Problems with stable humidity with UV light

lessthansign3 · Post by **lessthansign3** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:24 pm

I never had problems with humidity when I had a glass lid. Life was so much easier!

Then I got strawberries last year, and switched over to a UV bulb to make them happy and healthy. Now, I have to use a mesh lid, and while I do cover the open part with saran wrap, the other part where the light is located is open and there are even some holes. I know some holes are fine, the crabs do need to breathe, but it seems almost too much because I can never keep good humidity.

I've tried everything - I've got bubbler pools, but they don't seem to help. The water evaporates quickly. I've got a moss pit, but the moss dries quickly. I mist, but the substrate still dries out. I took away one of my small under tank heater mats, because my heat was pretty high (85 degrees) and the corner it was in was becoming bone dry. Now the tank is around 80 degrees but it's still drying out too fast.

I'm not sure what else to do here... I've had this set up for nearly a year now, but the fluctuations have been bad for the crabs. I've lost one strawberry and my little PP. I've also got some crabs (a viola and another straw) that have buried under that I haven't seen in quite some time and I'm getting worried about.

Do I just need more saran wrap? Should I get a smaller UV bulb? I was using the 10.0 reptisun, to compensate for the mesh lid, but perhaps a 5.0 would be more suitable? It's about time to change the bulb anyway, as they need to be changed yearly.

Let me know what everyone thinks. I'd like to keep my little crabbies happy and healthy :crabbigsmile:

CallaLily · Post by **CallaLily** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 2:48 pm

I was battling humidity earlier this winter for similar reasons. In my one tank I hooked up a humidifier and problem's solved. In the other, I went over the lid very carefully with a cut up shower liner and aluminum foil - the only places uncovered are directly under the lights. Humidity is good now with only some misting. I do plan to pick up another humidifier for that tank just because it's working so well with the other. This is the humidifier I'm using, piped in with some leftover tubing my husband had from the pond. I wish I had done this from the get-go!

Edit: I also use the 10.0 uvb because the screen blocks out a lot.

lessthansign3 · Post by **lessthansign3** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 4:39 pm

Hmm, I may have to pick one of those up. In the meantime, I've tried adding more moss and super saran wrapping the top of the tank. Like, I've got pretty much the entire top covered, except the very front edge where the light rests. Lots of saran wrap was used. I refilled the pools, made sure everything is bubbling, remoistened some of the substrate that had dried out, and now things are nice and humid again, but we'll see if it lasts.

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:19 pm

Because of the giant vent where the UVB light sits, you will have to do regular upkeep by adding in moisture to replace what is being lost. That's normal, especially in winter when there is heating that causes dry air. I have my big tank sealed as tight as possible and I still gave to pump nearly a gallon of water in daily via a humidifier to keep it humid and the substrate moist.

TheLilMommaB · Post by **TheLilMommaB** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 5:42 pm

Has anyone tried using just the heat mats and plain uv bulbs that give of no heat? That's what I was thinking of trying.

Stay at home mommy to 4 kids (Ana 11, Joseph 10, Alizabeth 6, and Christian 2) 11 purple pincher hermit crabs, 8 cats, 6 guppies, 2 little molly fish, 3 ferrets, 2 parrakets, 2 Oscars, 1 red eared slider, 1 cockatiel, 1 goldfish, 1 veiled chameleon, and 1 bone headed pittbull. And working with The Mid Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Association to become a slider foster.

Post by **wodesorel** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:02 pm

UVB doesn't give off heat, unless you buy the super expensive combo heating & CFL units. Basic UVB is like like a regular florescent strip light or screw in CFL - it'll put out maybe a few degrees at most, not enough to affect the temps or help with heating.

The problem is that the UVB light waves can't penetrate through glass or plastic, and even the metal screen lids filters out a heavy amount, so there needs to be nothing or practically nothing between the light and the crabs. That can be a problem when you're trying to keep 80% humidity in the tank and it's 30% (or much less) outside of the tank thanks to a furnace drying the air out. There's no easy fix for using UVB with crabs.

rml6f4 · Post by **rml6f4** » Fri Jan 23, 2015 9:08 pm

I also took the humidifier route. I don't have to run it often for my tank yet, but if you needed it frequently a timer would be helpful.

lessthansign3 · Post by **lessthansign3** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 2:36 pm

rml6f4 wrote:I also took the humidifier route. I don't have to run it often for my tank yet, but if you needed it frequently a timer would be helpful.

Oh, that looks perfect! I've seen that humidifier at Target. Where did you get the tubing and how do you have it attached? I think I may have found my solution

rml6f4 · Post by **rml6f4** » Sat Jan 24, 2015 4:50 pm

lessthansign3 wrote: Oh, that looks perfect! I've seen that humidifier at Target. Where did you get the tubing and how do you have it attached? I think I may have found my solution

I bought the humidifier off of eBay for about $20 including shipping. The white teardrop top pops off so I took it to Walmart and found a flexible funnel in the autos section that fit snuggly into the top for about 50 cents (this is it http://www.farmandfleet.com/m/products/ ... dUaUAjQand) and just cut the end of the funnel off (that's the red thing sticking up in my picture).

I took the red funnel to Lowes and found clear tubing that fit over it and they cut a 7.5 foot piece for me. I'm bad at guessing sizes so taking pieces to the stores was the easiest way to know I was getting the right things.

You'll have to tape the white humidifier top down since the pressure will pop it off but I like this set up because it's easy to just take the tubing off and use the humidifier for myself too. And it was relatively cheap to put together.

lessthansign3 · Post by **lessthansign3** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:14 pm

rml6f4 wrote: I bought the humidifier off of eBay for about $20 including shipping. The white teardrop top pops off so I took it to Walmart and found a flexible funnel in the autos section that fit snuggly into the top for about 50 cents (this is it http://www.farmandfleet.com/m/products/ ... dUaUAjQand) and just cut the end of the funnel off (that's the red thing sticking up in my picture).

I took the red funnel to Lowes and found clear tubing that fit over it and they cut a 7.5 foot piece for me. I'm bad at guessing sizes so taking pieces to the stores was the easiest way to know I was getting the right things.

You'll have to tape the white humidifier top down since the pressure will pop it off but I like this set up because it's easy to just take the tubing off and use the humidifier for myself too. And it was relatively cheap to put together.

You are fantastic!

Once I start my new job and get a paycheck or two, I'm going to set one of these up. Such a simple solution!

rml6f4 · Post by **rml6f4** » Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:42 am

Yay! I hope it solves your humidity issue!

HCA: Hermit Crab Association