DIY mister

[clockwork]

now i know this is more of a topic for a reptile forum, but i don't spend much time in those parts so i figure i might as well ask here as the concept includes a fish tank.

i have my 55 gallon vic tank right next to my 2 crested geckos. i have been thinking about setting up some sort of automated misting system using the aquarium as the water source.

i am aiming for 70% avg humidity through out the day, and i seem to maintain that with misting 2 or 3 times a day as it is. my question is this: would it be safe to use aquarium water as the reservoir source in my misting set up? based on the size of the tank and the way that it retains humidity, this would be something like a 1 cup of water every 2 or 3 days. this really wouldn't put much of a dent in the volume of the tank given the fact i do weekly or bi-monthly changes regularly. my concern is more to do with the quality of the water (and any diseases which may transfer between the species) than with actual volume loss.

beyond the safety aspect, does anyone have experience building homemade misters that could offer tips on how i could go about doing this?

thanks in advance for your input!

[Mmamnstr]

Cool idea! going to keep watching just for knowledge.. :thumbs:

[thegrandpoohbah]

Think about it this way: all that fish water is going to evaporate from your gecko enclosure. In that water is all the fish waste. Water evaporates but the other waste products won't. Over time, your gecko tank is gonna start to smell pretty bad. I'd stick to RO/DI water for any misting. It's clean and doesn't leave anything behind when it evaporates (including hard water spots, which is a bonus).

[Boom]

I would tend to agree with grandpoobah. I would use clean water to mist your reptilian friends. I used to have iguana's and bearded dragons and jst used tap water. I would worry about the accumulation of fish waste byproducts in the terrarium. You could still set up an auto mister, just don't use the tank as the resevoir.

Edited November 7, 2008 by Boom

[firestorm]

I would set up a separate bucket with water to do the auto misting. Don't think I would want to mist my gargoyle geckos cage with tank water. I can't see it being very healthy for them. And yeah it probably would emit a smell after a while.

[clockwork]

good point... never really considered that :S

too bad it isn't practical as it would be very convenient.

[Slough Shark]

Sounds like a cool project, remember to add pics

[TylerG]

I would recomend looking at mist king. I bought some parts from them and built a system using a 5 gal pail and keep it filled up with RO water. I drilled the sides of the pail for tubing and then one smaller one so that I would not have pressure issues. Have it on my crested gecko tank and have been using it for about a year and love it!