Hello
Well, I can see this forum is living up to its uaual standards lol.. I don't think anyone reads it anymore lol.
There is an old thread here on" Brainstorming a giant orchidarium" that had a lot of interesting ideas.
Might check out DH posts he maintains a large terrarium but you don't have to have snakes lol gary

It is a forum that goes in fits and bursts. : ) Gary, don't forget, this time of the year, a big problem is that summertime folks are much spending more of their time outdoors. Then too, there is only so many terrs one can maintain with space limitations. & with your average terr, there's not a ton of upkeep needed. So again, Gary, I think that once people have their terr finished, there's less reason for them to pop in frequently. All the same, I think this forum's old posts to provide a great deal of info useful for beginners.

Oh, btw Gary, You probably don't remember but you recommended to me some time back to try growing a bonsai in 100% sphag. Few months ago I finally got around to putting one fo my little ficus in sphag. So far so good.

Sorry to have hijacked your thread watergal. : D Do you have a small room in your basement you planned on using? How cool does your basement typically stay?

If you have a small basement room [and a 6X8 is not far off from a typical small room] you could hang a large sheet of clear plastic across the door to help maintain humidity. Then for lighting you could go with a large halogen bulb. I know a number of orchid growers who use such a set up. But do note that the halogen bulbs put out a LOT of heat. You could also go with fluorescent lighting, but such lights typically need to be very close to the plants. [Which might work for you if you have shelves agains the walls & each shelf with its own light]

Paul
Be careful you don't mentiom the sphag. method in the Bonsai forum .You will be severely chastised!!! That's not Bonsai it's "dwarfing" lol Bonsai is an ancient art form while dwarfing is torturing plants .lol
I still have two grown by that method ,a powder puff tree and a ficus benjamina.. Both are over 15 years old
and both remain under 3 feet. So much easier to maintain compared to BONSAI lol.IMO it's ten times better than bonsai.
i am down to 1 75 gallon paludarium ,concentrating on making a "rainforest" out of my shadehouse..Have had a lot of unanticipated problems and still can't put my birds in it. But it's moving along and some of my brainstorms are actually working lol
Watergal found a source of info on the orchids forum. there are several people there maintaining indoor GH's.
Good luck with your BONSAI !! OOps I mean dwarfing . Guess i'm always going to get them confused gary