Home Made Misting Water Supply?

The Wild One

Chameleon Enthusiast
So me and my dad were going through the plans and we came to a stop when it comes to the misting system. We will be making our own instead of getting a mist king or monsoon mister. Now all we need to know is, where does the water supply come from? For those of y’all who have home made misting systems, what do y’all use to build up enough pressure and hold the water? Thanks!
 
What components of the system do you have now? Maybe start off listing what you DO have on hand already. FWIW, by the time you assemble everything from scratch you might not save all that much compared to buying something reliable like a Mist King, especially if you only need to mist one or two cages.
 
So me and my dad were going through the plans and we came to a stop when it comes to the misting system. We will be making our own instead of getting a mist king or monsoon mister. Now all we need to know is, where does the water supply come from? For those of y’all who have home made misting systems, what do y’all use to build up enough pressure and hold the water? Thanks!

unless you get a high pressure pump, or tie-in to your mains supply directly, you’ll have a hard time creating enough pressure to mist. The best thing, short of a mistking (or similar), is to use a garden hose timer, plumbed into a faucet, and a set of patio misting nozzles. While this can certainly be done, I am less than optimistic that the time, effort and cost involved will prove worthwhile compared to buying a mist-king. The difficulties are several: You are going to need to generate at least 35psi to run even the coarsest misting nozzle. Most mains supplies will deliver this, but you’ll need an indoor tap to hook up to, and a garden hose timer. So you’ll either need to do some plumbing,move your enclosure close to an indoor tap, or else run garden hose to your cage. (I wouldn’t advise the latter). I’m not trying to dissuade your ingenuity, I’m just suggesting that, for an indoor cage, it might be better to devote your diy creativity to some other aspect of husbandry.
 
unless you get a high pressure pump, or tie-in to your mains supply directly, you’ll have a hard time creating enough pressure to mist. The best thing, short of a mistking (or similar), is to use a garden hose timer, plumbed into a faucet, and a set of patio misting nozzles. While this can certainly be done, I am less than optimistic that the time, effort and cost involved will prove worthwhile compared to buying a mist-king. The difficulties are several: You are going to need to generate at least 35psi to run even the coarsest misting nozzle. Most mains supplies will deliver this, but you’ll need an indoor tap to hook up to, and a garden hose timer. So you’ll either need to do some plumbing,move your enclosure close to an indoor tap, or else run garden hose to your cage. (I wouldn’t advise the latter). I’m not trying to dissuade your ingenuity, I’m just suggesting that, for an indoor cage, it might be better to devote your diy creativity to some other aspect of husbandry.
Isn’t tap not safe to use though?
 
Isn’t tap not safe to use though?

Depends on the tap water. If the water source is treated with fluorine or chloramines that can be a potential problem for a cham. You'd want to neutralize the chloramine with a water conditioner like ReptiSafe. If the water source isn't treated with chloramine, you may not need it. Plain old chlorine can be neutralized by leaving the tap water in an open bucket overnight...most of the chlorine will off gas. Potable water can still have substances in it that aren't great for a misting system. Like a high degree of hardness (calcium and other minerals). Mineral deposits can clog mister nozzles, lines, and pumps eventually and create buildups on live foliage in the cage. Find a source for RO or distilled water and use that in the system. Find out what's added to your municipal water.
 
Depends on the tap water. If the water source is treated with fluorine or chloramines that can be a potential problem for a cham. You'd want to neutralize the chloramine with a water conditioner like ReptiSafe. If the water source isn't treated with chloramine, you may not need it. Plain old chlorine can be neutralized by leaving the tap water in an open bucket overnight...most of the chlorine will off gas. Potable water can still have substances in it that aren't great for a misting system. Like a high degree of hardness (calcium and other minerals). Mineral deposits can clog mister nozzles, lines, and pumps eventually and create buildups on live foliage in the cage. Find a source for RO or distilled water and use that in the system. Find out what's added to your municipal water.


He was meaning if he was to use house pressure.


House pressure is not going to be enough to push a good fine mist. Especially after pushing through a carbon filter which would be a minium.

Building a good misting system, with a suitable reliable pump will be very closely priced to a MK. You can save on nozzles if your doing alot of cages, there is a bulk option I made a thread for. For 1 or 2 cages, MK is very well priced.

You can buy the 30 dollar Amazon pump. However you get what you pay for. They are extremely loud, not reliable and will need to be replaced 5-6x, in the same lifetime of the MistKing would easily. So your still going to pay, while dealing with a super loud pump at the same time.

At the end of the day, it's up to you. The MistKing pump is defiantly worth the asking price however. The pump alone price at MK, is the same price as the comparable Aquatec, Shurflo ect. MK isn't making a ton of money selling pumps, the money is in the nozzles and accessories.
 
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