TropicAire Humidifier

[Drachenjager]

Bacteria

put a piece of silver in the water. if oyu use distilled water it will get enough disolved silver in it that bacteria dont stand a chance. use a pure silver ignot or wire

 

[bkirchner81]

awesome

:worship: :worship: :worship:

from the nuking, to the UV light possibility, to the silver- you guys are going medieval on the bacteria issue! :razz:

I had no idea this thread had been resurrected (twice!)

Drachenjager- are you saying that distilled water actually has silver in it? -For then I may not want to add any extra silver to the mix, let us know..

Mr. Short Radius- I have actually been running the humidifier a bit less than half the time now (partially due to reading that avics do really well without high humidity all the time.) Still I like to give mine a pretty high level on some days, like when he's close to molting- also I have a heat lamp that I must sometimes use and it will zap my humidity pretty good.

This thing really is great if you appreciate the ventilation it provides.


I'm going to go look for an inexpensive UV light option (like a travel toothbrush case or somethin)....



bk

 

[bkirchner81]

---also I'm not a big proponent of the "misting" devices- as many of them produce ultrasonic waves that may drive inverts mad....

although I'm not too certain about the effects of ultrasonic here- maybe someone will chime in with some factual info on that realm of things.

 

[LeilaNami]

would it be alright just to replace the sponge like in an aquarium filter?

How would you attach the UV lighting system to the humidifier?

 

[Varden]

I've got too many tanks to use one of those. Instead, we use a regular humidifier that we bought for $5 at Goodwill with a piece of silver in the bottom to keep the water fresh. We hooked ours up to a gauge so when the humidity falls below a certain point, it turns the humidifier on automatically. We've had five eggsacs in the last three weeks, so it must be doing something right. And the vibration seems to turn the Pokie males on. They start drumming like crazy everytime the humidifier kicks on.

 

[LeilaNami]

Okay this is what I learned today: :}

The polyurethane (i have no idea how to spell) that the sponge is made out of in the TropicAire humidifier is heat sensitive so boiling won't work. Another way to get rid of the bacteria culture is to soak the sponge in rubbing alcohol and let it dry out completely before replacing it in the humidifier.

 

[Rizzolo]

as for the UV - i think it is a special wavelength. you would have to check out the high end saltwater aquarium setups. i think they send the water through the UV gizmo on its way back to the tank. it is critical that you expose it properly: it must be close enough, probably can't go through some types of plastic or glass, has to expose for long enough. probably to tricky and expensive to be a good option, unless you are doing a big setup and know about this stuff.

i like the silver option!

 

[Tescos]

Sounds like yet another waste of money and expence to put in your tarantula cage.
Before you buy why not step back and ask yourself.
1. Does your spider really need this?
2. Is your spider thriveing with out this? If the answer is no then do you really think this will improve things no end?
3. Do you really want a higher eletric bill?
4. How on earth have you managed to keep spiders alive without this?
5. (and this is the most important) What else could you spend the money on which could be more fun and use to you like porn, beer or drugs.

 

[CedrikG]

5. (and this is the most important) What else could you spend the money on which could be more fun and use to you like porn, beer or drugs

I think that close up the discussion

 

[LeilaNami]

Sounds like yet another waste of money and expence to put in your tarantula cage.
Before you buy why not step back and ask yourself.
1. Does your spider really need this?
2. Is your spider thriveing with out this? If the answer is no then do you really think this will improve things no end?
3. Do you really want a higher eletric bill?
4. How on earth have you managed to keep spiders alive without this?
5. (and this is the most important) What else could you spend the money on which could be more fun and use to you like porn, beer or drugs.

1. It makes it easier on me to keep the humidity up
2. Haven't had the A. metallica without it. (The P. cavimanus is doing better with it however)
3. I'm not paying the bill
4. I had only rosies before the A. metallica
5. Porn is good. :razz:

 

[bkirchner81]

the vibration seems to turn the Pokie males on. They start drumming like crazy everytime the humidifier kicks on.

I wouldn't want that effect at all- I am anal about vibration messing with the activities of my avic. I have the air pump about 5 feet away, on the floor, partially encased in foam to reduce vibration. I also plan on making some foam grommets to place on the tubing to further eliminate any residual vibes- my avic needs all the silence he can get so he can "find prey" in the big bottle I keep him in.... ;P


LeilaNami- i would probably want to use the UV light on the tubing somehow to give the air going into the tank a healthy blast of UV (most likely the cheapest way to use UV, instead of attaching a big one or two to the humidifier case)- this obviously doesn't help with the sponge in the water- where I think the silver idea sounds best. (so far)

As far as the alcohol soaking- I would be extra careful about getting all of it to evaporate out of the sponge- the thought of introducing alcohol fumes into the spider tank is a little scary, but this would kill sponge bacteria for sure.

** Don't nuke or boil the Tropicaire sponge. Check. ** -thank you!

All I know is that I AM spongeworthy, are you?


