TropicAire Humidifier

bkirchner81 · Jul 14, 2006

google: Imagine Tropic Aire Humidifier

This. thing. is. OUTSTANDING!!

If you have a species that is naturally found in a tropical environment- this device is exactly what you need to HUMIDIFY and VENTILATE! :}

It's about $15 and you need an air pump. (it does not come with one)

You can adjust the amount of humidity being pumped in by how much water you fill it with. I keep mine almost full and the humidity in my avic's tank is a steady 80% with extremely good ventilation.

It claims one unit is enough to humidify a 55-gallon tank, so you could split the tubing into multiple supply lines and take care of many enclosures if you wish- you would just need an air pump that could handle it.

You can see in this diagram that an air stone and a large sponge are the main, active components- so in theory you could make one of these at home if you want.

--The only drawback I can find so far is the vibration from the air pump. You should try to isolate the pump from your tarantula as much as possible- I have mine on the floor about 6 feet away, also the Tropicaire unit is on the floor behind a nightstand. It stays out of veiw and hopefully loses some more vibration back there. The tube going into my enclosure is where my avic has made his newest web so I am thinkin I have eliminated most of it. I also watch him closely when i turn it on/off and he has yet to react or even twitch. I'm still going to make some soft foam bases for the unit and the pump

Cerbera · Jul 15, 2006

Oh now that DOES look funky, especially if you live over here in the UK, where normal humidity rarely exceeds 50% I'd sort the vibration by building a rubber lined box to put it in, or resting it on the foam pads that come with hard drives. Where do I get one, and how much again ? Good find, assuming you now are not inundated with thousands of replies telling you why its a bad idea

Otherwise :clap: :clap: :clap:

Cerbera · Jul 15, 2006

idea ?

and I've just had another thought ? If you got hold of some bigger tubing, such as that found in aquarium accessories, drilled loads of holes in it, and fixed THAT in the enclosure for the avics to web to, couldn't the pump's tubing go inside the larger, permanent one for easy removal /cleaning etc ? You'd need a 'bung-uppable' entrance hole blocker for little slings - any ideas ? And I mean, good, eloquent ideas, not 'tape over the end of it' etc !

bkirchner81 · Jul 16, 2006

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Not a bad idea at all- considering that your presumptions of the spider webbing around the tube would be correct:

^^^This is the tubing that comes with the humidifier (about 6mm). I just burned a good hole in the plastic. If I need to remove it for any reason I replace it with a very short length of the same tubing.

__________________

Heres the bottle cap at the top of my avic's tank. It has a blue plastic cigar tube stuck halfway through it..

I have highlighted the many holes- there are no holes in the cigar tube above the cap- I keep the bottom 1/3 of the tube filled with water and any evaporation will go into the bottle through the holes. This is very similar to the tube you describe. The cigar tube has a nice cap of it's own and you could attach the humidifier tubing to that.

It's quite hard to see- but both of the above pictures show webbing where my avic has made homes on both of these "humid" pieces.

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Cerbera · Jul 16, 2006

damn good idea, very well executed... nice 1...:clap:

Hedorah99 · Jul 17, 2006

They have sir pumps now that vibrate very little. they cost a little more but can be very powerful. Probably large enough to use a small bucket as the water resevoir and run multiple tube off of it to several tanks.

knightjar · Jul 17, 2006

Great idea!
I did a web search and couldn't find a Tropic Aire supplier in the UK, but I did find these instructions for a DIY humidifier along the same lines:

DIY Humidifier instructions

I think I might give it a go.

bkirchner81 · Jul 17, 2006

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excellent finds!! I will look into finding a nice, quiet pump.

And that DIY? -Very good, it even mentions using a sponge for more humidity.

-- Just make sure that the sponge is half-way submerged, with half above the waterline (capillary action will take care of the rest)

Also guys- use distilled or filtered water, or just keep an eye out for any trouble if you don't often replace the water.

