Stale air: any crabber has misting system with screen?

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 8:52 pm

i was in the middle of browsing random forums to get some ideas on decorating my crabitat, and lots of other people who keep exotics that require high humidity has a misting system in their crabitat with screen. I was just wondering, if any of you have or is considering one? I always really hate it when I open up my glass lids as air feels a bit stale. I tried the small mini fan inside turning on couple times a day for few min(which recently died on me btw), but air still feels stale. Luckily so far, I havent had any mold issues, and had successful molts, but it would make me feel so much better if air felt more fresher.
i was thinking about :
- mini air filter(anyone?) inside tank, stopped only because a lot of them dehumidifies air.
- automatic mister: misterkin, promist, etc etc with screen top, or half glass and half screen?
- fogger: wont able to hold up humidity with screen top

is it just me havin this stale air issue? how does people deal with this?

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Sat Mar 20, 2010 9:42 pm

When I had my 40 g with a screen top, I used a small humidifier from Wal-Mart and rigged the top with a plastic pipe fitting and rubber tubing. The tubing led into the tank through a small hoe in the lid. I had everything set on a timer, so depending on the time of the year I would adjust the frequency accordingly. On top of the screen, I had a piece of foam insulation from the hardware store that was cut to size. This way, I was able to keep the heat and humidity in, but it wasn't sealed too tightly.

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 9:42 am

you know, I actually have the tropic aire humidifier thiny too- i dont know if it does anything though

i saw that other people kept exotics in the tank with screen lid with misting system, and was able to keep a high humidity... i wonder if hermits will get stressed out. did the humidifier work well?
maybe i should look into a cool air humidifier?

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 11:23 am

I initially bought one of the tropic-aire things and it didn't do anything.
The humidifier worked really well and I never got the impression that the hermies were stressed out by it. I usually had the timer set for about 15 minutes at a time.
If you get a humidifier, mine was fairly small, take it with you to the hardware store, that way the employees can help you rig something that will work. My tubing leading into the crabitat was an inch in diameter, by the way.

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 12:09 pm

you have the 90 crabitat set up now, right?? Are you using the humidifier for the new crabitat? mistking system is going to cost me $99.. and humidifier will be at least $20-35. i wonder which will allow me to crack the widest opening between the two? i want to be able to leave at least half of the tank with screen top, would it be asking too much though?

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 4:07 pm

I do have the 90 g set up. At this time I am not using anything but a spray bottle to occasionally spray the tank. I wanted to get everything settled and then see what the humidity stays at. At first the levels were great, but now I can already see that I will have to do something. It is not as bad as the other tank, because I am using a UTH instead of heat lamps, but it is still a little too dry.
I just looked at the mistking system and wow! I think I might have to spend $100

That system looks awesome!
You know, if you can afford it, I would go with it, instead of having to rig something yourself with a humidifier. This looks so much nicer.
I really am considering buying it later today!

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:15 pm

oh really??? let's try them together!! I tried to check out on mistking for their basic kit $99, but their shipping is a bit too much($29, flat). and also their nozzles are bit pricey too... I think i might go tiwht ProMist system($109, plus $14 shipping, with two nozzles), and get timer on amazon(cheaper too). I think mist system might work really well, because i notice crabs are so much active right after hand misting- omg I think this would be really awesome- just being able to leave out large portion open(half screen and half glass)!!

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:18 pm

promist system( http://www.pro-products.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=62)
their basic ones come with two nozzles... i browsed around, and supposedly, promist system is a bit more quieter, but mistking has better nozzles-(because they let you change the mist directions, etc etc), so it doesnt spray on front glass. I think i have to decide between the two-, what do you think???

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:31 pm

i loooove this natural look of terrariums in their gallery- maybe we can do little bit of tweaking, so we can have more surface area for crabbies to play? *thinking* *thinking*

check this out -http://www.mistking.com/pages.php?pageid=8

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:33 pm

I actually just got done rigging my old humidifier up again...
In the morning I will go to the hardware store and get longer tubing and a shelf to put everything on. When I get it all hooked up, I will post pics.
I looked at reviews of different mister systems and decided to save the money.
I cleaned my old one up really well, vinegar and all, to get rid of hard water deposits. I think I will also start using distilled water in it from now on.
I used to just use tap water (no chlorine, we are on a well), but why not be safe and try to prolong the life of the unit.
The timer is set to go off at intervals of three hours, for 15 minutes each. I will see how that works out.
Look for pics tomorrow!

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Sun Mar 21, 2010 6:43 pm

you are lucky you already have the humidifier! I dont currently have one, and if i were to buy one for $30 or so to get it, its probably better than I get one of these misting systems .....there goes my $100 bucks

only gripe is that I will have to get a wood canopy so I can have lights up, and mist system in it. wow, this really adds up!!!
I do have constnat humidity with two glass lids(80-90%), so maybe i can wait little bit before ordering. omg, you know I've already spent close to $150 ordering some supplies for crabitat, this will kill me!!
as I said, why do I always gotta *lookylooky*!!

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:20 am

If your humidity is that stable, I am not sure that I would even get a misting system. Mine was great at first, because the EE was still moist from soaking it before I set the tank up. Now it is starting to dry out, so the humidity is decreasing...
Can't wait to get the shelf today so everything can get set up.

curious_kitty · Post by **curious_kitty** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:56 am

unfortunately, its stable with daily hand misting..I missed that part out. i think it could because i have 50:50 EE to sand(maybe little more sand) mixture, but with heatpad, and strong lights on, i see it EE and sand drying out on the surface even with bubbler pools. I wonder if misting is worth spending the money on if one can keep up nice humidity with daily hand misting:? I just cannot justify spending the money for crabitat(heck, even my houseplants don't have any misting system).. or would it?!!!!!
right now I have two large tanks up and running now and one more that need to be set up, and its sorta getting out of hand(misting all of tanks daily)
please tell me this is not an overkill, i need a good reason for spending the money for my sheer laziness

aquav · Post by **aquav** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 10:27 am

I say get it, if you have the money. I am all for making everything as easy as possible. It helps if you travel for example and someone else has to watch your herms. If everything is automated, it will be a lot easier to find someone to watch them for you.

Here are links to the pics of my contraption. Not the most stylish, but it works really well.

http://img708.imageshack.us/i/dsc02453f.jpg/
http://img175.imageshack.us/i/dsc02454l.jpg/