# Fans for air circulation



## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

So do you guys run yours 24/7 or do you have them come on when your lights come on?

I just installed a fan in my dumpy tree frog tank and my Azureus tank and I'm curious if I should leave them on all the time.

Thanks for the help


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## tubbee (Aug 1, 2012)

I have mine come on between 12pm-5pm they come on every hour for 15 minutes. If they are on all the time I think they would dry out the tank too much imop.


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## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Fans should be used mainly to recirculate humid air inside of the enclosure. It is good to have some ventilation, but if you put the fan very close to a vent and actively push air into or out of the viv it will just dry everything out very fast. 

In most of my setups I run the fans all of the time. The fans last longer this way because water is less likely to accumulate inside of the bearings and other parts. I don't know if there is much benefit to having a fan run only during short periods of time, although using a timer to cycle off one or more fans in a group or speed control for less breeze at night would better mimic natural conditions. 

Some plants do not like a lot of wind. I set up my fans so that I can see air that air is moved around the enclosure, but not so much that the plant foliage is being blown around. You can use a fan screen screen filter or speed controller to moderate the air flow. You can also direct the fan directly at a side glass panel for a similar result.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Thanks for the replies.
I purchased these items to test out. 









Most likely gonna get a nice 4pin molex power supply and some splitters so one power source runs all my fans. 
1ST PC CORP. ACDC-12V AC wall jack to 12V DC 4pin Molex Adapter - Newegg.com

I recently purchased a Lenovo Y50-70 Touch from NewEgg for $900 so I got like $180 worth in EggPoints. So I can build me a very nice air flow system for this 40 gallon breeder paludarium. As you can see above I got all that stuff for only $2.99 which was for shipping  


So here is where I got my fans placed: 
First up the dumpy tank with a kit I got from hydrophyte









I'm not too worried about having that fan near the vent because I am using wed block fabric that I got from Josh's Frogs and it does not drain worth a darn (not that it's their fault they didn't make the product). Hopefully that will change eventually. Maybe it just needs time to break in. I had to go around and punch a punch of holes in it just to get some sort of drainage. It's so damp in there the bottom of the background is moldy. 
Though adding the fan made the tillandsias happy one was a little wilty but has sprung back and brightened back up. 
Also the fan cleared up the grapewood mold quite a bit. 

Here is the fan placement on my Azureus viv:









I fashioned a bracket out of a slip lock soap holder I got for $.99 at Dollar Tree. I just hacked off the soap holder part with a little hack saw and now I have a nice bracket just like the one I purchased but not as clean but it works 

I was losing humidity so I stuck a strip of glass on top of the vent to block it off more now it stays at a constant 87%

The fan I'm using is this one: EverCool EC4010M12CA 40x40x10 mm Cooling Fan Free Priority Mail If Order 10 | eBay
This fan is awesome 

Here is my plan for the airflow for 40G









It's going to be a PlexiGlass "backpack" system but on the top and the top of the vivarium is actually going to be the side of the 40G breeder since I will be using the top as the front to put some sliding glass doors on there.
Idk if I will need 2 fans or not. I will see how powerful that fan up top is when it comes in. 
The PlexiGlass fan duct will be hot glued into place so it can easily be removed by a razor.
I might just use glass instead if I can get this whole glass cutting thing down if not I could always go get some cut at ACE.

Also I'm worried with the fiberglass screen being so close to the blades of one of my frogs decides to hop up there then he might lose some toes so I will soon be using wire to extend the top of that screen and make a cage.


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## casemodgod (Jun 10, 2015)

You might also want to consider fan filter brackets instead of the mesh wiring. They'll keep materials out of the fan and frogs and other things from getting into it also.

It cuts down on airflow some, but you don't want to create a wind tunnel effect anyway.

They make them in very tight aluminum mesh, or in plastic with more of a cellulose covering that is not as dense


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

casemodgod said:


> You might also want to consider fan filter brackets instead of the mesh wiring. They'll keep materials out of the fan and frogs and other things from getting into it also.
> 
> It cuts down on airflow some, but you don't want to create a wind tunnel effect anyway.
> 
> They make them in very tight aluminum mesh, or in plastic with more of a cellulose covering that is not as dense


Meh I don't wanna use mesh on these little fans it will cut down air flow significantly. For them only being $5 a piece I can live with something happening to them. The probability is rather slim. Not worth sacrificing air flow for


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