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:worship:

knightjar · Jul 17, 2006

It occurs to me that this idea could be made to multitask if you added an aquarium heater to the reservoir. You then have a safely temperature-moderated heat source for your viv as well as the humidity.

Hell, you could add fish too and make a feature of it...

bkirchner81 · Jul 17, 2006

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^^^^ Humidity, ventilation, and heat all in ONE?????

BRILLIANT!
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:clap: :clap: :worship: :} :drool:

(don't drink six beers at the same time?).......

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IguanaMama · Jul 19, 2006

Those things are a breeding ground for bacteria.

Cerbera · Jul 19, 2006

IguanaMama said:
Those things are a breeding ground for bacteria.

What things ? heaters, or the combo of all 3 ?

IguanaMama · Jul 20, 2006

The humidfier. I was looking into getting one for my chameleon and after just a little research and some conversation with some pet store folk was convinced it was not good. Probably why they are only $15. Actually where I am, they were on clearance because they were crap. You get what you pay for. Besides, you really have to watch out for mold with constant high humidity, and mold is a quick killer for avics.

bkirchner81 · Jul 20, 2006

that is why I only have it running about half the time- I let the humidity decrease and then bring it back up- I don't know, kinda like the outside atmosphere.... a little..

Also I use distilled water and change it about twice a month.

I keep a very close eye on my setup- easy to do when you only have 1....

morg59jeep · Aug 18, 2006

if you use distilled water in this thing and put in a very small amount of hydrogen peroxide into the water it will keep the water fresh.

LeilaNami · Aug 19, 2006

I got the humidifier for my little A metallica. He keeps knocking the tubing off the wall of his tank though so I just let him be. But I do agree, it works great!

P.jasonius · Dec 9, 2006

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6431118.pdf
I did something very similar to this and then found the patent!!!
I used a one gallon pickle jar, with the large lid for maintenance. Put a filter down in it so the condensation wouldn't clog the line so much, though it still does.
Also, the heater idea inside the container doesn't work very well... Maybe if I insulated the jar and the line running to the container.
I must say, this works extremely well, as I have a 40 gal terrarium and have had difficulty maintaining a high humidity. It pumped the humidity up from 55-60 up to over 90. I had to uncover part of the screen to let some humidity out.

Mr Short Radius · Dec 9, 2006

bkirchner81 said:
that is why I only have it running about half the time- I let the humidity decrease and then bring it back up- I don't know, kinda like the outside atmosphere.... a little..

Also I use distilled water and change it about twice a month.

I keep a very close eye on my setup- easy to do when you only have 1....

I think half is even too much. Maybe 1/4 of the time is better. IMO of course. You need to give the environment time to completely dry before the next cycle. But of course it all depends on many factors. Such as the counter-acting surrounding temps and humidity, ventilation, use of heating element, heating element control, lighting, and species housed. I think it's a good idea if done properly because I like to get away with as much ventilation as possable with maintaining proper humidity levels.

LeilaNami · Dec 9, 2006

I've absolutely no problem with mold and I keep it running 24/7 but I let the water evaporate until the lowest level before refilling it.

Rizzolo · Dec 10, 2006

nuke the sponge

it seems that the sponge is where the bad stuff will grow, and possibly in the tubing. i nuke my kitchen sponges periodically for a minute at a time to kill off whatever might be growing. if you use a sponge that can tolerate this and do it every few days, then you should prevent the problem.

i agree that the bacteria growth is a serious threat. it's just a matter of time: russian roulette. you may get away with it for months, but eventually someone is going to lose some Ts because of this. the testimonials are just anecdotal evidence. i think it is a great idea, but you need to eliminate the bacteria threat. maybe setut a mister to fog into a big bottle (two liter should do) and then pump the air through, that way you don't have anything in the bottle as a medium for the bacteria growth. might not saturate the air as well, but should do nearly as well.

or you could try to run your tubes through an ultra violet aquarium water sterilizer heheheh!

cool idea!! especially for the avics.

TropicAire Humidifier

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