Fungus Maximus
05-07-2008, 01:55 AM
:D Hi everyone, I had been searching for a reliable way to humidify small chambers at a reasonable cost and frankly there was nothing I could find that I would deem reliable for the amount of money it cost. I had had several expensive ultrasonics fail time after time, once I had glued the vents shut in the top and made the hole for the hose, it was pretty much non returnable at that point.
Perlite has always been there for me though, thank goodness, along with hand spraying the old fashioned way, hey we do what we have to right? Then I saw a neat little contraption called the tropicaire designed more for reptiles, however one look at the picture and it gave me the idea to redesign it for my own personal use.
This is what I did and the results were absolutly amazing, awesome, better than I had ever hoped for, I was elated because I never had the original or saw one in person, I went strictly from pics and it worked really well. Anyways the following is a detailed instruction on how to make this amazing yet simple and truly effective device.
I will just tell you what I used, this thing is like a recipe, you can add to it, or take away, meaning you can go bigger but smaller would suit most probably.
I got the following list of supplies from Wal-Mart;
1 gallon sized clear rubbermaid hard plastic jar
2 packs of big rectangular sponges (2 per pack)
1 roll of fish aquarium tubing
2 small blue bubbler stones
1 aquarium air pump
1 Plastic Denture basket
From the Hardware store I bought 5 feet of clear 1/2 od clear tubing and a roll of black electrical tape
Next you will need to have access to any ONE of the following:
A small propane torch-a gas stove top-a butane torch lighter
Using a bolt or any other metal round object that can be heated and used to melt plastic, make the appropriate sized hole for the size hose you are working on, there will be two different sizes of holes you will need to make.
The first 2 holes I made were for the half inch tube, the first was in the lid of the rubbermaid jar, right in the center, the second was in the top center of this specific chamber.
The next 2 holes were smaller, they were made in the side of the plastic jar where it angles slightly, one across from the other, these were for the air lines.
I bought a denture bath and the basket inside it was the exact height needed for the sponge stopper, I put it inside the jar as a stopper so my sponges did not fall down inside the jar.
Next I put the airstones in and connected the hoses again, I made a mistake and got the bolt too hot, I made the hole too big and used black tape to seal it up.
Next I took 3 sponges and squeezed them inside very carefully pushing down until they were even with the top of the jar but sealing the entire opening with sponge.
Then I connected the 1/2 inch hose to the top of the jar lid and the end of the chamber
Then I put spring water into the jar until its a little ways above the bottom of the sponges and turn on the aquarium pump
I added two trays of perlite and combined am able to maintain 92% and am getting better pins and flushes than ever
Thats it!!!!!!!! I hope I was clear on how this works, if not PM or e-mail me and I will answer any questions
Perlite has always been there for me though, thank goodness, along with hand spraying the old fashioned way, hey we do what we have to right? Then I saw a neat little contraption called the tropicaire designed more for reptiles, however one look at the picture and it gave me the idea to redesign it for my own personal use.
This is what I did and the results were absolutly amazing, awesome, better than I had ever hoped for, I was elated because I never had the original or saw one in person, I went strictly from pics and it worked really well. Anyways the following is a detailed instruction on how to make this amazing yet simple and truly effective device.
I will just tell you what I used, this thing is like a recipe, you can add to it, or take away, meaning you can go bigger but smaller would suit most probably.
I got the following list of supplies from Wal-Mart;
1 gallon sized clear rubbermaid hard plastic jar
2 packs of big rectangular sponges (2 per pack)
1 roll of fish aquarium tubing
2 small blue bubbler stones
1 aquarium air pump
1 Plastic Denture basket
From the Hardware store I bought 5 feet of clear 1/2 od clear tubing and a roll of black electrical tape
Next you will need to have access to any ONE of the following:
A small propane torch-a gas stove top-a butane torch lighter
Using a bolt or any other metal round object that can be heated and used to melt plastic, make the appropriate sized hole for the size hose you are working on, there will be two different sizes of holes you will need to make.
The first 2 holes I made were for the half inch tube, the first was in the lid of the rubbermaid jar, right in the center, the second was in the top center of this specific chamber.
The next 2 holes were smaller, they were made in the side of the plastic jar where it angles slightly, one across from the other, these were for the air lines.
I bought a denture bath and the basket inside it was the exact height needed for the sponge stopper, I put it inside the jar as a stopper so my sponges did not fall down inside the jar.
Next I put the airstones in and connected the hoses again, I made a mistake and got the bolt too hot, I made the hole too big and used black tape to seal it up.
Next I took 3 sponges and squeezed them inside very carefully pushing down until they were even with the top of the jar but sealing the entire opening with sponge.
Then I connected the 1/2 inch hose to the top of the jar lid and the end of the chamber
Then I put spring water into the jar until its a little ways above the bottom of the sponges and turn on the aquarium pump
I added two trays of perlite and combined am able to maintain 92% and am getting better pins and flushes than ever
Thats it!!!!!!!! I hope I was clear on how this works, if not PM or e-mail me and I will answer any questions