Help with the homemade humidifer on this site?

[squale]

I built the homemade humidifier that this site has details on and I have the little tube in my Animal Plastics T3 cage. It has been running for about 5 days straight now and the humidity only increases about 5-10%. It is currently about 35-40% humidify, nothing really special. Is there a way to make this humidifer work better? I have a 60 gallon aquarium rated air pump so I believe the air pump is well big enough. Maybe I need bigger hoses? I am using the standard fish tank hoses that fit the air pump..

[lurch]

I built the homemade humidifer and it didn't help much either. I want to try next is buying a ultrasonic humidifer at wal-mart and plumbing it up with pvc pipe and a timer. I heard people have great success humidifying multiable enclosures with just one humidifer that way.

[squale]

you know what I think it might be, I noticed that the water level in the 1-gallon jug has only gone down about 2 inches in like 5 straight days of running, so I don't think that much water really evaporates into the air with this setup..

[Wild Bill]

Do you have a picture of the setup?

[Smulkin]

Have you checked your seals?

What gage tubing are you using and what is the pump rated for?

Worked almost more than I wanted it to when I was running it.

[squale]

no not right now, but it basically looks identical to the article on this site, only difference is I am using a 1 gallon round juice container instead of the 1/2 gallon gatorade bottle they use on the directions, I don't think a bigger container should have any negative effect, I would think the more the water in the container the more the humid air will be..

[Wild Bill]

I used to run one that worked quite well. It sounds like you are not getting enough air flow, but without seeing the setup I would be guessing.

[squale]

I am using a 60 gallon pump the Whisper 60 here: http://www.tetra-fish.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=67

the tubing is the stuff they use for the pumps.. the standard tubing that fits the air pump, it's pretty small and flexible, I would say the outside diameter of the tubing is 1/4". It's standard aquarium air tubing. My seals are all good, I double checked that, and I put a big layer of hot glue all around the seals so that's fine I am sure. Plus I can feel air coming out of the tube that goes into the cage... it's not a very powerful blowing, but it certainly does blow out, and if you put your finger over the tube end you can hear the air backing up and then when you release your finger the air will come out much harder for a few seconds, sorta like the same thing as if you stop a hose from spraying and then release your hand, the water comes flying out much faster for a few seconds..

I just think that there isn't enough water evaporting into the air inside the bottle, as I said before the water level only went down about 2 inches in the 1-gallon bottle over a 5 day straight period of running 24/7... at this rate, I wouldn't have to fill the 1-gallon bottle up again probably not for another month or so.

Now in comparrision my room humidifier can suck through 2-gallons of water in one day, so I know that's much more efficient but I don't like the idea of blowing a room humdifider on my cage plus there is no way for that humid air to really get inside the cage from blowing on the outside of it..

as for my tubing hose lengths, I have about 1.5 feet of hose going from the air pump to the bottle, then from the bottle to the cage is probably about 4 feet long.

[Jeanne]

Try warming the water in the home made humidifier......

A home humidifier works cause it is warming the water to make steam... causing humidity in the air.... ok I think I explained it right, I know what I am tryin to say.....

[squale]

no I don't think warming the water is really going to do much righ tnow, plus I have no way to keep the water warm, my ambient air temp in my room is like 63-67 degrees so the warm water will cool off quickly anyhow..

I don't see how I am not getting enough airflow, the water inside the bottle is bubbling quite well and I can see dew all over the inside of the bottle..

I just don't think enough water is evaporting into the air inside the bottle and thus the air coming out of the tube and into the cage is not really all that saturated with water...

I was thinking mabye I should try thicker tubing, but I don't know if that will even make a difference or not