air circulation in humid terrestrial/aquatic "bio-dome"?

[Aqua Vivarious]

greetings folks, I'm new to the forum and excited to find some answers to a few things I'm stumped by in the creation of a terrestrial/aquatic bio-tope. I have a 55 gallon tank on a stand that I made, it's super insulated and sealed. it rests at the perfect temp for my Brazilian Rainbow Boa, which will be living just below it inside the stand. I hope to rely minimally on the resistive coil heater (energy hog) in the fish tank or the UTH in the snake habitat by circulating the "waste heat" and humidity back and forth between the tanks. the snake is a baby, less than a year old and requires the walls to be dripping wet or it will develop problems when shedding. I need a solution for pumping hot/warm, humid air from one enclosure to the other. does anyone know of a fan that is designed to handle humid, essentially wet conditions, capable of being placed in the tank or do you know of any other solutions. Ideally I'd have some control over the air flow but at this point can't be too picky. I've considered simply placing a fish tank air pump at the top inside of the tank enclosure and piping it down to the snake but don't know if there is a pump brand best suited to handle super high humidity and the heat that comes from the LED lights, which isn't super intense but definitely something to consider. anyway, was wondering if this problem has been solved by anyone and I would very much appreciate any feedback! thanks in advance!!

 

[Coursair]

This is what I found
http://youtu.be/MA7YjXUwfvk

http://youtu.be/v6M9uo4jX1s

You can also Google how to set up a rain forest vivarium. A lot of the dart frog people would have solutions to your issue of moving air.


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[Coursair]

I raised Columbian rainbow boas without any major issues. They did breed and have babies. I always offered them a humid hide and I always had a large water dish underneath the heat light to provide ambient humidity but I never kept the walls quite that wet. But I know the Colombians are not quite as sensitive as the Brazilians, especially as babies


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[Aqua Vivarious]

thanks guys! I'm trying to avoid using high wattage heat lamps and tank heaters. i'm pretty certain that given how insulated this system is (R20.5) and through adjusting bio loud I can retain plenty of heat (from the lights), and co2 and o2 cycling between these two systems to either virtually eliminate the need for co2 injection and added heat or at least drastically reduce them, if I can properly seal them up and monitor (I have o2 censors from another hobby and plan to put a co2 monitor in the tank. I'm not entirely sure where my fascination with closed bio-domes comes from, but i find it fascinating to try and mimic at least to some extent, the symbiotic natural system, if only for long term economy/efficiencies sake. I will be cracking the seal to feed the snake every 10 days to 2 weeks and there is still a lot to figure out. the challenge is that heat rises in the upper tank set up and needs to be actively moved down gradient to the lower system and I have yet to find the pump or fan that can be installed directly inside the sealed area of the enclosure. If temps rise too much, I will also need a way to radiate/pump heat outside the enclosure and will need a pump for that. I have yet to check with hydroponic folks but I will and coursair i'll search around for rainforest vivarium info, thanks for the suggestion!

 

[bribo12]

I keep Dendrobates tinctorius "Brazilian yellowhead" in a 20 long with a false bottom composed of egg crate raised up about 2". This allows water to gather underneath and keep humidity in. I drain the bottom about once a week. I then have a piece of plexiglass covering the screen top. This keeps humidity about 90% with live plants and I must 2-3 x a day. I might be way off on what you want to do but figured that may help.


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[Aqua Vivarious]

sheesh, if only I could contact the originator of this patent app: Patent US20030150394 - Self-contained tropical rainforest vivarium system - Google Patents

I basically want to merge the atmospheres of a Self-contained tropical rainforest vivarium system with a planted community tank:
"A self contained tropical rainforest vivarium system has an enclosure and a system for creating and maintaining environmental conditions found in a natural tropical rainforest habitat, which at the same time eliminate unnecessary build-up of anaerobic bacteria so as to prevent accumulation of stench and resulting need for frequent dis-assembly for cleaning and removal of the bacteria and contaminants."

imagine both a planted snake vivarium and a connected planted aquarium set up that was well balanced enough to barely ever need cleaning or fertilizing or co2 injection. the incorporation of aerobic bacteria, light and occasional feeding with proper circulation of nutrients/waste products may make this possible. I still need the fan. though this guy, claims to have developed a passive circulation system: Rainforest Emulating Vivariums perhaps the original patent applicant.