Rizzolo- I believe you are probably right about the wavelength, as you would get no action from an ordinary UV houselight/bulb. If you are looking for exposure, something like this maybe? :

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=1349

^^^ this thing is designed for water to be pumped through and treated, but maybe you could just run your humidified air through it. The design seems to be geared toward lengthy exposure to the powerful light. Cost $90 though- so I keep an eye out for other options like maybe a $25 travel toothbrush case with UV. I dunno.

Lets keep discussing and brainstorming about this topic though, and maybe those who are too bored to offer good info/ideas can calmy exit out of the AB windows on their computer, and restore the porn to full screen.

 

[P.jasonius]

As for the sponge issue, the no nuking thing is a good point I hadn't thought of, but yes heating them can break loose carcinogens from their construction, causing unforeseen consequences to your inverts. This will happen on its own, without heat, as well. It will just take longer. One could purchase a natural sponge, I have some I bought from an art supplier for pretty cheap, you can nuke them. The sponge only has to cover the output line, so it doesn't have to be all that big. Did anyone look at the patent I posted... Do It Yourself!!!
Now, as for the UV lighting, if the UV has to be exposed through glass and LED setup could be constructed around a some kind of glass before the the misting tube. Sounds like alot of trouble...

 

[LeilaNami]

...I think I just might replace the sponge once a month as in a fish tank...either that or do the silver thing. I think a sponge might be cheaper though. You can buy a big cut-your-own filter sponge and cut it down to fit the humidifer. Only problem is you'd have to cut the original off. I guess you could tape it to the lid. Look! Duct tape has invert uses too! As for the silver, when should we replace the silver wire in the water?

 

[NeitherSparky]

I bought one of these for my ball python and never had any luck with it, even when sealing up the entire top of her tank. Never did a thing for the humidity. Plus she kept knocking the tube-thing about. But the folks over on ball-pythons.net love it, so it must just be me.

 

[funnylori]

I have one, and I know IHeartMantids bought one too. They were around $20 (Yikes!) at Petco, and a year and a half later they are sitting in drawers taking up space. These things rarely worked as promised for me. It was a cute idea though...
I was keeping avics in a dorm room and humidity was a huge issue for me. I had to completely cover the cage with plastic wrap before the humidity would rise, and then the avic would be in distress because of the lack of air ciruculation... I ended up with a mite explosion and two extremely stressed out avics that croaked because I couldn't control the environment at comfortable levels at all. And so went my first two tarantulas. Since then, I moved out of the dorms, and now I mist often, and use peat and vermiculite as substrate and chunky barkstuff underneath my mix to keep humidity right, the tops are always wide open and breezy for my buggers. Haven't had any issues since.

 

[bkirchner81]

yeah, well, I have no idea what was wrong with you guys' setups- but mine works GREAT!

I mean, something's missing here- you say you covered the lids with plastic wrap so the ventilation suffered? This device continually pumps air into your enclosures, thus forcing air out! :? It shouldnt matter- unless you ended your airline right next to a crack in your lid up top, blowing it right back out into the room....

Maybe it's because I have a smaller air pump, and adjust it so it only runs at about 20-30% capacity, but I can keep the RH around 85% with ease. -And this is in my giant applejuice bottle with over 100 air-holes drilled everywhere!
I do not use the diffuser-tube that they want you to put on the end- I just drilled a hole and plugged the tubing right into the bottle.

My ventilation couldn't be better. :razz:


My only reasoning of why you couldn't get humid air from this thing is that you had a powerful pump forcing air through it so fast that it can't humidify- that or the air-stone broke off when you werent looking!

 

[P.jasonius]

I'll second that, bkirchner81. I have a 18x18x36 inch enclosure, with a screen top! At any given time the humidity is btween 75-85. Granted, I made my own, but I can't see that much of a difference in design as I just reverse engineered the design in discussion.

 

[bkirchner81]

another bacteria-fighter..... it says 95% inert ingredients.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BRKYU8/103-0819497-7673458?v=glance&n=284507

Any alarms here, please sound. It's active ingreds are various chlorides- they can't total more than 5% for this brand, but it looks like you pour it right in the water.

There may be different kinds of this stuff, still lookin for other possibilities.


***also here's a thread from ball-pythons.net:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21429&page=1&pp=10&highlight=tropicaire


looks like an air stone in the water dish may be quite safe- but does it produce a high humidity level for the entire tank?

 

[prey]

sweet

I'm trying to keep a world of inverts in one room with more experience than anyone I know in person, but with *very* little experience relative to AB posters. I'm very, very interested and will purchase and test it to alleviate some of my 3x/day paranoid checking on every pet. I have leaned toward over-ventilation.

 

[Drachenjager]

:worship: :worship: :worship:

from the nuking, to the UV light possibility, to the silver- you guys are going medieval on the bacteria issue! :razz:

I had no idea this thread had been resurrected (twice!)

Drachenjager- are you saying that distilled water actually has silver in it? -For then I may not want to add any extra silver to the mix, let us know..


bk

No Distilled water should have nothing in it but Hydrogen and Oxygen. That is why if you put a piece of silver in it it will absorb the silver as it it the universal solvent.