Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm putting together my first dart habitat and I need to pickle the experts' brains. I'm a newbie - the tank was a 'gimme' and in need of repair. I've been reading about cpu fans being used, but I'm sure that works on the smaller tanks, but will with work on mine? If so, how would I connect it?

I'm open to suggestions and I enjoy reading the posts here, although my brain hurts from thinking of all the different ways I can put this tank together.

Thanks in advance!
kristi

Hi...you can get some of the computer fans that are about 3-4" square that run off a transformer. They are real easy to hook up as they only have 2 wires. I have 2 of these fans on my tank lid on opposite ends one blowing air in the other out and have them on a timer to come on at the same time. You would be surprised on how well they work. I can fill the tank with my untrasonic cool mist humidifer to the point where you can see nothing but fog and when the fans come on it will clear the tank in under 10 seconds. My tank is a 90 gallon. Hope this helps.

I think it would depend on if you want to run the fans all the time or just short bursts. I run a small 40mm fan on my 29gal at about 1/4 speed all day with the lights, and it is enough to keep the glass from fogging up. For for a larger tank maybe 2 of these small fans or 1 larger one might do the trick. The key is to watch the humidity very closly. My 29gal is fine and I almost never have to worry about it, but my 15gal high is very touchy. I use a small piece of plastic to adjust the amount of air let into the tank from the fan.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Would the fan(s) blow across the top? We haven't built the top yet, but I'm assuming I need (plexi)glass and screen.

I've been CONSUMED with thing!! I appreciate all the help I can get.

thanks!

The fans I have are mounted right to the plexi glass so they can blow in ans out of the tank. Here is a pic of the one end of the tank that shows the one fan.

Now that's an interesting pix - what am I seeing here? What's the periscope for? Did you say you have screen on top as well?

BTW, as a newbie to darts, please, can you tell me what the numbers after a signature means? (1.1.1 auratus)

thanks!

Here is a pic of my fan setup on my 15gal high:

As you can see I am using small fans, and they don't move a lot of air at all, but my humidity stays high.

As for the sinature question:

male.female.unknown
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Thanks - I had a feeling it was something along that nature (re: signature).

Is you fan sucking or blowing? Is it connected to a computer power supply?

See there - you keep answering my questions and I'll keep asking 'em.

BTW, I refer to your pix often - very nice and very helpful!

Thanks, I hope someone likes my pics.

I am having server problems so it may be slow at times. I am working on a fix/upgrade.

My fans are blowing in, they seem to work about the same blowing out though. My guess with a big tank would be to use 2 small fans at either end and have one blowing in and one blowing out. I use a 300ma transformer from walmart. Its like a universal cell phone charger, with a selector on the front to set the voltage. So you can control the speed of the fan with the voltage. Easy and cheap, they are about $10-15.

Just remember to watch the humidity and temps, a big fan can change them very fast. For example. My Leuc tank has a 80mm computer cas fan on it. It is a 20gal high. I run the fan for about 3-4 mins an hour and it is enough to clear the glass. If I let it run it will drop the humidity from 99% to 70% in about 5 mins. Also pick up a digital temp/humidity gauge, the analog ones just are not accurate enough.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

That is an PVC elbo which pipe's in my mister hose. The pic was taken when I first completed the tank and now has a hood that hides all of the workings and lights. The only open are of the tank is where the fans are cut in.

This is what I did. I would strongly recomend that you stay as far away from plexi-glass as you can. It warps and looks like crap. Glass all the way for me from now on. If you want to see how I installed the fans or what they do, ImageEvent.com/audiomaster/40gallonhexagon/ click on that link and there is some text under each photo. Let me know if you have any questions.
-David Taylor

Very nice tank, I really like the look you got from the concrete primer mix. I keeping thinking to buy a hex tank... The local pet store has a 35gal one with a broken plastic edge for $50, and they have had it for months. I bet I could get it for $30 or so, and then just put that bad corner in the back, because the glass is all fine.

I am also thinging about trying Pattys winstone stuff to make a waterfall/wall in the back.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

You can but a large cooling fan at radioshack that is 115 volt and 60 Hz (meening you can plug it into the wall). The largest one that they sell moves 65 Cubic feet per min, so that should be about right for a 150 gal viv that you want fairly high humidity in. I am using a smaller version of one too keep the humidity down im my 20 gal whites tree frog viv. I have it set up to suck air out of the tank.