terarium conditions?

[Crimson King]

i cant seem to find and jars sutable for my needs, so i orderd a case of pre staralized ones to save me some time. they are filled with verm and bird seed. should i restaralize them apon delivery? also i started my terarium using a big rubbermaid, a 10gl fish tank hood, and a ultra-sonic humidifier. i cut away sections of the lid and fit the fish hood on top and gave it a air tight seel with calking. i think this is a good idea becous the light is not inside the terarium(under light is a plastic shield) and i can let new air in without undoing a huge lid( the fish hood has a place to drop food in) my humidifier is reading a constant 90, but there seems to be LOTS of condincation on the bottem should i turn it down a little or put in more perlite? any other coments are welcome, as well as new ideas.

p.s i suck at spelling so bear with me

[MLBjammer]

I'd go with some perlite on the bottom myself. You should not resterilize anything sold as sterilized (water content would be shot and it's supposed to be PC'ed). Will you still be able to deliver fresh air into your fruiting chamber? It sounds as though you have a small opening in the hood; I don't think that's enough. Maybe I misunderstand, though. You need to be able to fan air in or circulate it with a pump; that's the important thing--fresh air.
Welcome to Mycotopia. This is a great community of wise people and eager minds. And please read through the old and new vaults. Anything you could ask about has likely been covered there. GL.

[Crimson King]

my opining is roughly 3'' by 15'' and fans out pritty good, but my humidifier is hooked up via hoses with a coupling atached to the chamber for easy disconection, question, my humidifier blows fog into the chamber so i only leave it on for short periods of time, is there a way of reducing amount of water blown into the chamber, (im thinking towls or scotch pads in the hose) any better ideas?

[BuckarooBanzai]

If you coil up a few feet of hosing, it will slow down the fog a lot. Just make sure the lowest part of the hose is above the humidifer, so water can drain back in (instead of pooling up in the hose).

Perlite on the bottom is good to soak up any condensation, even if you don't soak it for evaporative humidification.

[Crimson King]

thx, ill looped some hose and it helped minimize water droplets, i also stufed a little bit of scotch pads into my coupling and basicly it just helped the water drip down the side instead of flaying to the center of the tank. but like i said the little water that is now dripping is minimal and i still have good humidity thank you guys. just waiting for my Huautla and Teachers. (:

[hogwild]

you can also set your humidifier on a modified timer. This will cycle once every 90 minutes or you can add more trips to it and it will cycle several times. This method has proved itself IME as a great way to have consistent air exchange/ humidity. peace and gl.