# Problem with too much water collecting in tank!



## Chrisc147 (Jun 11, 2015)

So I have recently been having a problem of having water collect in the bottom of the tank. At this point it is past the hydroton layer and into the soil and is just going to keep building up from there. Any suggestions on how to get rid of this and possibly stop it from happening again?


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## oscar c (Dec 2, 2014)

if you have a standard tank you can place a screen top like the one's for a reptile tank on your viv for a couple of day's and let the water evaporate you can do this from time to time to keep it check.


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## epiphytes etc. (Nov 22, 2010)

I would recommend working some airline tubing or similar down there and siphoning the water. This will likely have to be done periodically, and should be done long before the water gets to the soil layer. If it is building up fast, you are probably misting too much.


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## Chrisc147 (Jun 11, 2015)

There is a screen top on the tank already. Only the two 12x12x18 Exo-Terra's are doing this. The others are fine. I can't not mist it for a while because of the inhabitants, but I can't let it keep building up and kill the plants. I've never had this happen with any of my vivariums before and I treat all of them the same and mist them all equally.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Siphoning will not be optional, then. This is why I drill all of my tanks and use bulkhead fittings to drain them. I got sooooooo tired of siphoning. You can also put a piece of clear rigid tubing in one of the corners to make siphoning easier, if you don't want to drill the glass. I cut notches in the side of the rigid tubing that goes down into the drainage layer.

Good luck!

Mark


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## brendan0923 (Sep 15, 2014)

As others have said, you will definitley have to siphon out the tank. To prevent it from happening too quickly, simply mist less often. Also, be sure to allow for some ventilation while keeping in humidity. A plexiglass top with a small vent at the top will usually help with this.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Chrisc147 said:


> There is a screen top on the tank already. Only the two 12x12x18 Exo-Terra's are doing this. The others are fine. I can't not mist it for a while because of the inhabitants, but I can't let it keep building up and kill the plants. I've never had this happen with any of my vivariums before and I treat all of them the same and mist them all equally.


You'll need to siphon those vivs like other posters have mentioned, _but you need to modify those exo terras_. They are initially too well-ventilated for dart frog viv purposes, the way they are designed. Especially little vivs such as those. Yes, you _can_ refrain from misting for a bit, if the viv is set-up properly. The screen tops at least need to be replaced with glass, covered, or somehow modified (after you drain your substrate/drainage layer, of course). You will never maintain a humid atmosphere without restricting some of that ventilation, regardless of spraying things down often...you're just soaking/saturating your substrate in compensation for the rest of the enclosure not staying humid.


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## bicyclephysics (Apr 26, 2013)

If it is a small tank you could use a turkey baster to suck up extra water. Otherwise siphoning or drilling is the way to go. You definitely don't want your plants to drown.


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## thane (Sep 11, 2014)

If you end up siphoning by hand, rather than drilling a bulkhead, you can use one of these. 










I like this better than a turkey baster because you can pump it continuously. Can find these at hardware or auto stores - generally used for siphoning gas.


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## Chrisc147 (Jun 11, 2015)

Thank you everyone. I will most likely use a siphon to get the excess water out of the tank.


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## rigel10 (Jun 1, 2012)

I had gradually reduced misting in my Exos. My vivs were - and are - always wet, despite the few seconds of misting.
However, because of health problems and working, in recent months I have neglected to regularly siphon out my vivs. In two of them the bottom has become foul-smelling mud.
Just a moment ago I partially removing the bottom in these two, replacing it with new peat.
Moral of the story: if no drain holes, we must siphon regularly our vivs.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

JPP said:


> You'll need to siphon those vivs like other posters have mentioned, _but you need to modify those exo terras_. They are initially too well-ventilated for dart frog viv purposes, the way they are designed. Especially little vivs such as those. Yes, you _can_ refrain from misting for a bit, if the viv is set-up properly. The screen tops at least need to be replaced with glass, covered, or somehow modified (after you drain your substrate/drainage layer, of course). You will never maintain a humid atmosphere without restricting some of that ventilation, regardless of spraying things down often...you're just soaking/saturating your substrate in compensation for the rest of the enclosure not staying humid.


