day time light killing humidity

[mm91187]

ok ive have had a pretty good tank setup so far. I have a UTH on the right side 24/7 (warm side) that stays about a 90-94F belly heat. in the middle i have a day light lamp(day time only then off at night) and another hide that stays about 80F (cool side), and to the left of all that I have the water bowl. my humidty is alright, usually around 50%, but I have to mist it alot(even with the mesh top covered) or I put a sponge in the corner and that keeps it around 50%. but misting and the sponge are a hassle, so I was wondering if I can change the day light bulb to a night time bulb, and keep it on 24/7. will the night bulb dry out the air like the day light bulb does, and will it keep keep the temps good?

[jglass38]

Glass tanks are terrible for keeping proper humidity. That said, what is the light for? Is it to boost temps? If not, its not necessary. But to answer the question, yes you could go to a red bulb but it is still going to put out heat and dry out the enclosure.

[gmmuscle91]

no matter what light u use, an over head lamp will dry the air out. besides, nighttime lamp wouldnt give it light because they cant see infared or blacklight.

i would say put your tank in a room near a window so it can get natural light.



Edit: must have been typing the same time as you jglass!

[JLC]

The tank doesn't even have to be "near" a window to experience a light cycle. Just the overhead light in the room is plenty suffecient.


I would ditch the overhead light unless it's critical in maintaining your temperature gradient. And if it's doing that, then what happens to your gradient at night when you turn the light off?

[cassandra]

We have had great success at keeping the humidity at 60% in a glass tank/screen top without misting at all (except during shed to boost it a bit). Have a look at this thread to see our set up and set up details.

[mm91187]

yea i have enough natural light in the room, i just had trouble keeping the temp on the cool side above 74F, but if the night light would be the same as far as humidty goes, i might get a night light just to keep the temp above 72F during day and night, and stick with the misting or the sponge for humidty. what do you think? i just need something to help boost temps on cool side during night

[cassandra]

i just need something to help boost temps on cool side during night

We have UTHs on both the warm side and cool side, each with their own Alife thermometers.

[JLC]

What kind of substrate are you using? I'm using that shredded coconut stuff, and if I mix in two small handfulls of moist, the humidity shoots up and stays up for several days. (This is in a currently empty tank, waiting for my new bp to get home!) I don't have a light at the top...but I bet this trick would help...maybe use 3 handfulls. (And mine are small girly hands. )

[mm91187]

cassandra I have the exact same water bowl as you have too! I think ill try moving my waterbowl back to the middle and get me a night light, and prolly just switch them out during night and day(or get another lamp like you did). also, how much did that plexyglass cover cost? right now im using wax paper to cover the mesh, looks tacky but it works.

EDIT- right now I have reptibark, but its pretty expensize so after a clean it ill prolly switch it to the bedashed/coconut brick stuff