Eco 20 question

[pfmoore17]

I am getting one of the Eco 20's.
What kind of thermometer/hydrometer should I get for it?
Any other tips?
thanks

 

[faykokoWV]

I hope someone answers this. I have the Eco 20 and I am doing my first hatch. I'm having a heck of a time figuring out what the temperature is in it. As the egg cradle rocks, the temp at one end goes up and the temp at the other end goes down

 

[Mahonri]

Mine has a built in thermometer and hygrometer?

 

[Spore]

The eco unit has a glass thermometer at the top.

 

[nmantime]

If you just want a thermoter get this one... Brinsea Spot Check Digital Incubator Thermometer. On Ebay $25 dollars including shipping. Or for a Thermometer/hydrometer I am using this one... Acu-Rite 00613 Digital Hygrometer. Folks have found them at Walmart for $8-10, i bought mine of ebay for $15 including shipping

I use both in my Eco 20... works perfectly

Norm in N.CA

Quote:

 

[pfmoore17]

Many thanks for the replies!

I got one of those little black thermometers/hydrometers that Nmantime bought at Wallyworld.
Very cool!

UPS was here today but I wasn't around to receive the eco 20 . rats!

I am going to set it up and let it get up to heat so I know whether the room is good for it.

I was thinking of putting the eco in a styrofoam cooler with the top off to keep the area around it draft free.

am i being too picky?
thanks

 

[Spore]

Drafts are not going to have a major affect on the incubator. When you get the bator I doubt you will put it in a styrofoam container. I hear your pain on waiting for it to arrive. I put the wrong last zip code number on my order and it got delayed 2 days. They even sent it a hundred miles south despite the fact that the zip code that I wrote and the one I am at are both in my town. Good luck though, you will be anxious about eggs before you know it.

 

[faykokoWV]

I actually ended up setting mine up in the bedroom.

I bought one of the hygrometer/thermometer's at Wally world as well and just stuck it inside, one with a probe would have been better but our WM did not have one that did humidity with the probe. I had a little trouble at first getting the humidity up, but finally got it to hold at 50%. i'm still not real sure what the ideal humidity is, but this seemed about right for "dry incubation". I'm on day 7 of my hatch. all they light colored eggs showed signs of growing, but i can't see through the darker ones. guess I'll have to buy a candler next!

 

[pfmoore17]

I went to Petco today. Spent 20 bucks on 2 thermometers and a humidity gauge.

I bought a digital thermometer for terrariums with a probe with a 39" cord, battery and suction cup for mounting.
I also got a package of thermometer and humidity dial gauges. These analog gauges have no screw adjustment, so they might be worthless. I will update their performance as I am currently testing them side by side.

I'm going back next week to get some styroform insulated boxes that are used for shipping bags of tropical fish.

I told the salesperson that I wanted to use the boxes to make a hatcher. He looked at me in disbelief. Then about 10 minutes later, he found me and told me to met him next week to get 6 boxes!

 

[pfmoore17]

I got my Brinsea from the UPS man yesterday. It arrived fine, I put it together, and then plugged in the incubator. I put water in one of the channels, about half full and closed the vent.

I put my 3 thermometers in it to see how true they are.

After an hour or so, the LED was flashing and the ECO glass thermometer read 100f. My $7 Acurite as pictured in this thread, was 100 and 31% humidity. The digital has run between 98.5 to 100.5.

It held these temps and humidity all night. I was excited, you would have thought something actually hatched! LOL

Today, I am going to try to increase humdity. I have opened the vent 50% and will put a piece of cloth in the water well and spread it out, increasing the surface area where H2O is avaiable.
I also am also going to borrow a humidifyer and set it up in the room. The exterior temp/humidity in the room clearly plays an important part in the temp/humdity in the ECO.

I get my first batch of eggs next week.

I appreciate any additional advise. Many thanks in advance, everybody has been very helpful here at BYC.