Home-made Humidifier

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 12:09 pm

Last year PSUPrincess10 posted directions for a home made humidifier. I don't have the original post but thought I'd resurrect the idea for newer members.You need an aquarium pump, air tubing, air stone, some gravel or marbles and a vessel such as a bud vase or bottle to hold water.Attach one end of the tubing to the pump, put the air stone on the other and drop that end into the vase. Loosely fill the bottom with aquarium gravel to prevent the stone from floating up. Fill the vase with dechlorinated water and work it down into the substrate so it doesn't fall over. If there's any way your crabs can reach the top of the vase you should cover the neck with net or mesh to prevent accidents. Your pump will last longer if you set it around the height of your aquarium.

Willow · Post by **Willow** » Tue Nov 07, 2006 4:17 pm

I saw that idea.....but I don't have a spare vase, so I just stuck an airstone in an extra-small KK placed in the rear of the tank (where you can't see it), and that's working great so far. And I don't have to worry about hermies falling in, plus the KK already had a small hole specifically for airline tubing.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:28 pm

Well, I made one myself tonight. I used a short stout vase, a 4" airstone bar and rubber-banded a piece of mesh over the top to prevent accidents.I worked it into the sand near the driftwood. Inches away Bill slumbered in the shower caddy, buried in coconut fibers. Within a few minutes his shell stirred and a big pincher clamped the lip of the caddy. A minute later and the little pincher clamped it too and he pulled himself up out of the fiber.He popped his head up and just stayed like that holding on and looking very much like a dog in a window. Eventually he decided to get closer and check it out. I let the mesh reach the substrate in case anyone wanted to climb up. How you see him in the pic is how he's been for a good while now, just hanging like that watching it. Ya gotta wonder what goes through their heads. That's Baby near the base of it. She's not shy.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:00 pm

Yah, humidity stayed up overnight. Very cool. My humidity has been dropping to low 70 overnight lately and not only is it below their range, the fluctuations don't help them either but the moment I shut that light down it goes. I'd taken to keeping it on till after midnight, sometimes 2a.m. if I'm up and I'm sure that really screws with their little heads. Makes me glad I decided to heat the 72 with overhead light rather than UTH.This morning my humidity is at 76. Perfect. Could be higher but it will rise a little with the day time.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:13 am

Great post Crabby Abby.Simply crabtastic.I recently made a home-made humidifier. But mine is a little different. My version would be useful if you have little space in the tank for a bud vase or other container.I used a gatorade bottle and drilled two holes in the lid. One hole has a long piece of airline tubing that reaches almost to the bottom of the bottle. (Allow enough space for an airstoneto hang freely.) The other hole has a piece of tubing that is inserted about 1 1/2 inches into the bottle and then is fed into the crabitat. You have to seal the tubing into the lid with aquarium selant before use. Insert the tubing, apply sealant to one side, pull the tuning out about 1/8th inch in the opposite direction of the sealant, and then apply sealant to the other side of the lid. Repeat for the other tubing.Once the sealant is dry, attach an airstone to the longer tubing, fill the botttle 2/3 with dechlor water and attach the air-pump to the tubing with the airstone. Feed the tubing without an airstone into your crabitat and you are ready to go.My humidty does not get as low as it used to when my overhead lamp is on and my hermies seem a little more active.My humidity is fine when the light is off, so I have both on a wall timer and they come on at the same time. Now my hudity doesn't fluctuate as much as it used to.If anyone has any questions, let me know.Cheers and happy, healthy crabbies to all.

Crabby Abby · Post by **Crabby Abby** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:39 pm

Mine's been running just 24 hours now, so far so good and when I came in an hour ago all crabs except my molter were not only on the surface but right up next to it. It's not often I get them all out at the same time.Bill was hanging on the wood beside it as he did in yesterdays pic and Sport was sitting on top of it.

PSUPrncess10 · Post by **PSUPrncess10** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:19 am

Hey... thanks for reposting my idea and I'm glad it's working well for everyone! I haven't been on my animal forum sites in awhile as I've been really busy with my last year of college... I leave my humidifier running 24/7 (unless it gets really humid in the summer) and it works great... I like how everyone does little things to the idea to make it unique! When I have my humidifier in a place where the crabs can get on top of it, they like to sit there and empty their shells over it, hehe... it's like a crabby potty - I should make a sign "Deposit Crab Noodles Here"

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:09 am

I don't keep mine running all the time, as the humidity in my tank is usally around 90 when the light is off. I only use the humidifier to keep the humidity from dropping too low when the light is on.So far it has been working crabcessfully.My humidity doesn't get as low as it used to.Cheers.