Do it yourself humidifier

Well, was looking at pictures of tropic aire reptile humidifiers..........
Decided to take a stab at putting an air pump that I had laying around to good use. Here's what I came up with in about 10 minutes for a humidifier anyone can make to use all the time, or as a shed helper.
https://ball-pythons.net/albums/albu..._017.sized.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/albums/albu..._018.sized.jpg
https://ball-pythons.net/albums/albu..._016.sized.jpg

Well, the captions didn't show up with the pics, but you get the idea. The pump is for 30 to 60 gallons, with bottle filled up halfway, humidity is around sixty. For more, fill bottle with more water. Hose from cap goes into tank. Silicone around drilled holes for seal. Airstone inside at bottom.

lol, looks like ummm.... drug paraphenelia.

LMAO! I thought so too! Reminds me of something I saw uh, um, in a magazine somewhere......cough,cough
But it works pretty swell. I knocked my water pump over and it drained the bowl right quick.......so I tried something else.
Have been running it for two hours now...........seems to have leveled out at 60. Was at 55, added two inches of water to bottle and now 60.
I like it! Adjustable and the only thing in the tank is a small hose taped to the corner making it nice and discreet. Of course the type of water reservoir you use is really up to you, the bottle was just handy. The real magic is in having a drill and glue gun. And a pump, naturally.

That's great man. It does look a lot like some paraphenalia. But I wouldn't know anything about that. Now all you need is somewhere to use duct tape and you are set.

Steelsack you are a genius, or just have an awfull lot of time on your hands..lol
That's great, I'm glad you got it to work, we have an old humidifier running in the kitchen by the frogs, works very well.
The temps and humidity in our big herp room stay pretty steady so we have lucked out
thanks
Rusty

Steel, if you'd like I can make that into html format and put it in the do it yourself section.

Yeah, you can do that if you would like. Can you use the pics and quotes from my album? The text with each pic explains a little better than above notes do. Thanks for the support, glad to share ideas!

You wanted duct tape? You got duct tape!
https://ball-pythons.net/albums/albu...FIER.sized.jpg[/quote]
Added a sponge to create a humidity holder inside of reservoir. Had to cut the side to get the sponge in, so there's some tape!
The sponge will absorb moisture thereby giving the air that gets pushed out the top a better chance to get super saturated.
I noticed that the tropic aire's have a sponge or some water absorbing fabric. Am also using warm water as the unit seems to hold the tank at 55ish. That's fine for normal times, but I'm trying to create something that I can adjust to accomodate shed time without having to spray! Trying to get everything down to a dimmer switch!

Ummm, cooks in the house? lol...

Hey, don't bogart that humidifer, dude! Pass it around!

:D

The duct tape is beautiful man! I am sure it is somewhat cheaper than the Tropic Aire humidifier. Plus I get to use duct tape. That alone is reason enough to make my own. Keep us posted, if you will, about a way to raise the humidity. Thanks,

Jeremy

You will have to pardon my ignorance here, but what is an air stone?

An airstone is one of those things you see at the end of the hose inside those tubes that run down into the gravel of most fish tanks. They are usually round and are like a cross between a rock and styrofoam. If you look carefully at the picture with the sponge in it, you can sort of see it in the bottom. They disperse the air much much better than a hose sticking in water. Plus it'll weigh the end down so it won't float up on ya. I got a packet of two from wal mart for 97 cents.
Am fiddling around with size of the exit hose. with a larger (1/4") hose than inlet hose, I gain 5% more humidity. This is due to the larger interior surface area of the hose. Less chance of drips as the air carries the humidity better than a narrower hose. The narrower the hose, the water molecules can "stick" together better and create bubbles and eventually drips from the end inside tank. Also the shorter the hose the better, so don't whack off a bunch and coil it up. Take just a little more than you need.
Am also getting ready to toy with the end inside of tank. Trying to decide if it's better to have just an end with air streaming out, or a plugged end and about four small holes spaced a few inches apart along the last 12 inches or so. Will post what I discover.
Why? Cause it's like -15 outside and TV rots your mind.

