Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive seen these little fog makers at the pet store. Anyone have any experience with them? Do they work and look good? Or are they pieces of crap? Thanks

If it is the one made by Zoo-med, and it retails for around $80 (wholesales at ~$50), I've had two of them. This is the one that has a little 4" by 4" black box with a silver disc that sits in the water, and a converter that plugs into the wall. I havent seen any other ones on the market, only the cool mist humidifiers that they sell in the drug store section of walmart.

Both of them stopped working after about 2 months. Seems that you just cant let them run out of water over the little "fogmaker" disc, but there cant be any more than 3 inches of water OVER it, so within 8 hours (while at work) it would vaporize the majority of the water, and be dry or nearly dry. They might work great if you could keep them from running out of water, but I never could. My humidifier I have now will run for days on 2 gallons of water, and it has a low water sensor, so I dont ever have to worry about it.

If you could keep it wet, It should work for you, but then if it is IN the animals cage, the animal might tip it over or splash the water out, then the same dry fogmaker situation might occur.

I'm sure there are tons of people out there that it works good for or they wouldnt still be making them, but I couldnt get it to work for me long term.

I've had ESU ultrasonic foggers in all my tanks for over a year now. Never had a single problem. I place them at the bottom of a waterfall, or inside a water feature so they look like mist off the falls. I run them about 12 hours a day. As for some people's health concerns, any vet or MD well tell you that they are harmless and ultrasound is used for treatment on animals and humans. In my own experience, I've watched one of my female leucs bellyflop off the falls directly onto the fogger with no ill effects.

I thought the issue was they they got very hot, and made the water hot.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Mine are all setup in running water so heating has been no problem.

Don't buy a fogger from a pet store, they are way overpriced. I use the walgreen brand humidifier for my tanks, i also have 4 friends that use them also.It has a white base with a blue container that sits on top to hold the water, and holds like a gallon or so. They work great, you just have to get a piece of pvc piping to stick onto the top of the unit, then run it over the top of the tank. So including the PVC piping, I ended up spending around $30, the unit is very cheap and has worked incredibly well for humidifying my vivs.

You've got my curiousity up, EtBGeckos - can you share a few more details? I see 5 humidifiers at Walgreens, 2 of them are store brand - which one might it be? How did you attach the pvc pipe? Where did it end up in your tank?

thanks!

One more question - if I had a fogger like this, do I still need a mister?

I'm not sure of the exact model of the fogger, it's the one that usually runs about $30, but i got it on sale, the top is the tank that is clear blue and has a white handle and curved front, the base is white with just an on/off switch and a orange light. On the left side of the top there is a white cap thing that directs the mist spray, you just pop it off to set the PVC on. I currently use it on my 29 gal, until i get my 75 up and goin, so the units sit on the floor, and a piece of I believe 2" PVC just sits on the top of the hole, then above my tank it has a 90 degree elbow, then a 6" straight piece, which just lets the fog just drop into the tank, it fills my 29gal in about 30 seconds. You really don't have to attach the PVC to the unit, But you will have a little fog coming out of the base, but not enough to make a difference. I don't use a mister along with it, and all my plants are doin great. For a timer you can use a normal lamp timer that you can get almost anywhere, one of the little cheap ones. The mister says not to put tap water into it, but i haven't had any problems doing that yet, i've been told it just doesn't last as long, but i've had mine on my tank since about the middle of January, and it's still running like a champ.

n/p