Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've wanted a misting system for a few years now. I never could bring myself to buy one of
those $100 systems, even though they would be perfectly adequate for my uses. I DID buy a
system from Barrs.com, just the hoses and nozzels, basic stuff. I knew where to get a digital
timer for $20, hoses and fittings...the one thing that eluded me was a pump.

I ran across one that looks exactly like the ones offered by some of the misting system
companies. They sell theirs for $150 . this one, a shurflo pump(vergy good brand name)
was a 115V AC 45psi pump with a flow rate of 1.4 gpm. for $114 tax and everything at
Grainger supply.

It does not come with a plug, just ac wire leads. a $5 plug and crimps from Home Depot
fixed that problem, and gave me an 8 foot cord.

I also purchased fittings to bring the output from 3/8 threaded to 1/4 barbed(to grip the 1/4
inch hose. Cheap, $0.14 a foot tubing works fine. The fittings can be found in the sprinkler
section of lowes or home deopt, and the misting nozzels bought at any misting site - barrs
work very well.

The digital timer took a bit of figuring out, but it works flawlessly.
the pump shuts off when the pressure gets too high, so it ends up pulsing on and off. this is
not a problem, because it maintains pressure throughout the system, and the nozzels never
stop spraying.

And the pump is really quiet. I had it scheduled to go off midnight for a minute, to keep it
humid for the deremensis, and it never woke us, the baby, or the dog up. It's about as loud
as an aquarium pump.

$124.00 for the pump, plug cord and heat shrink
$17.00 for the digital timer
$20.00 for the Barrs kit with 3 nozzles.
$3.00 for 25 ft. of tubing
$5.00 for the fittings, teflon tape and 5 gallon bucket with lid.

$169.00 TOTAL for the entire system. It can run dry, run continuously for a very long
time(hours if necessary), has a 5 gallon supply, can be programmed to run in 1 minute
intervals, hundreds of times a day, or even different schedules every day. And it cost me
under $200.

Very cool! I just bought the whole system (Rainmaker) for around $120 about a year ago...didn't want to hassle with finding all the parts...but way to go!
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

Where did you get a rainmaker system for 120 they run at 240

ME too! I paid about 240.00 for mine about 4 years ago and have never had a problem other than I broke the reserve tank and had to replace it.
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

The guy at Cloudtops told me since I was just buying parts to make my own kit I could just adjust the five gallon bucket I was using with my old system by putting their bulkhead on it.
Does that sound right? Is your tank just a round bucket?

Hey all, got my Rainmaker Jr. system 1 year ago on sale for $120...plus tax and shipping came out to $145. Couldn't pass up the price. I got mine at Ecological Technologies...selling them now for $170. Got it hooked up to 4 cages with this 1 system...no complaints. And yes the resevoir for water is just a 5 gallon bucket.
-----
Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

What size and where do I locate it?

You will have to drill a hole in the bucket lid so that your hose can go in and into the reservoir of water. The other end of the hose is attached to your pump and the pump sits on the lid.
-----
Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

Just took a pic...probably will explain it better than me trying to describe it.

-----
Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

It should be ready to go when I get it. I really did not need the bulkhead at all. They just wanted me to pay for more parts.

If youre using the piston pump, be careful. You want something to keep the hose at the bottom. I have to rig mine to do that - the hose curled back up and out of the water before, and it ran a bit dry for a minute.

I thought I saw a pic that showed their builkhead installed at the bottom(on the side) of the bucket - that keeps the hose at the bottom.

Yup, Eric's right...I have a good sized, heavy rock that lays on the end on the hose so it stays at the bottom of the bucket.
-----
Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

See you got the Rainmaker JR which is not rundry where the OP is run dry. He has a 240 system at 169.00 which I think is one hell of a deal

You would pass up a deal for $120?? I think not...
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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

Its a deal but I still would not get it, That pump on the rainmaker junior is an accident waiting to happen.

Maybe in your opinion but haven't had a problem so far! It works great for me...I never let it run dry anyway and if someone is worried about that they can always find a bigger reservoir or rig it up so that it's hooked up to a RO unit and it would automatically re-fill it. Here's the link if you're interested:
Link

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Experience and appreciate nature's creation.

www.zenexotics.com

You did all that running around to put together to get a cheaper system and it still cost you more then a commercial one would have. The same pump you bought can be bought at Cloud Tops for $90.

Stephanie

I did buy the vinyl hose at Home Depot and I already had the digital timer also from Home Depot. I am using those plastic ties that are found in the electrical section instead of more expensive hose clamps. I used them on my last system and they worked fine. I bought the Diaphram pump from Cloudtops which can run dry without burning out or breaking. i bought nozzles and tees and elbows from cloudtops too and It all cost me around $205.00 and it will mist eight cages for me actually nine because i had the nozzle left from my Mr. Moisture system which burnt out in around six months. The Mr. moisture system gave me problems from day one. I made a mistake while setting the initial settings on the timer and It did not shut off after first coming on. It ran all day for the first day and even burned a hole in the lid of the reservoir. I was able to re set everything and fix the pump to get it going again but it was never the same after that and only lasted six months.
It was my mistake in the initial programming of the timer but I still wanted to upgrade to a better pump so I won't lose everything if the pump were to run dry one day. I opted for the Cloudtops system because I liked their diaphram pump and I have heard no complaints about their system.

