# mister vs fogger?!?



## seanmackie

im trying to get into darts but just at the research stage now, could someone please explain the difference to me between a misting system and a fogger, i know the foggers are alot cheaper and help raise the humidity in the viv, so does the mister have another purposes with it being more expensive????


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## onemanandhisfrog

a fogger will only raise humidity and is also more for show, a misting system will also water your plants and simulate rain that has added benefits but you have alot of options.

what size tank do you have?
if your getting a smaller tank then you could get a fogger and mist by hand quite easily alot of people do it and although it would take longer this is reccomended for begginers as when your misting it is the ideal time to check up on your frogs etc

do you plan on gettig more tank?
if you plan on getting more tanks as i do then a misting system is capable of having upto 20-30 nozzles on some models this would make it a good investment.

Do you plan on having a water feature?
If you have a water feature and better still if the water feature is heated this will raise humidity alot and you probably wont need a fogger therefore only needing to mist by hand or having the mist system. 

Options:
Mist by hand - quite easy and done by alot of people
Fogger and mist by hand
Water feature and mist by hand - the water feature will raise humidity nicely aswell as a fogger
Mist system - for biggish enclosures and if you plan to get more but can be used on exos also.
or you can use em all in conjunction with each other :lol2: i would advise you take your time and see what would be best for your needs, so you dont waste money :2thumb:

hope this helps m8 : victory:


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## pollywog

Foggers sit in a bowl of water and bubble away creating a mist/fog. They tend to raise the humidity sharply and drop off just as sharply creating spikes in humidity, they can be quite difficult to control the humidity levels. The small foggers designed for in tank use should allways be enclosed away from the animals and in a seperate body of water to the frogs bathing water. External foggers require large bore pipework to feed the fog into the viv and will only service a few vivs which must all be close together and on the same level, they also have to run much longer before the fog gets to the viv.

A good misting system can be used to control the humidity far more precisely, it sprays a very fine mist of water into the viv which swirls around creating a cloud and eventually settles. It only needs to run for a few seconds a couple of times a day rather than for minutes at a time. The pipework is small and discreate, you can mist multiple vivs of any size and in any position, even in different rooms. You can have different humidity levels in different vivs by using a different number of nozzles and you can point nozzles to certain areas of the viv that require more misting thus creating the required gradiant.
Most systems are around the same sort of price level but they're not all the same, it's a good idea to invest in a good quality system from the start; cheaply made systems such as those sold by large reptile brands do little more than a hand spray bottle will do, and be aware that american manufactured systems all use imperial pipework and fittings that you won't get in the UK so you'll be stuck shipping things in everytime you want to alter the setup.

Have a look at these links:
Pollywog: Product Data: Misting Systems
Pollywog Shop: Misting System Kits & Parts


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## philbaines

Andrew are there any advantages to having the system setup in a "ringmain" setup over the straight setup?


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## pollywog

Yes you get a more even pressure across the system, you can run slightly more nozzles that way.


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## philbaines

I'll have to try this later... Does it not cause dripping nozzles?

I'm using your nozzles with a german brand also (and a 1 way valve)


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## Wolfenrook

I use both, and can tell you that in my opinion a misting system is worth the extra cash. For one thing, to keep humidity up, this is in an adapted Exo-Terra, the fogger has to come on a LOT! They only have a small water tank though, which has to be refilled in my case about once every 3 days, which is a real pain to do as to stop the water condensing in the corrugated pipe (I have the Lucky Reptile one) I have to keep it on the very top shelf of the racking above that particular viv, plus the fill hole on that particular one is tiny. On top of that, I still have to hand mist that viv, foggers do nothing to wash leaves off etc, which is an important part of maintenance with any frog as without this wastes build up on leaves and can effect the health of your frogs. Where if you rinse it off, it goes into the substrate and gets turned into plant food/eaten by custodion bugs.

My mister system will run far more vivs (it's a smaller system, so will only run about 10 nozzles tops), effectively washes down the vivs attached every time it runs (in my case, I have it set to come on in the morning then again in the night for 1 minute), keeps the humidity up perfectly and has a 13 litre (you can get bigger than this, and smaller) water tank that doesn't need refilling every few days. The only down side I can think of is, in the case of many models they are quite noisy, they certainly make more noise than a fogger.

My advice, if you want to automate get a misting system. Foggers just aren't built to do a good enough job without additional equipment or hand misting. The mist however looks really nice, and my frogs love the mist they produce. Oh, and I wouldn't give an internal fogger shelf space to be honest, if you really must have one an external is better, unless you intend doing a fair bit of DIY.

