Humidity question

I have zoo meds Hydroballs in the bottom of the tank with the water to keep the humidity up. My problem is I keep seeing mold growing on the surface of the substrate.
What can I do to stop that?

usually, mold problems are caused by poor ventilation and air movement in the tank, and leaving dead food items in. increase the ventilation etc, and it should improve. is it all over the substrate? just remove the affected area.


also, what the hell are hydroballs?

what substrate are you using? i use coir substrate, (t-rex forest bed etc.)
Never had a problem with mould on that stuff

but as said above, good ventilation and housekeeping keep this under control

I use the loose coconut fiber. I do have plastic over the screen cover to keep the humidity so I will vent that a bit more.
It is not all over, just in spots and under one the scorps hides.

Hydroballs are from Zoo Med. You place them in the bottom, add your water, place a mesh over the Hydroballs (so your substrate does not sit in the water) and put in your substrate.
I bought the hyroballs and the mesh at Petco.
You can see them Here

here you go guys CLICK

It looks to me like the same Idea as a flase bottom set up, might aswell just use gravel

I tried the gravel and it was SO heavy so I switched to this. These are very light!
I was worried about the shelf holding to up. when I switched to the Hydroballs it took 17 lbs off the tank.

ahhh, right. they look cool..

Yeah, it sounds like you just need to do some spot-cleaning. I get tufts of mold all the time over old food items. Just pick them out and you'll be fine.

Hopefully a more experienced enthusiast will correct me if I'm wrong, but Armadillidiidae (pill bugs), and other Isopod's do a good job of cleaning up mold and decaying vegetation. I don't believe scorps will eat them all too often either.

Again, I'm still learning a lot, and it would be greatly appreciated if a more experienced user could correct me if I'm wrong.

I'm interested in pill bugs also...do the scorpions leave them alone?

we've got some woodlice (pill bugs) breeding at the moment.

I used to have pillbugs in scorpion tanks before. the scorpions did occasionally eat them but never suffered any ill effects that i could see.

basically if you need enough of them establish a colony so you have a 'never ending' supply. they help clean up and the scorpions get the odd snack!

^Just be careful about large pill bugs and very small scorpions -- they've been known to mistake the scorps for the odd bit of organic debris.

they will be going in with the big scorpions, i wouldn't dare put them in with little 'uns.

but a valid point to make nontheless while we are on the subject of pillbugs

Awesome...there is an orange variety of pill bug that would make a fun looking colony..and they are super easy to colonize I think.

Also, I saw Hydroballs at the pet store today. It's just rolled up peat moss. It looks like cereal though.