As proof that I have too much time on my hands, I offer the following pics:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/silence882/flowshelf2.jpg

I built a flow shelf for my phrags. I started by taking some old crappy plastic shelves and flipping the top 3 levels upside down. I cut notches in the plastic webbing to let water flow in a controlled path:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a25/silence882/flowshelf1.jpg

There is a bucket filled with water and a small pond pump which pumps the water to one end of the top level. The water then flows through the notches to the opposite end of the shelf, which has a hole with a hose which drains down to the level below. The water then flows along the top middle and lower middle shelves in the same way, with the lower middle shelf draining back into the bucket. Once the water is pumped to the top of the shelf, it has to pass through every square in order to get back to the bucket.

Hopefully, this tricks the little bastards into thinking they're back next to a stream in South America.

Altogether, the setup costs about $60 to make (a pump with a 6' elevation capability is the most expensive part)

--Stephen

Stephen - what are you studying in school?
Hmm???

good idea

Pretty clever, I'd say!

Looks good, keep us updated on the results

I use to have this kind of setup for my fish tanks until I went to a central system for all tanks requiring the same water properties.

Just be prepared for water on the carpet, because you will have something go wrong or leak, etc...

What an awesomely cool idea! I have the same crappy shelves already...I put my "outside plants" on them. I'm not sure I'm ready to set up a pump system for my phrags. I only grow a few phrags because they generally sulk over my tap water and it's a hassle to water with r/o or distilled. Of course I make exceptions for my special phrags like thw warce and caudatum. I am thinking I could do the same thing you did, reversing the shelves and put rocks or gravel in the slots and I will have an instant humidity tray for my paphs. Thanks for the pics!

Update!

So far it's working well! I've seen good root growth and the plants seem happy. However, it is very easy to fertilizer-burn in this setup. I put less than a tablespoon of Jack's Classic in 16 gallons of water and did a number on some of the leaf tips. Algal growth is light, but I'm glad to have it! I get the impression that it may help feed the roots.

--Stephen

Hi Stephen.

When the flasks arrive, I will let you know of their conditions ,I may try to post the pictures of them, and if nothing go wrong between now and that date, you will get one of the wallisii x kovachii as mention before.
Back to the topic at hand, the stand is quite an ingenius idea. The plants look extremely healthy(they must be thinking they are in the jungle) not like my plants, they always want to yellow the bottom leaves and shed them.
-I notice how close to the window you put the stand, almost touching the glass, what direction is that?
-Are all of the plants in diatomite? even the seedlings I saw on the stands.
-You pot all of the seedling separately from flask ?
-Is all of the water source from the bottom only? or you also suplement them with water from top? and if so, how often? how deep is the water on the flow tray?
-I kind of afraid that maybe the two crosses in the question do so because they have caudatum in the ancestry and hate water?
-My last question , regarding the flasks we just bought at GNYOS show, did you say you put it all the way at the opposite wall from the window?
I am a little concern, because I notice a couple yellow bottom leaves, may be I have too much sun for it (I have it @ 3 to 4 feet from my southeast window)

Hien

Hien

that tray is a pretty :cool: idea