Is all playsand safe
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Is all playsand safe
I am planning on doing a mixture of playsand and eco earth in my crabitat. I picked up two 50 pound bags from Ace. I'm just wondering if there is anything I need to be cautious of when using playsand such as chemicals?
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Playsand is good, no chemicals. As long as it's dry, no problem.
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.
You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Thank you! I’ll check out some of the threads on substrate for some more details. It’s very frustrating that the calci sand promotes that it’s good for hermit crabs .soilentgringa wrote:Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.
You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.
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Re: Is all playsand safe
I made the same mistake with the calci sand also. When I redid my substrate in the new tank I did the 5:1 ratio recommended on here. Meaning for every 5 cups of sand, 1 cup of EE mixed in. I also had ordered 2 bags of the pre-mixed substrate from The Hermit Crab Patch.ApePlanet wrote:Thank you! I’ll check out some of the threads on substrate for some more details. It’s very frustrating that the calci sand promotes that it’s good for hermit crabs .soilentgringa wrote:Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.
You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.
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Re: Is all playsand safe
All EE and all playsand can work (I've done both and every in between) but a mix of more sand than cocofiber tends to be the easiest to maintain over time. I personally like all sand, but cocofiber makes me sneeze!
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Re: Is all playsand safe
I have always used the 5:1 ratio of playsand to EE. When I first got my crabs and came across this site, that seemed to be what most crabbers were using, so that's what I went with. Has worked well for me, have just added more as I upgraded tanks!
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Polling your best experiences, how much water do you add to the 5:1 play sand/EE mix? I heard over-saturation can have negative side effects. Thanks!
Re: Is all playsand safe
I only poured a little at a time...mixing until it was sandcastle like...I then stuck a pencil in the see if it held the hole nicely.ApePlanet wrote:Polling your best experiences, how much water do you add to the 5:1 play sand/EE mix? I heard over-saturation can have negative side effects. Thanks!
Mom to 3 human boys, 2 dogs - Hemi & Athena, 2 cats - Fat a$$ (realname Spark Plug) & Batman & 5 PP’s - Monstro, Pinkie aka Little Bit, Shellie, other 2 unnamed
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Thanks!
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?
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Re: Is all playsand safe
I like to, as it helps prevent mold. Just don't add more salt water after the initial setup, because the water can evaporate but the salt will stay in the sub. Too much salt can cause burns to molters.ApePlanet wrote:Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?
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Captive Bred PP = Randy
75 Gallon Crabitat | Crabbing Since 8.11.2015
https://www.instagram.com/pinchersandshells/
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Thanks for the tip! I purchased some play sand, EE bricks, and some Instant Ocean today. Gonna try to redo the substrate tomorrow if I can.PinchersAndShells wrote:I like to, as it helps prevent mold. Just don't add more salt water after the initial setup, because the water can evaporate but the salt will stay in the sub. Too much salt can cause burns to molters.ApePlanet wrote:Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?
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Re: Is all playsand safe
Well, I was pre-prepping my tank for a substrate switch later this week and one of my PPs are missing, which tells me he/she probably is molting.soilentgringa wrote:Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.
You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.
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