Ade


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## pollywog

philbaines said:


> I'll have to try this later... Does it not cause dripping nozzles?
> 
> I'm using your nozzles with a german brand also (and a 1 way valve)


I must admit the diagram I drew doesn't explain it too well as it's a flat image. I'll do some more diagrams when I get chance.

If your misting an entire room then you would run a ring main around the top of the room and tee down to the vivs so the main supply line would be on one level and as such no syphoning action to create drips. 

You can run ringmain type setups on a single rack of vivs, either as a big loop or a series of loops feeding into the centre of the bottom of the ring and a non-return valve on each upright between levels. Or by running a single supply line up one side and then having loops coming off over the top of each row of vivs with a non-return valve between each level. These don't create true ringmains but do still help even out the pressure on each level and if a blockage occurs somewhere in a line the vivs either side of that blockage still get misted as the water has an alternative route.

On the subject of dripping, our nozzles are non-drip nozzles, they have a little ball inside the nozzle that blocks the hole. When the pump switches on the water pressure lifts the ball away from the hole then when the pump switches off and the pressure drops the ball sits back down to cover the hole and stop the water dripping out. However the ball only works if the nozzle is pointing straight down which is why I don't normally mention them being non-drip and this is why most websites that show pictures or video of non-drip nozzles show it with the nozzle pointing straight down.


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## seanmackie

cheers for all the great help, guys:2thumb: ive found out 2day i can get a few diff species of darts for only a tenner each, so the money i'll save on them i'm gonna investest in a misting system:mf_dribble:


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## philbaines

seanmackie said:


> cheers for all the great help, guys:2thumb: ive found out 2day i can get a few diff species of darts for only a tenner each, so the money i'll save on them i'm gonna investest in a misting system:mf_dribble:


What species are the Sean?


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## seanmackie

philbaines said:


> What species are the Sean?


there not all ready yet, some are still tads at the mo, but there will be some Dendrobates Azureus and Dendrobates Auratus


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## sambridge15

im only using a fogger on my 18 18 24 exo(l w h) i have it on a digital timer it comes on at set points for 10 mins every few hours it helps with humidity but also looks ace im also hoping it will keep my java moss alive!! i keep my fogger in a little chamber i made that sits on top of the viv have a look its on the first page atm of anphibian section only cost me 10£ as well:2thumb:


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## seanmackie

sambridge15 said:


> im only using a fogger on my 18 18 24 exo(l w h) i have it on a digital timer it comes on at set points for 10 mins every few hours it helps with humidity but also looks ace im also hoping it will keep my java moss alive!! i keep my fogger in a little chamber i made that sits on top of the viv have a look its on the first page atm of anphibian section only cost me 10£ as well:2thumb:


i actually seen your thread last night and booked marked the page:lol2: think im gonna order the bits over the weekend a make one next week :2thumb: was just wondering tho have you had yours long? with the fogger only being a few quid, couldnt imagine it lasting very long, also does the fog ever come in contact with the lights? and is the fog it produces cold? sorry for all the questions :lol2:


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## sambridge15

seanmackie said:


> i actually seen your thread last night and booked marked the page:lol2: think im gonna order the bits over the weekend a make one next week :2thumb: was just wondering tho have you had yours long? with the fogger only being a few quid, couldnt imagine it lasting very long, also does the fog ever come in contact with the lights? and is the fog it produces cold? sorry for all the questions :lol2:


the lights are LEDS and are underwater with the fogger iv had it just over a week i ordered 2 encase it packs in, iv heard there about the same reliability as exos and a replacment disk for an exo costs more than a new fogger!!!

the fog is cold but doesnt effect temps by more than 0.1-2c so not really a big factor

plus with it on a timer just coming on for 10mins every 2 hours it should last ages!

all in all im pleased :2thumb: even though its not vital and i still hand mist it does look ace :lol2:


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## seanmackie

sambridge15 said:


> the lights are LEDS and are underwater with the fogger iv had it just over a week i ordered 2 encase it packs in, iv heard there about the same reliability as exos and a replacment disk for an exo costs more than a new fogger!!!
> 
> the fog is cold but doesnt effect temps by more than 0.1-2c so not really a big factor
> 
> plus with it on a timer just coming on for 10mins every 2 hours it should last ages!
> 
> all in all im pleased :2thumb: even though its not vital and i still hand mist it does look ace :lol2:


just been out and bought all the bit, so gonna go order a fogger of ebay now, :2thumb:


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