auto mister problems

[kwiky]

hi all, i have just got an auto mister/sprayer machine for my viv, the viv contains live plants (bromeliads, mosses ,ferns umbrella plants etc) and i have 2 boa constrictors, some red eye tree frogs and a few other things in it, it is 6ftx2ftx2ft, i have a thermal gradient of 30c to 25c and i have placed the mister at the cooler end as thats my most planted area and i dont want it to spray my ceramic heater, the thing is it isnt keeping my humidity as high as i would like, would it be better placed in the warmer end nearer the ceramic heater so that the water would evaporate quicker and raise the humidity or should i just use manual spraying from a bottle to keep the humidity up whilst using the auto system to water the plants???

[Marty]

Hi, I don't think you'll increase the humidity too much if your tank is well ventilated. To keep the humidity higher you have to reduce the amount of ventilation until you reach the desired humidity level. Also, you may want to increase the frequency with which you're spraying and reduce the time of actual spraying. ie. spray for 5 sec every 30 min. Best achieved with a repeat cycle timer. Not sure if you're using it or not.

Read the timer recommendation on MistKing if you don't have one: http://www.mistking.com/faq.html

[kwiky]

im spraying for 30 seconds every hour, but the spray rate is pretty low, its not hugely ventilated, just a meshed area of about 4 inches x6ft running along the back of the viv,
thanks for the link, i'll have a look and see about getting a better system as this one only sprays half of the viv

[Marty]

The meshed area might still be providing too much ventilation if your humidity drops too fast. Try using cling wrap to temporarily reduce the vents and see what the humidity does.

[kwiky]

thanks mate, i'll do that today and let you know what happens