Actually it is totally possible to have the humidity be fine in an unmodified Exoterra. For some reason there is an enduring idea that these frogs are only happy if the humidity is high say over 80-90% when this is not true. The frogs are fine as long as the humidity is over 60% and if the substrate is as saturated as is indicated, it is probably well over 60%. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Ed said:


> The frogs are fine as long as the humidity is over 60% and if the substrate is as saturated as is indicated, it is probably well over 60%.


But the substrate shouldn't be saturated, with such a high water table. It shouldn't be necessary to turn the viv into a foul swamp just to maintain 60+% humidity.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Whether or not you need to modify the top of the Exo Terras/Zoo Med is at least partly a function of what the external humidity is. My humidity in my house rarely reaches over 40% and is usually a lot less than that so I find that I need to cover my tanks up quite a bit to maintain the humidity I am looking for. This is true even misting automatically several times a day with a Mist King system.

Having said that, if the substrate is saturated, that is not good. It just depends on the balance between the internal and external humidity and the misting regime.

Mark


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## JPP (Mar 25, 2015)

Encyclia said:


> Whether or not you need to modify the top of the Exo Terras/Zoo Med is at least partly a function of what the external humidity is. My humidity in my house rarely reaches over 40% and is usually a lot less than that so I find that I need to cover my tanks up quite a bit to maintain the humidity I am looking for.


I have the same issue as well, especially during the winter months.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Chrisc147 said:


> . The others are fine. I can't not mist it for a while because of the inhabitants,.


Unless you are dealing with something that will only drink misted or dripped water, I would argue that you can skip misting it for awhile. This is what I was referring to about the common misconceptions. 



JPP said:


> But the substrate shouldn't be saturated, with such a high water table. It shouldn't be necessary to turn the viv into a foul swamp just to maintain 60+% humidity.


Yes the substrate should not be saturated but if you read above in the thread, there is the comment about not being able to skip misting along with your suggestion to close the tank up more tightly. That is a problem. If the water isn't evaporating fast enough then the humidity in the tank is already going to be high particularly if we consider the differences between open air in the enclosure and microniches. The argument to tighten up the tank does not go with the saturation of the substrate as it is going to reduce the ability of the enclosure to get rid of that extra moisture. 



Encyclia said:


> Whether or not you need to modify the top of the Exo Terras/Zoo Med is at least partly a function of what the external humidity is. My humidity in my house rarely reaches over 40% and is usually a lot less than that so I find that I need to cover my tanks up quite a bit to maintain the humidity I am looking for. This is true even misting automatically several times a day with a Mist King system.
> 
> Having said that, if the substrate is saturated, that is not good. It just depends on the balance between the internal and external humidity and the misting regime.
> 
> Mark


Even with outside air being at a much lower humidity, I'd also argue that there is a high probability that the humidity close to the substrate is closer to 60% + and this is before we consider the value of microniches. 

Additionally, I should point out it is the exchange of air with the air outside the enclosure that is a driver of equalizing humidity. If there is little or slow air exchange between the enclosure and out the enclosure then there will be very small changes in humidity in the enclosure. This is more important that the direct difference in humidity between the two. As a simple example, fill a a narrow mouthed bottle with water and fill a wide mouth jar with water and fill a tray with water and as long the volumes are approximate, which do you think is going to evaporate first? 

One of the things people need to keep in mind is that excessively high humidity say 90% plus is a problem. It prevents the frogs and other animals that can utilize evaporative cooling to manage temperature. This is one of the reasons that the husbandry recommendations often state that it is important to keep the frogs at temperatures far lower than those encountered in their native habitat. 

If the OP tears down the enclosure, I would strongly suggest learning to put in drains. Those that involve drilling the tank and running a drain to sump like a bucket allow for the simplest usage as one can easily bleach the water before discarding it. 

Some comments 

Ed


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