Orcawhale
Established Member
Ohhh!! I understand! Thank you so much! You have no clue...well actually you probably do, how much of a lifesaver this is!
Ficus Trees and Automatic Misters
- Thread starter Orcawhale
- Start date
Orcawhale
Established Member
Yeah, I noticed this when I first got the mister, I've got two timers. One for the lights, and one for the monsoon. I have it so the lights go on at 6:30 AM, and the mister goes on at 7:30 AM. Then the Mister goes off at 8:30 PM and the lights go off at 9:00. I've basically covered everything in the area with towels to prevent fried timers, to be honest, I had given up on the furniture around. Thank you so much you're a lifesaver.
Rayzilla
Member
This is a great idea. I have another suggestion because the back of my mind has me worried that if somehow the timer malfunctioned and stayed on, then the mister would stay on constantly too.
So an alternative setting would be to set the timer so that it turns on every day but only during the day, i.e. 10am to 4pm. And then you set your mister to the setting that you want, i.e. 45 seconds every 2 hours. With the example setting I described, the mister would turn on at 10am for 45 seconds, at 12noon for 45 seconds, at 2pm for 45 seconds (but I am not sure about the 4pm for 45 seconds because the timer would turn it off so maybe set the timer to turn off at 4:02pm instead of 4pm). This way, if the timer malfunctions, at least the mister will only turn on every two hours for 45 seconds each interval. Does this make sense? If not, I will try to explain in a different way.
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
Oh thats a good idea. Like a double fail safe, forgot to mention I did set it like that. The monsoon when the power is pulled will revert back to the last setting you had. So what i did was set it to "cycle" mode and unplugged it. Now when it comes on i set the dial to spray aprox 45 min and every 3 hour incrament. So in the event the power timer failed like you said it would kick back on to cycle and spray every 3 hours. But i would make it home before it got to my girl at night. My apologies i did say i leave it to always on but i did leavw it on cycle. Just remember to turn it on on cycle then yank the cord so it goes back to that next time itd powered. Also @Orcawhale maybe set your Misting time earlier than lights off like an hour so it gives the area time to dry. Don't want your buddy or gal to get a uri from it being wet and cold. Noticed you only had it set to 30 min before lights off.
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Rayzilla
Member
Thanks for your update. I don't have any misters yet, haven't even set up my vivarium yet. LOL
Does that mean that you have to unplug the mister's plug each night? What would the setting be if you did not unplug it? Would it still revert back to its last setting? Or would it continue onward from when it was last powered on by the timer? For example, if it misted at 4pm and then the timer turned off the power at 4:02pm as I mentioned in my example. When the timer turned power back on at 10am the next morning, would the mister most at 10am or at 1pm (because it thinks that it just misted when it did so the day before at 4pm)? Let me knew if this sounds confusing and I will clarify.
Does that mean that you have to unplug the mister's plug each night? What would the setting be if you did not unplug it? Would it still revert back to its last setting? Or would it continue onward from when it was last powered on by the timer? For example, if it misted at 4pm and then the timer turned off the power at 4:02pm as I mentioned in my example. When the timer turned power back on at 10am the next morning, would the mister most at 10am or at 1pm (because it thinks that it just misted when it did so the day before at 4pm)? Let me knew if this sounds confusing and I will clarify.
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
So the way the electric timer works(the one I linked from amazon). Is you set the current time. Then you can program 8 on/off times in it per a day. So what I did was I set it specifically to go on at 9:00:00 (third set being seconds) then to go off at 9:00:45. I did that each sequence at 11:00:00-11:00:45...so on and so forth. Thats why that timer I got was so crucial is that I can set it down to seconds as opposed to just minutes. So the monsoon gets power to it for 45sec no more or less. So you also have to set the monsoon to spray for around 50 sec that way you ensure you get the full 45 sec mist but in the event of a failure it'll default to 50 sec. Then I set the knob for every 3 hours but thats mainly useless since the monsoon is getting power for only 45 sec. Its a fail safe. What you have to do is before you plug the monsoon in the timer. Plug it to the wall and set it for cycle. It should spray for whatever setting you have. Once thats done just unplug it. So the last thing the monsoon was on was cycle before the power cut out. Now plug it into the timer. When the 9:00:00 (in this example) hits on the wall timer it will turn the monsoon on. The monsoon will go to cycle mode since that is the last mode it was on before it shut off. The wall timer will then kill the power at 9:00:45 sec. Then its just rinse and repeat for the times you set. In the event of a failure like you said and let's say the wall timer fries and just stays always on. Then you have the monsoon set for 50 sec spray at 3 hours which won't do much damage by the time you notice it.
