Looking into bioactive substrate/humidity issues

[Lindalee7]

Hello! I am the new owner of two 12 week old beardies. They are siblings and currently housed in a very basic 40 gallon tank. I will soon be building them each a much much larger enclosure- I will be aiming for double the size of what they now share. I live in Miami and the humidity here is almost always extremely high. I’ve had a difficult time getting the humidity in the tank lower than about 48%. I’m currently not keeping a water bowl in there and instead soaking them several times a week. I purchased a “golden rod” dehumidifier that I am waiting for. Hopefully that will help. I would very much like their new enclosures to be bioactive. Anyone have suggestions on substrate or humidity lowering tips and tricks for someone who lives in the tropics? I’m open to all info

 

[Lindalee7]

First photo is their current temporary house. I don’t like it at all and they won’t be in there long.
Right is Pancake, on the left is Mad-Eye Moody aka one-eye. Both are healthy, sweet, and easy to handle given their breeder had her kids handle them several times a day. They are currently enjoying some home grown cactus!

Other photos are of a build I found on YouTube that I will be attempting to recreate although I will be going bigger.

 

[Ferrent]

I have my boy in a 75 gallon bioactive tank. He loves digging in it. I swear sometimes he's trying to dig his way to China. I bought the Terra Sahara from The Bio Dude, and it works fantastic. I also bought the beardie starter pack of plants, but he's already stomped the aloe and elephant feed to death so make sure you pick larger plants to put in that will survive the digging. I went to Home Depot's website and order the cheapest large sized rocks I could find (about 2-4 inches each). I bought 3 bags (20 lbs each I think?) and only needed half of one bag. I used these to try and cover up the dirt so if he's chasing crickets around the tank they don't bury themselves as quickly. I would recommend feeding other insects in a dish so there's not so much dirt being ingested, but if you keep him well hydrated that won't be much issue. His humidity is between 35-40% depending on if I mist the soil for the isopods or not, which I do at least once a week and mist my beardie while I'm in the process for some extra hydration dripping from his nose tip into his mouth. I will say not everything in my tank is natural or organic, but he loves his tree and cave too much to replace them.

I wanted to share photos of mine but they're too large...

 

[Ferrent]

Got it to work! This was right after I got it all together and didn't get all the lights back up or the screen back on top