mister or fogger?

[ChrissyBee]

I've been having a lot of trouble maintaining the humidity in my pacman frog vivarium and I think it's time I invest in some equipment. Up to now I"ve just been misting daily with a bottle but that's not cutting it.

My question is which is better, a fogger or mister? Ideally I don't want to have this going all the time. The frog tank is in the room next to our bedroom so if it makes noise that could get annoying in the night.

I know that the zoo med mister can be set to go off at intervals, which is appealing but I'm not sure it would do the job. Alternately I could set a fogger on a timer. Thoughts? Thanks

[Adoptedtwins]

Anything that can be plugged into an outlet can be set to a timer. I have timers plugged into the wall for lights, heating pads, monsoon, etc. If you're worried about hearing a monsoon, a timer is an option for you to consider. I do it for convenience. I've owned the Exo Terra RX400 monsoon mister over one year and have been pleased with it. I follow the instructions and put distilled water in the reservoir, which holds about 2 gallons of water. The monsoon has two sprayers for my chameleon terrarium and one for my red eyed tree frog. Humidity is fantastic! I will tell you that it takes some tweaking to determine how often the monsoon needs to mist and for how long. Once you master that, it's all downhill from there!

[ChrissyBee]

Thanks for the suggestion, that sounds perfect. I also have a hermit crab in the same room who I'm sure would appreciate some misting too

[Mentat]

Many members use foggers made for human use sold at BB&B or a drugstore on a controller like the ExoTerra Hygrotherm. Can see one being used in here, starting on post no. 5: http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...e-machine.html.

If you want to go with a mister, my recommendation is to try the Mistking products: MistKing Misting Systems by Jungle Hobbies Ltd. Those are costlier; but a solid investment .

[ChrissyBee]

Thanks Carlos. I have all my lights on timers as well so that wouldn't be an issue. I was wondering if having a fogger or humidifier on a timer would be a bad thing as the humidity could rise/drop? I'd probably have it going when the lights were on but off at night. I know you can buy (fairly expensive) controllers that monitor the temp and humidity to shut equipment on/off but I'd prefer not to do that just yet.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I like controllers vrs timers for humidity controls.
Also misters are better for planted tanks than foggers.
Foggers will increase air humidity almost instantly.
whereas misters take a little bit longer and tend to over shoot the set point.
As the water droplets that land on surfaces that aren't permeable will let the water evaporate fairly quickly.
whereas permeable objects like substrate , unsealed wood and some rocks will soak water up and release it slowly
keeping the humidity steady.
That is why when I clean out my enclosure and moisten my substrate properly my fogger doesn't come on for days.
And by then I can see that almost 1/4in of substrate has dried and is a lighter color.
but the fogger shuts down after 30 seconds and then runs like every 2 hrs. 30 seconds at a time.

[DigitalPunk]

I personally use the MistKing setup. I love it!! As Carlos said it is well worth the investment. I have a ZooMed Hydrotherm but do not use it to control the humidity. Instead I use the KistKing seconds timer to turn the mister on and off in intervals throughout the day to keep the humidity in my Red-Eyed Leaf Frog terrarium where I want it.

I think as you will see from responses on your thread that there are several ways to go about increasing the humidity in your tank. I don't think there is one Right or wrong way to do it.

I do not like controllers for humidity unless you are using a fogger. My Hydrotherm swamped out my tank when I tried to use it to control the humidity. That is when I decided controlling the mister with the timer was the way to go.

[deranged chipmunk]

I use a combination of foggers and hand misting. I have used the monsoon, but went through 3 in a year, so I went back to hand misting. But I prefer a more hands on approach. I like being inside the tank every day. I do some maintenance, feed and then mist later.

[Mentat]

Thanks Carlos. I have all my lights on timers as well so that wouldn't be an issue. I was wondering if having a fogger or humidifier on a timer would be a bad thing as the humidity could rise/drop? I'd probably have it going when the lights were on but off at night. I know you can buy (fairly expensive) controllers that monitor the temp and humidity to shut equipment on/off but I'd prefer not to do that just yet.

Would not put either a fogger or mister on an external timer (unit specific like MistKings are OK). Controllers work OK with foggers; but can swamp a tank with misters due to reasons Louis and Paul explained on previous posts .

[ChrissyBee]

Thanks for all the info everyone, a big help for sure. I have a planted tank and from what everyone is saying I think I will go with a mister and set it to spray a few times a day. Shopping time!

[Bog Frog]

I just finished the wiring on a homemade humidity and temperature control setup. Well it's not quite that innovative. I bought a humidity sensor with relay that can be hooked up to an outlet. The sensor can be set to activate the outlet say if RH% gets less than 70%. A fogger or mister could easily be connected to that. I also setup a temperature controller as well that will turn on heat pads if the temp falls below a certain value or cool if goes too high. Apparently this sort of equipment is big in the home brew world and with cigar making folk who need exact temp and humidity conditions. I can post more details and photos if people are interested.

Still haven't set up my frog tank yet but the finishing touches to the equipment are nearly there

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

This engineer would love to see pictures, model numbers, schematics ect ect.

I am in the process of developing a new type of HVAC system that is 99% inside of the enclosure
and does not dry out the enclosure. ( unless you want it to. for desert conditions )
http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...stem-vivs.html

[ChrissyBee]

I'd be interested in seeing details for sure. I also have a thermostat for controlling the heating pads, but nothing for humidity control.

[Bog Frog]

Having some difficulty loading photos so bare with me.Humidifer: search for WH8040 humidifier on amazon. Costs about $30. The thermostat was the STC1000 and cost $20. The latter is used a lot by home brewers. The wiring took a little figuring out but I can clean up my diagram and post it for others to see. The test runs seem to indicate everything is in order; when the RH drops below 70% the device turns on an outlet which in turn powers a humidifier modified to be a fogger. Mist starts, humidity goes up and then machine turns off.