Moss is always perfect for terrariums. If you want ferns, i would suggest only one in a tank that size. They will grow surprisingly (at least to me) large in as little as a year. Also try to find a small variety, such as 'Fluffy Ruffles'. I've linked a good source for it and other mini plants below. Tillandsias, cryptanthus, mini bromeliads, african violets (especially the minis), parlour palm (Chamadorea elegans, only while very small), fittonia (will need trimming occasionally), ficus pumila, ficus quercifolia, selaginellla, Ludisia discolor (jewel orchid) and pilea are also good. For an more extensive listing, do a search on this forum for 'Plants for Closed Terrariums'. It doesn't matter if you terrarium will be closed or not, the plants in that list are good.

You will need: an enclosure; substrate (bark chips, potting soil, perlite, vermiculite, sphagnum moss, whatever you choose); Distilled, RO, or rainwater; plants; lights (must be fluorescents or compact fluos in a cool white or daylight spectrum, not incandescents!!!!); a light hood (can be bought or home-made); a misting bottle; and, if you're like me and must know exact measurements of things, a thermometer and a hygrometer.

Home Depot and your local grocery store should have all of these things, with the exception of the light hood, which you can get at your local pet or aquarium store. Since you already have the tank, the most expensive thing will be the ligh hood, unless you already have one of those as well (remember, must be fluorescent, OR it must have enough space for screw-in compact fluos.). Then the plants will be the most expensive, but still not actually expensive, since you'd be buying small ones, so they could be as cheap as $1 each. Other than that, read old posts in this forum and check out the gallery for inspiration. Have fun! =)

Here is a link that might be useful: Rob's

Thanks! I was given this aquarium by mistake by a coworker for Xmas last year, and have been trying to figure out what to do with it. I am not good with crabs, I discovered, but I do well with plants. I had been trying to figure out how to grow carnivorous plants easily. I was also wanting another orchid, despite my limited space. I also love bromeliads. It is a wonder it has taken me so long to put this all together. Now I just have to track down all the plants. I already have everything else, lights and all. Yes, cool white fluo's. Even a halogen to add some red and some heat (just a little one). I am so glad you could list some species that I can use with a tank this size! Thank you!!!

No! No halogen! You do not need the red spectrum, and you certainly do not need the heat. It will heat up suffieciently in there with the little heat that fluo's put out, especially if you have the top entirely covered with a glass or plexi top (which you should). You can leave the top cracked open, but I found that I wasn't really maintaining 80-90% humidity until I completely closed my terr.

I agree with the above except for one thing. The general advice page on this web site (see link above by Cdfortin) says you have to put substrate 1-2 inches deep below growing medium. I mix peat moss and light potting mix right on the bottom, 1 inch deep in the front and a little more in back. Pack it down a little. Never had a problem with it getting too wet. Don't over-water. Your terrarium plants, like mosses, ferns, club moss, vines, orchids, air plants, have very shallow roots or air roots.

Fish-tank light arangements are expensive and not bright enough. The wattage or lumens rating of the flueresent bulb tells you how much light you get. For 10 gallon tank (24x12x12 inches) I'd say 25-50 watts or 2500-5000 lumens. My formula, my experience.

If the tank is 24" long, you could get two 24" tube fixtures designed for under-counter and they will rest right on top. Leave bulbs bare. Add a piece of glass over the open space and you are done. Add a day-night lamp timer for $5-7.

I'm using screw-in fluorescent on a 7-gal (10"x12x20) because they are compact, cheep, and the fixtures are cheep. I bought three bare fixtures at $2 each, 4-pack 13-watt (800 lumen) bulbs for $6 on sale, extension chord (cut one end off) for $3. I'm building a riser wooden top to house the lamps so they don't hang down in the tank. That's the hard part.

I'm always open to new ideas.

Consider snipping various houseplants and rooting the cuttings in your terrarium.

------David

do NOT plant orchids in a soil mix. Other than that, I'd mostly agree with David. I found a gravel for 'drainage' to be mostly useless. I think it serves more as an area to keep some more water. The water is not supposed to touch the soil. The idea is that the water underneath the soil will slowly evaporate as the soil needs it, keeping the soil evenly moist and aerated (because you aren't watering from the top, which compresses the soil), and it reduces the frequency of watering. However, you don't actually NEED this layer, and the plant roots will grow down into it anyways, so it's not really extra drainage. More like extra water or just extra substrate of a different medium. And I also found that plants root very shallowly. I'd go deeper than 1-2 inches of substrate, just because I think that would look better, but you definitely wouldn't need anything deeper than 3". And especially in a smaller tank, like a 10 gal, you wouldn't want a deep substrate. I wouldn't do a false bottom and waterfeature in a 10 gal, either, unless you could find a very tiny pump and you just HAD to have a waterfeature. But it would still take at least 3" of space at the bottom for the false bottom, and then you'd still need your substrate on top of that. Oh yeah, and air plants shouldn't be kept in moist soil, either. Grow them epiphytically, as they are designed to be grown.