Quote:

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it's better to have just an end with air streaming out, or a plugged end and about four small holes spaced a few inches apart along the last 12 inches or so

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That and a slightly larger exit hose did the trick. Plug the end. Make small holes.
Xaero shed last night (I watched) and it was his best shed........ONE WHOLE PIECE. Eyecaps and all, what a beauty! Just wanted to share, I'm sure you all understand how satisfying it feels to see your efforts met with good results! :D

lol, i just read hoomi's reply to this... LMAO...

Well, I put together my own humidifier. It seems to be working pretty good. Have had the humidity at a consistant 50%. I've been experimenting a little to see if there is anything to improve upon. Thanks for the help Steelsack.

Doh! Guess I logged out somehow. Anyway, I made the last reply. But now this is the last reply, so, that would be the next to last reply. Son of a.....


Jeremy

LOL, Stay off the humidifier! It's for your SNAKE!

hey i just made one of those humidifiers and it seems to be working well i live up north and there isnt that much humidity this time of the year thanks for the help.

Hey Steelsack...
OK, just made the humidifier... what size tank are you using it in? I had a small pump like that hanging around, used a pop bottle too, but I got only 5-10% addition of humidity..could it be the pump is too small to make it work? Hmm, I am so confused on that, thats got to be the problem.

Maybe the hose is too small... Bigger hose might make more humidity, right?

The pump I'm using is designed for up to 60 gall. You need a big pump.
The tank my bp's in is a 30.
Where does the hose end up? If it's under a light, you'll lose the majority of the moisture right up the top. I put mine in the far end away from the light. Try a larger diameter for tank hose. I plugged the end with hot glue and made five tiny holes (think small hot nail or tiny drill bit) about one or two inches apart from each other from the end up. This spreads the air about better than an open ended hose. These two tricks combined should up your humidity.
If you can heat up the water bottle a bit. During shed I used hot water and kept the bottle in a thermal bottle holder I happened to have laying around. This works wonders! Down side is you need to keep rewarming the bottle every four hours or so......Am currently kicking around an idea I had to use a fish tank heater to somehow keep the water warmer than the room during these winter months. Perhaps a container inside a container.............
lol, whatever I MacGuiver together I'll post pics and give reports.........

To help in your heating the water thing... I tried inserting a fish tank heater and that was just more trouble then i twas worth in my opinion. I ended up getting another heating pad... one that had strings so you could like tie it around ir waist or somethin... and tied it to the 2 liter bottle I'm using. Works liek a charm. sure its wasting some of the heat it creates but it heated the water up nicely. Gave me another 5-7% humidity.

Great idea btw making that thing :) I used ur idea and it works great!

sweet! good to hear it works for you :wink:

I'm gonna add a second line into and out of the bottle... the pump I have has two air outputs that i have T'd together for now... but I'm gonna add a second bottle and a second line into one tank to see if it makes a difference.

I haven't added a sponge but I'll give that a shot later this week.

I put a sponge in mine cause I saw the tropic aire has one........makes minimal difference.
I also have a T on mine at the pump. I am using regular tank size tubing (1/8" ?) for the pump, and larger ( I think 1/4) tubing to the tank. Keeps steady.
Isn't tweaking fun?
Good idea to heat the water with a pad. We should have it all figured out for the end of winter when humidity is no longer a huge problem! Course where I am we still have until early May before we consider the snow gone for good..........
Winter till your mind snaps.......

HUmm... just got an idea about adding moisture... stay tuned :)

this thread is older than i am.

I made the humidifier but the silicone stuff i used must be weak because the air hose going in the side keeps leaking air so i tried starting over on a different bottle and i think it hasn't started leaking yet.... also, I can't seem to keep it lit... ;)

glue gun may work better for you...or different silicone.

:wink:

I've made a couple but had to go with the high-temp glue gun as nothing else quite seemd to cut it, and wound up using a small gatorade bottle and feeding the tubes through the top. Then get yourself a djeep lighter.