# Tank Cover for Humidity



## GreenAcres (Sep 30, 2019)

I ended up with an Exo Terra 18 cube that I have made into a vivarium, mostly using a kit from Josh's. It has the standard screen top on it, which is fine since there are only plants in it right now. Is there an easy DIY solution to covering the top? I will eventually get glass, but is there something that I can use to increase humidity in the vivarium while there are only plants in it that won't require much financial investment?


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## jobrien9 (Oct 8, 2019)

In addition to cheap panes of glass that I've picked up at home improvement stores, I've used acrylic or even plastic wrap to increase humidity in vivariums. Just make sure that whatever lighting you have an top of the vivarium isn't hot enough to melt whatever you use to increase humidity. 

You could probably also increase humidity with a water feature of misting system


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## GreenAcres (Sep 30, 2019)

jobrien9 said:


> I've used acrylic or even plastic wrap to increase humidity in vivariums. Just make sure that whatever lighting you have an top of the vivarium isn't hot enough to melt whatever you use to increase humidity.


I was wondering if some thin sheets of acrylic might work. I'm using a freshwater LED, so it doesn't get very hot and it's suspended a little bit off of the top. I'm probably going to just grow things for a bit, so I do have some time to experiment.


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

GreenAcres said:


> I ended up with an Exo Terra 18 cube that I have made into a vivarium, mostly using a kit from Josh's. It has the standard screen top on it, which is fine since there are only plants in it right now. Is there an easy DIY solution to covering the top? I will eventually get glass, but is there something that I can use to increase humidity in the vivarium while there are only plants in it that won't require much financial investment?


A piece of 1/4" glass for a tank that size should only cost around $15.
I had a piece of 5mm (slightly smaller than 1/4" ) glass for my 18x18x24" tank's lid and two other pieces of glass 12*16" & 12*8") cut and the total cost was less than $25 (Canadian)


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## GreenAcres (Sep 30, 2019)

It's really more laziness about having to go get it done while it's not a necessity (I absolutely will once there are creatures other than isopods and springtails in the viv). I may just use plastic wrap for now. Thank you for letting me know that it's still economical to do glass as long as I have it cut myself. I've looked around and the ready made ones are on the pricier side.


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## BebopCola (Sep 24, 2018)

You could buy a cheap picture frame. They run a dollar at dollar tree, for instance. 
If you're lucky you could find some already in the dimensions you need.
Otherwise, it's super thin and pretty easy to cut if you have a glass scorer. Then you can just fit the glass pieces on top of the screen, or remove the screen and silicone a single piece in place, but again it is thin, I'd feel safer setting them on the screen.
I'm using this method for a few of my 12" exo-terra cubes.


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## GreenAcres (Sep 30, 2019)

I ended up checking with our machine shop at work, and he has two scraps of polycarbonate that he can cut down. I was going to set them into the screen top. Should they fit roughly perfectly, or should I have them cut slightly short to leave some ventilation room?

Thank you.


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## jeffkruse (Jun 5, 2018)

Just cut a piece of plastic from a plastic bin lid you are no longer using. It doesn't need to be tight fitting. I have a inch gap in the front and a few inch gap at the back.


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

Experience speaking here: thin glass cracks/shatters/turns to deadly shrapnel much more easily than thicker (3/16+) glass. A proper piece of glass is ~$20. An ER visit is $1000+.


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## Kmc (Jul 26, 2019)

GreenAcres said:


> I ended up checking with our machine shop at work, and he has two scraps of polycarbonate that he can cut down. I was going to set them into the screen top. Should they fit roughly perfectly, or should I have them cut slightly short to leave some ventilation room?
> 
> Thank you.


Personally I leave gaps, I always leave gaps. In my view I just close enough to get the job done and dont know of any situ that truly demands extreme measures. I like the perforated aquarium dividers very cut-able and i still leave gaps. If I can get a little fog at the corners Im happy. I make these statements with animals in mind. I am deficient in exotic plants needs. Most of my plants are very common and simple for cover, climbing etc, .

Socrates makes a great point - not just with glass cutting the keeper but when that happens, or something similar fall-in of often unsee-able minutia, o its like when in doubt, you gotta take it all out. Or wonder and worry and I cant do it, Id rather take the hassle pain of a re do.

Keepers at zoos and museums are often subject to anthropocentric pressures from administrative politics and decisions, a matter of goals again, especially institutions in heavily touristed cities. Even environments of the worlds most expensive primates can be influenced by Attraction/Display decisions. ei; reducing areas where the animals are enabled to turn away from full face/eye contact, something that is deeply important in their own psychosocial 'etiquette'.

Off display animals and animal projects controlled by keepers and academic partners often reflect better husbandry models then the exhibited guys.

Like a few people Ive noticed, I too was a zoo keeper, it was in the early 80s before barrier contact rules and cage architecture. Every day was awesome.


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## Kmc (Jul 26, 2019)

Yep, I posted a somethin meant for the Cohabitation thread, kinda connecting with what the good Sir Philsuma was saying.

ah Oldness. Cant blame my phone on this one haha


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## blugrnlg (Jun 12, 2019)

I'm using a few sheets of plastic cling wrap on my 36x18x24 Exo Terra tank until I finally get my glass panels for the screened top from www.neherpetoculture.com. 
Its not super pretty, but it works well enough to hold humidity when covering about 2/3s of the top.


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## Cl1ff (May 19, 2018)

I picked up several Duck brand plastic window insulating kits for a few bucks on Amazon. I treated the screen top of my Exo-Terra 18x36. The plastic shrinks to optical clarity with a hairdryer. As long as the lights don't sit directly on the plastic, it works a treat.
If there's any down side that I've seen, it's that it keeps the humidity so high that it's difficult to keep the fog off the glass. If I can solve that issue, I'll call it an ideal solution.


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## calhoun3186 (Nov 1, 2019)

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sunlite...MIsI6EgL3R5gIVkIbACh2vOQNrEAQYASABEgJvnvD_BwE

I use this


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## froggo (8 mo ago)

jobrien9 said:


> In addition to cheap panes of glass that I've picked up at home improvement stores, I've used acrylic or even plastic wrap to increase humidity in vivariums. Just make sure that whatever lighting you have an top of the vivarium isn't hot enough to melt whatever you use to increase humidity.
> 
> You could probably also increase humidity with a water feature of misting system





jobrien9 said:


> In addition to cheap panes of glass that I've picked up at home improvement stores, I've used acrylic or even plastic wrap to increase humidity in vivariums. Just make sure that whatever lighting you have an top of the vivarium isn't hot enough to melt whatever you use to increase humidity.
> 
> You could probably also increase humidity with a water feature of misting system


so i can do this for my pet tree frog and he won't suffocate? /gen


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## Socratic Monologue (Apr 7, 2018)

froggo said:


> so i can do this for my pet tree frog and he won't suffocate? /gen


Restricting ventilation helps retain humidity in a viv, while increasing ventilation typically lowers viv humidity. 

Since each viv, species, and situation are different, please consider starting a thread in the tree frog subforum and post photos, give details on your viv and frog species, and so on. You'll get much more relevant information this way.


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