29 Gallon Viv with humidity problems! Help!

[taipan]

The following might help raising humidity in a tank with covers.

I was reading an article on another forum ( Welcome to Crypt Garden... ) on how to raise humidity in an aquarium containing plants of the Genus Cryptocoryne's. This guy used a water bottle with an airhose connected to an airstone ( and small aquarium air pump at the other end )& placed through the lid of the bottle. There was also an outlet on the side of the bottle with more airline leading to his tank. The bottle was filled with water ( till just below the outlet ) & sponge was put in the bottle. The idea being that the bubbles given of by the airstone would produce moisture saturated air. This air would than leave the container & go into the tank. I might try this on my GTP cage as a trial.
( if interested go to Welcome to Crypt Garden... - forums - cryptgarden - "creating high humidity " )

[froggsong]

I have glass bottles inside my dragon tank for nearly the same purpose... Only thing is, when I set it up, I forgot to put the airstones in, lol... Sooooo all I have is water filled bottles that do basically nothing... When I redo it, I'll put the airstones in. I'll post how well it works when I get it done.

[taipan]

Hi froggsong
I'd try plastic so you can seal the inlet & have an outlet on the side ( & seal that too) this way you can - to a degree control the amount of saturated air leaving the bottle. Also you can leave the bottle outside the cage & just run the airline into it without cluttering the cage with bottles.

[froggsong]

Originally Posted by taipan

Hi froggsong
I'd try plastic so you can seal the inlet & have an outlet on the side ( & seal that too) this way you can - to a degree control the amount of saturated air leaving the bottle. Also you can leave the bottle outside the cage & just run the airline into it without cluttering the cage with bottles.

I didn't mean that I have it set up the same exact way. My bottles are actually part of the cage design. There are two bottles half way buried in the substrate, and there is one of those fake, flexible vines that goes between them, with the ends of the vines in the tops of the bottles. I was planning on using one of those small airstones in each bottle, with the line running into the top, and the bubble stone in the water. The bubbles would makes it more humid in the tank, just like having water from a filter, water feature, etc. hitting the water does. I think this should work just fine. Having a bubble stone in my newt's paludarium raises the humidity in her enclosure, as well as adding oxygen to the water. Since the bottles are already part of the cage design, they will not clutter the cage. Even adding a bubble stone to an existing area of water will increase the humidity, as well as keep the water from stagnating.

If I can get some proper glass cutting bits, I might cut holes in the bottom of the bottles so the tubing can be hidden, but I'm not sure if I'll have the bits when I redo the tank this time. I'd like to get them, because I would like to cut a hole in the bottom of the tank so that I can use a sump.

Another way to increase humidity is to have water running down one wall of the tank, it also looks nice. I am probably going to do that in my frog tank, as soon as I get a pump for it. There are lots of easy ways to set that up.

[Pavel]

I'm really amazed you're humidity is that low.

Any material that increases the surface area for a film of water to spread over (lava rock, UNGLAZED terra cotta pots, puffed clay aggregates, fibrous materials like matting) will increase evaporation and therefore relative humidity.

I've never read anything about plexiglass blocking UV ... to satisfy my curiousity I'll have to remember to research tha later. (I would, however, be concerned about the light melting the plexiglass if the light also produces a lot of heat.) Now glass on the other hand does block UV rays.

[mreynolds55]

Some UV is bocked by plexi but not nearly as much as the 95% blocked by standard glass. There are dyes in even "clear" plexi that block some UV. You'd really have to test individual manufactures, different UV wavelengths, on and on blah blah to answer this.
BUT , back to the original question, & the last responder, w/ your described setup there is no way you humidity should be that low!
CHECK YOUR HYGROMETER, use the test I mentioned before-Google "calibrate hygrometer!