lowered hunidity for terrariums.

[uphwiz]

OK
So i have a few questions about lowering the humidity , in my terrariums .
I've noticed in several posts warnings about starting molds, fungi, plant diseases , and other problems with too much humidity in the enclosed spaces a terrarium creates.
I'm thinking on removing the fogger altogether, now that the misting system is in place and seems to be working well.
The problem is that over the past few days , when I've tried simply turning the fogger off, my humidity drops to the 40 percent range, even with the mister going on 4 times a day at about 3 hour intervals for 1 min duration, after the lights are on, and about 1 1/2 hours before they go off.
I have fairly good air movement via a tube from my worthless humidifier (puts out nothing but air)
very little humidity.
To whom
If the terrarium is fairly sealed, wouldn't the trapped humidity be enough to keep the plants happy? The heliamphoras are in the mists direct path, so they will get plenty water and not go dry, in fact I'm pretty sure nothing will go dry. And if they seem a little dry couldn't I add a couple more misting cycles .
This is just an experiment, and I'll consider all advise , especially from those of you who have grown, and are growing successfully in terrariums, and have for a while .
Thank you ever one ,with any advise

 

[Exo]

What kind "worthless humidifier" do you use?

Considering what you have said, it sounds like the misting system wasn't neccessary.

 

[swords]

If the air in your terrarium is moving/circulating it's less likely to allow molds to grow, it doesn't have to be blasting around but even a small PC fan blowing over the top vent should be enough to stir the air. Slightly drier conditions also helps prevent molds but some times drier is unacceptable. But warm with stagnant trapped air is the best way to grow fungi.

When the mister comes on is there anything that can retain the moisture or is there only plants in pots? If you put a layer of LFS under the pots and/or cut a sheet of coco fiber pot liner and cover the rear of the tank with it the mist has someplace to soak into and then evaporate off from, this should help supply you with a more continuous humidity inbetween misting sessions.

Have you tried cleaning your humidifiers disk? They will quit fogging if the element is chalky. Try dumping out the base and wiping the whole inside of the base down and then wiping the disk with some rubbing alcohol or vinegar on a Qtip cotton swab and see if that doesn't fix it up. They get icky after running for months/years at a stretch.

 

[uphwiz]

my humidifier is just the old school , pad to soak up water then air is drawn over the pad to produce the humidity,
but the pad never really soaks up enough water so the air is simply drawn through a dry filter pad.
I wanted the misting to help with the heliamphoras they like regular misting, and im not always available to do the misting by hand.
there is always an inch or two in the bottom of the terrarium.

---------- Post added at 09:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 PM ----------

Swords I do like the idea of something to help hold the water above the false bottom , but wont that create more places for invading organisms .
Just asking questions here to get the best results i can thanks guys , more , more , anyone else

 

[amphirion]

air circulation and ventilation are key to keeping fungi and mold at bay.

 

[swords]

If you have a false bottom reservoir I'm surprised that you'd have any humidity issues, that's the extent of how I kept my smaller LL Neps and they always had nice warm & sticky air. Just the 6x 40 watt NO flourescents heating the air in the tank and the reservoir water evaporating up between the pots. I only had a 2-3" strip of ventilation screen running the length of the back of the 75 gallon I kept them in and didn't have any fungus probs. Once I did try completely covering the tank and after a few days there was fungal "spider webs" over most of the pots, once I let the back have ventilation again (immediately) the fungus dried up and I never saw it again.

Ah, the "cool mist" humidifiers, they will work but if you're worried about vectors those pads get real nasty in time. I didn't have anything unintended grow on the coir pot liner pad, it never really stayed wet enough to grow molds. I did mount a few air plants and small orchids to it since I already misted it everyday or two.

This is probably just my bias talking but I think peat is one of the biggest vectors for these fungal invasions in a lot of terrariums. LFS and orchid bark/mulch seems not to be as prone to gross outbreaks of slime-molds, algaes, fungi, etc. as sphagnum peat does.

 

[uphwiz]

I dont have any mold problems as of now, but with the mister , and fogger running in an attempt to create as much humidity as possible , ie 80 percent + all the time I am afraid of the issues of molds fungi and the lot starting , and was wondering if i could safely let the humidity ride as it will through the day ,and stop trying to adjust the mister , and fogger timer for more humidity.
When I have turned the fogger off, the humidity drops to some very low #'s through the day:-( , so Im asking if that would be fine as long as I have the mister going in cycles, and the humidity does reach the upper 80 percents several times through the day , in the completely enclosed terrarium, just the one vent for the tube from the humidifier, some air does escape around the sliding doors ,over the tops and a bit at the ends.
thanks Swords for your advise