[Steve Pituch]

Hi all,
I need a sprayer-atomizer-mister device for my 20 gallon aquatic emersed greenhouse. I have 2 giant airstones in there and the leaves still dry out. I have about 5 gallons of solution in the tank.

It has got to be very cheap. I know I could do it with a pump head for an undergravel filter but that would cost too much. I do have a decent air pump that is currently working.

I'm just wondering if I can use the air to pump the water to a mini spray nozzle.

Any design help or suggestions are appreciated.

Steve Pituch

 

[MiamiAG]

Steve,

Do you have a cover on the tank?

 

[Steve Pituch]

Hi Art,

It a 20 long. I haven't been able to buy the glass for a cover. But I am using Saran Wrap, I think successfully. The Saran Wrap is always covered with condensation as are the walls of the tank. I have the air stones right next to the plants. But the leaves look dry. No droplets on the leaves.

Its the morning now and the lights are off at night, and when I just checked there were droplets on the leaves. But during the day the relative humidity must change. The room goes up to about 80 degsF and 60% humidity. I haven't been able to get more than an 80% rel H reading in the greenhouse. It is during the day that the leaves dry out. Here are some pics.

This picture shows the wet leaves in the morning but they later dry out.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

In my dome outside I mist every other day or so. The plants have all seemed to adjust to being a little dry and everything is doing well.

 

[Gomer]

Steve, my outdoor emersed setup only gets misted 1x per week and is doing just fine. I bet it would be better daily, but I'm only there on weekends

As said, the leaves adapt. My leaves are always dry when I see them, but they are all nice and healthy.

 

[Daemonfly]

If you really want a cheap & decent mister, try the Exo-Terra Fogger. It has some pretty good reviews on the net, basically stating that it works quite well for only being ~$40

Petsmart has it online for $36.99 HERE, but their online prices are usually a few bucks cheaper than in-store.

 

[Steve Pituch]

Hi Daemonfly,

Looks like a good heavy duty device. However, I may bite the bullet and try to buy the cheapest smallest powerhaed I can find. and attach a spray nozzle to it. I will try to keep the cost down to $15.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Corigan]

Looks like a good heavy duty device. However, I may bite the bullet and try to buy the cheapest smallest powerhaed I can find. and attach a spray nozzle to it. I will try to keep the cost down to $15.

Hey Steve,

I wouldn't see why that powerhead on a UGF wouldn't work. I am curious to see what you come up with as I am looking to get into emmersed cultures here in the near future and will be on an extremely tight budget.

Matt

 

[gpodio]

I'm planning to use a fogger myself for a similar setup. On eBay you can get one cheaper, there are many, here's one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1285&item=4305874931&rd=1

Along with a sealed top as you have it I would think this would work well. Not sure on the lifespan of the disks however, I know some can be replaced others not.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio

 

[Daemonfly]

From what I remember, these disks can be replaced.

I was looking at them a few months ago when considering a small terarrium.

 

[Steve Pituch]

OK, let me look at the mini powerheads, and those submerged in-tank filters. I think the in-tank filters are not too powerful as I recall. I'll also look at Home Depot in the pond department. A pump designed to put water through an anemic little desktop fountain would work also.

Steve

 

[tropheusfreak]

I have a fogger that I would be willing to trade for plants. I used it once in a lizard cage and it splashed the water on the glass so I took it out. I think it would work great for your setup.


David

 

[scitz]

Check into the Habba-mist. Its an automatic water sprayer for reptile/amphibians. You can set it to spray for 5-30 seconds every 30,60min or once every 6 hours if i remember correctly.

Also I have seen plans on poison dart frog websites to use a t joint and a air hose to make a 'ghetto' sprayer.

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

Will that even work? I would think the air would just come out of both outlets and not mist anything. Am I missing something?

 

[Steve Pituch]

The ghetto sprayer looks cool. As the air goes over the center tee nozzle it creates a vacuum causing the water to be pulled through the one tube and into the other. Sort of like what happens with a "Python" hose. I don't know if there is enough air pressure to do it though.

scitz,
Do you have the web address of the poison dart frog site that had the plans?

Regards,
Steve Pituch

 

[Gomer]

that drawing IS the plans *L*

I have an extra Tee at home. I'll try with the little rena 50 pump. If that can do it, anything can *L*

 

[Jeff Kropp]

Do the little 1/8" spray nozzles that are used with irrigation systems work with a power head pump?
___
Jeff

 

[Steve Pituch]

I am going to pick a few of the irrigation nozzles up at Home depot and try it. The nozzles on spray cans do not work as they require a tremendous amount of pressure.

You may have to narrow down the tee fitting id to get the suction. I think its the bernoulli principle where the speeding up of the water though the restriction causes a pressure reduction.

Regards,
Steve

 

[Sir_BlackhOle]

I would be interested to see if this works out, keep us posted

 

[scitz]

I saw the plans I recreated in my drawing I found following links starting at the www.blackjungle.com website. It seems I no longer have the site bookmarked though.

Apparently the setup works, though I would guess someone would need to use one of the larger single outlet air pumps to get enough pressure to 'spurt' water from the end instead of just making it dribble.