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the best humidity device
- Thread starter peanuts1gang
- Start date
first: what are you growing? keeping high humidity is only an issue for neps, heli's, a handful of Drosera and a handfull of Utrics require constant high humidity.
most Drosera, Utrics, VFT's, Sarrs and a handful of neps dont need high humidity. infact most can handlee humidity as low as 20%, ive even had Nepenthes x ventrata pitcher in that low, though most of my other neps are MUCH fussier.
however in a small aquarium type set up in order to keep the humidity up i would leav the top about 75% covered(this depends on where your at, more coverage if your in Pheonix, less on th gulf coast) and use an air pump designed for fish tanks and keep a few inches of water in the bottom of the tank with the air pump going to an air stone sitting in the water. the down side is that it wont work if you have to skip town for more than a day or so as it will evaporate the water fairly quick. or you could run it to a timer to kick on for 10 minuts every hour or something like that. prolly wont need a pump stronger than one designed for 10-15 gallon tanks. now i havent done this setup myself but there is no reason it wont work and have been thinking of using it for Heli's and epiphytic Utrics
most Drosera, Utrics, VFT's, Sarrs and a handful of neps dont need high humidity. infact most can handlee humidity as low as 20%, ive even had Nepenthes x ventrata pitcher in that low, though most of my other neps are MUCH fussier.
however in a small aquarium type set up in order to keep the humidity up i would leav the top about 75% covered(this depends on where your at, more coverage if your in Pheonix, less on th gulf coast) and use an air pump designed for fish tanks and keep a few inches of water in the bottom of the tank with the air pump going to an air stone sitting in the water. the down side is that it wont work if you have to skip town for more than a day or so as it will evaporate the water fairly quick. or you could run it to a timer to kick on for 10 minuts every hour or something like that. prolly wont need a pump stronger than one designed for 10-15 gallon tanks. now i havent done this setup myself but there is no reason it wont work and have been thinking of using it for Heli's and epiphytic Utrics
My Setup: I have a small PC fan inside a 20gal long tank with the lights (80W cool white fluorescent tubes) over the cover. Within the tank, plants are in separate pots and there is live LFS between the pots--the LFS is kept constantly swampy. There is a digital temperature/humidity recorder in the corner.
Function: The lights heat up the terrarium which evaporates some of the water and the cover keeps the humidity from escaping. The PC fan circulates the air.
What I just described is an enclosed terrarium. Advantages include higher humidity (necessary for some CPs). Disadvantages include the potential for poor air circulation (increases fungal infections) and higher temperatures.
The alternative is an open terrarium where there is no cover or a partial cover. The pros and cons of this setup are vice-versa that of the enclosed terrarium.
Realize that most CPs do not require high humidity to do well; thus, an enclosed terrrarium is not necessary to keep most CPs healthy and unless you have a great enclosed setup, many will actually do better outside a terrarium. I grow my heliamphora, a few small nepenthes, and a few species of drosera in my terrarium--all my other CPs are on growracks.
Hope this answers your questions.
Function: The lights heat up the terrarium which evaporates some of the water and the cover keeps the humidity from escaping. The PC fan circulates the air.
What I just described is an enclosed terrarium. Advantages include higher humidity (necessary for some CPs). Disadvantages include the potential for poor air circulation (increases fungal infections) and higher temperatures.
The alternative is an open terrarium where there is no cover or a partial cover. The pros and cons of this setup are vice-versa that of the enclosed terrarium.
Realize that most CPs do not require high humidity to do well; thus, an enclosed terrrarium is not necessary to keep most CPs healthy and unless you have a great enclosed setup, many will actually do better outside a terrarium. I grow my heliamphora, a few small nepenthes, and a few species of drosera in my terrarium--all my other CPs are on growracks.
Hope this answers your questions.
