Humidity level too high?

[Cubsboy14]

I'm setting up a bearded dragon tank and I got everything set up good except for the humidity levels. In the tank it's around 60%, I bought a mini dehumidifier and tried the rice sock trick but it didn't even affect the humidity. Do I need to get a larger humidifier? I live in the basement so it'll naturally be more humid. Any help would he greatly appreciated.

 

[BeardedHippy]

hi, can we see a pic of your setup? It will be hard to control if that is the natural humidity level of the air in your basement. While I might be new to beardies, I used to build environmental control systems for greenhouses many years ago and humidity is the hardest to control, especially in a naturaly damp environment (that would be the UK). If you have an open top tank, the humidity levels will be the same as the air in the room, so yes, a large dehumidifier would reduce the overall level in the room and tank. Those things are big, expensive to buy and run and often noisy though.
Keeping your beardie in a more enclosed habitat, such as a vivarium would allow you to contol the environment better, but it becomes a much finer balancing act to get everything at correct levels. There is the chance that just because it is a closed environment the heat from the lamps alone could bring down the humidity enough.
It is a tricky problem to solve.

 

[Cubsboy14]

Here is my setup, the dial hygrometer I'm calibrating right now. What does the low humidity vs high humidity on the digital hygrometer mean? It says low 38% and high 76% but the big number is at 60%.

 

[Rex Carnage]

I live in a basement and the humidity during the summer down here is around 80%, I have a big dehumidifer which during the summer keeps the humidity around 45 - 50 and It is always running so thats what has worked for me, i also have it hooked up to a hose that drains into the sub-pump so i dont have to empty it every day.

 

[Cubsboy14]

I live in a basement and the humidity during the summer down here is around 80%, I have a big dehumidifer which during the summer keeps the humidity around 45 - 50 and It is always running so thats what has worked for me, i also have it hooked up to a hose that drains into the sub-pump so i dont have to empty it every day.

Do you run it 24/7? And how much does it cost per month to run if you know?

 

[Rex Carnage]

yes 24/7, i turn it off here and there to clean the covers over the air intake but thats about all also im not exactly sure how much it cost per month but if you do the math watts x volts = # of amps of the device your using and the amount of time your using it and you can figure out how much it cost to use one amp then you can figure out the cost

 

[BeardedHippy]

It depends on the power of the dehumidifier, a 100w would cost around $1.50 a week, a 1500w would cost around $25 a week (based on 126 kwh/ 12 hours a day, so double that if you have it running 24/7). The size you will need depends on the size of the room you are using it in. A 500w dehumidifier would do the job for most, unless your room is huge, using $10-15 a week 24/7 (you need a %20 drop in humidity). I do believe you can get energy efficient dehumidifiers these days, not sure of the running cost of those in comparison.
Looks like that would be your best option though, still cheaper than having a new damp course installed in your appartment
Your setup looks good, there will be a variation in humidity from the hot to the cool side of your tank. The air will be drier under the lamps, I have a variation of +/-18% from one side to the other, but I do keep water dishes at the cool end of my vivs, it would drop if I took them out.
(the prices above are not exact, electric companies charge different rates per Kwh, but they are close enough to get an idea)