Ultrasonic Mist Maker

[chumpy100]

Would it be a good idea to use one of these for like 5 minutes every few hours?

[Iceni]

I was looking at getting them too when i set up my new tank.

The only thing that put me off them is a thing the local petstore owner told me about them. Petstores tend not to stock them because of a reasonably high return rate. Hence the reason they sell pretty cheaply on ebay. If you get one off ebay check it first in a separate water supply. I'd be worried about cheap manufacture and a lack of guarantee. It's just a recipe for faulty electrics or seal issues.


They produce a cold mist. Unlike a steamer type fogger. There also pretty quiet. The diaphragm is liable to burn out if your water levels drop too low tho.

Personally after looking at the alternatives i have to say i like the home made waterfall more. But that's mainly because i have a very open tank and the waterfall produces less condensation on the inside of the tank.



I was also looking at getting one of the solar panel waterfalls. There's a few on ebay. If you could DIY the electrics a little there is plenty of opportunity for a self watering tank when the room gets brighter... You'd have to research these waterfalls tho as they may need direct 100% sun to switch on.




another alternative would be a rain effect tank. You need to have an all glass tank for this to work and not damage things over the long term But the looks of the overall effect are very rewarding. A small pond pump with a water reservoir connected to a shower head at the top of your tank can give great coverage for watering.






My final piece of advice would be which ever way you go remember that the mister is not designed to increase the humidity of an aquarium. It's a Piece of hardware for a short term effect in a pond or water bowl at Halloween. And as such there more along the lines of a Gimmick that a Long term solution. If you only want the mister for aesthetic then make sure you have a backup there as well. And if your using nothing but the mister keep a very beady eye on your humidity levels for a few weeks as the atomised water may simply not be enough for the tank.

[John]

That's a high quality response from Iceni who obviously knows what he's talking about. Personally I am not a fan of these things - I do it the old fashioned way with a hand sprayer bottle.

[chumpy100]

Thanks for the reply

another alternative would be a rain effect tank. You need to have an all glass tank for this to work and not damage things over the long term But the looks of the overall effect are very rewarding. A small pond pump with a water reservoir connected to a shower head at the top of your tank can give great coverage for watering.

i have all the parts for it but im worried about tank flooding even running it for 1min at a time, i think i need to build a false bottom

[Iceni]

It's just going to be a case of trial and improvement with the waterfall/ rain fall system.


My plans for setting it up were a pair of meshes. A load bearing heavy mesh on a stand system. With a fine substrate gauze on top.

With that in place i was probably going to use a cat litter tray or something similar to line the bottom of the tank. Provided the fine mesh is cut over size so it not only meets the edges of the tank but gets forced up by them it should keep the resovoir clean. It should also stop the frogs been able to get into the resovoir.

Water should freely flow back into the reservoir. but you may need to remove the filter to get the pump to fit, the substrate will do a lot of the filtering with this setup anyway.