Which just goes to show you we just can't win.
If i got the system Eric did i would need to add the price of the timer in (just to be fair) So mine cost $222.00
For my 9 cages I would need two more nozzle kits If I did what Eric did. Those were $20.00 each so it would be.
$169.00 plus $40.00 totaling $209.00
Mine cost $222.00 If I ad the cost of the timer.
He beat me by $13.00 but we would also have to compare shipping costs to be fair.
The moral is "Just when we think we got ahead we really didn't"
These little suckers are expensive to care for!
"WILL WORK FOR CHAMS" LOL
Eric you know I'm just kidding, right!
Eric is a great guy and he makes great cages too so he knows I am just playing around!

LOl, that's why I don't bother to try to rigg something up. By the time I finish going from one place to the next and then back because I forgot something, It would be a weeks worth of pay if you include time and gas and stress. And the last thing I need is to have it malfunction and come home to find Stitch and Rana surfing the high tides, or snorkeling for king worms!!!
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

because I know the Vinyl tubing is very cheap at a hardware store. I also made an attempt to locate the misting nozzles there but the ones they have are not compatible or would be more of a hassle to try and rig everything to make it work.
Even getting the original kit with Mr. Moisture was not fool proof. i was so upset when i came home and found a melted lid and melted wires and my pump was making a horrible loud noise which it made from then on. That was a nice hundred bucks down the drain. I had never used the digital timer with all those daily settings and I thought I set it for the same off time daily but I was wrong.
By the way, Ohana and Fiona are both doing fine Fiona had a full recovery and is eating on her own and the one egg she laid in my hand is actually looking like it is fine and is incubating. It was really weird. I went feeling around in her abdomen with my fingers and felt a hard knot. I was just rummaging around to see if I could feel it better and she started contorting and straining and pop! She laid the egg right in the palm of my hand. She got treated with Baytril and I gave her Repta-Aid for a few days till she was strong enough to eat on her own.

I'm glad to hear the girls are doing good!!
My tank is a flat one with the hole on the top, I didn't have to drill any holes because it came predrilled. I used to work at a Coffee stand and we used those tanks for the excess water to drain from the esspreso machines, one hole for the outbound and the other to empty it out, so I bought one from my boss. I like it better than the tall round ones because you can hide it easier and the water warms up easier as well, but I never had any problems with the round one either.
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Feenie

1.1 vieled cham.- Stitch and Rana (Missing you,Chloe)
2.2 Canines Junior-pitbull chiuahuah mix, Jose- chiuahuah, Pearl- Staffie, and Daisy- Red nose Pit- foster child
1.0 boyfriend- Trent species unknown

I have been collecting parts to this system for about 2-3 years. I got a good deal on the nozzles and hose and fittings from barrs 2 years ago at the raleigh show. Since then, I've been looking out for a pump. Initially, I was looking for a small piston pump, that would give me Mr. moisture/rainmaker jr. performance - but I wasn't paying $80-$90 for a pump!

In the end, I decided that I wouldn't take a chance with a piston pump. I'm going to want to be gone for a week at a time, and I wasn't going to risk burning it out.

By the way - you can get those 50-100 psi piston pumps for about $40-$50 at a cleaning supply place.

I have waited and waited until I found these stupid pumps. All alon, it was right in front of me - grainger supply, right next to the gun shop I got my hunting/fishing liscense at.
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The 6 new arrivals seem to enjoy it... They're a special surprise for chameleon enthusiasts who come to the Raleigh show. Nicest "little" baby chameleons I've ever seen.

Nope - I did the running around and I got a system equivilant to(and in many ways superior to) the Rainmaker I system, which cloudtops sells for $240.

their pump is much noiser than the pump I bought for $114. Their equivalent run-dry pump is $150.

The digital timer they sell for $40 is inferior to the one I bought for $17 - I can program hundreds of on/off events a day.

The hoses are the same, though mine cost twelve cents a foot, compared to .50.

The nozzels are barrs, which are not as easy to mount in a screen cage,but work perfectly. For $20(shipping included) you get 20 feet of tubing, "T" couplings, 3 nozzeles, and a fitting for a hose(which was useless to me).

The $80 pump cloudtops sells is a piston pump that can't run dry, and burns out if it runs too long.

I spent $170 and I ended up with a system equal to(but with a better pump and timer, more fittings, and 3 times the tubing) than the $240 rainmaker I system.
It's slightly more than the Rainmaker jr. system, but far more reliable - and shurflo pumps last forever.

I could even put volitile chemical through this thing with no ill effects.