Rayzilla
Member
"... What you have to do is before you plug the monsoon in the timer. Plug it to the wall and set it for cycle. It should spray for whatever setting you have. Once thats done just unplug it. So the last thing the monsoon was on was cycle before the power cut out. Now plug it into the timer..."
That's a good timer to be able to go down to the seconds level.
So the only part I want to confirm is the process of plugging the Monsoon Mister into the wall socket and then plugging it to the timer. Do you only have to do this process once and then leave it plugged to the timer from there on? Or do you have to do this process each night? Sorry to keep going on about this. I just want to plan ahead and make the right equipment purchases.
That's a good timer to be able to go down to the seconds level.
So the only part I want to confirm is the process of plugging the Monsoon Mister into the wall socket and then plugging it to the timer. Do you only have to do this process once and then leave it plugged to the timer from there on? Or do you have to do this process each night? Sorry to keep going on about this. I just want to plan ahead and make the right equipment purchases.
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
Just have to do that once! Then your good to go
Orcawhale
Established Member
Yup thats exactly what I do, the mister turns is given power from 7:30 AM to 8:30 PM, and its on the intervals I want.
Orcawhale
Established Member
Yes, but I've got the mister set for every 4 hours, so thats 6:30, 10:30, 2:30, 6:30, so it gives his cage plenty of time to dry, is just the power ends at 8:30
Orcawhale
Established Member
How do you drain your 24x24x48? Still stumped on that, for my 18x18x36 I've been using a drainage tray and siphoning the water out...
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
Truth be told, i cant, i dont have a drainage system, I have the ability to make one but i havnt, i use reptile carpet at the bottom, i can only compare it to a green shammy. It absorbs water and dries rather fast, its dry by the time the next misting starts as i did check that. Every weekend i pull the carpet out and wash it with soap then i ring it out and i put it back. Doesnt smell bad or anything. If i was misting for 2 min like most people do here it would flood the bottom. Most poeple on here use mistkings and the mist is almost borderline fog like so a 2 min session isnt so bad, but i cant afford a 300+ system so the monsoon was the next option. it does the job but its mist is alot heavier so a 2 min mist on that system would ruin stuff.
Orcawhale
Established Member
Do you think you can take a picture of it for me? I would love to not have to deal with drainage.
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
It's really all about the soil mix. Add coarse, #3 charcoal and perlite, with some decent potting mix, such as Promix or sunshine mix #4. You want a 40/60-60/40 ratio of base potting mix to perlite. Best place to find coarse perlite is eBay or a hydroponics store. I have 3 types of ficus and they all get mister by automating, yet I use a porous mix, as described and cap that with straight compost or a circle of fabric, such as is sold for planted trees, to place around them, when planted in the yard.
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
Something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Carp...id=1469027616&sr=1-19&keywords=reptile+carpet
I used this and it works nice. I can take a picture later of the floor of my cage, you can cut it with scissors to adjust to your cage as well.
This is an older picture of when i had my medium cage for Julia (her name) when she was 4 months old. You can see the bottom how i lined it with the green repticarpet.
Orcawhale
Established Member
ah yes, that looks like it would work perfectly thank you! Would one box of eco-carpet fill the bottom of a 24x24x48? Or would I need to buy more than one box?
BKO Overdrive
Established Member
1 should be enough, or if you want to make sure get a bigger size, or get two orders. Worse case you have extra and when this carpet gets old and gross you will have some to swap out
He's letting everyone know who's boss! 
