New Tank Design

celticstarb · Post by **celticstarb** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 7:38 am

Thanks. I will definitely be able to use the oak. We also have a few acres of grape I can cut down and dry. I bought the sand yesterday. 300 pounds of it gave me a 9 inch deep substrate. I will probably add a few pounds of coconut coir to add a bit more depth without too much more weight. I have some aragonite rocks left over from an old aquarium that will make great piles for climbing.Sadly, I'm running a little over budget on this project, so the aquariums inside the enclosure will have to wait. I do have some plastic "shoe boxes" I can use. They hold about a gallon of water, so they should be ok for now.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Sun Feb 08, 2015 8:02 am

Yeah I feel ya, I've been thinking about going back to my forty gallon breeder as the 121 gallon I'm currently using is just a lot bigger than I can handle physically and financially right now.I just used one of my gift cards I got for Christmas at the pet store it came from to upgrade my overhead heating, I bought a professional series Infrared heat bulb made by Fluker's its a 75 watt which was necessary because the 60 watt Zilla Infrared heat bulb I've been using wasn't putting out enough heat since the house has been running unusually cold this winter.I'm now having to look at get a Repti Fogger to keep the humidity higher and more stable because the glass lids that came with the tank fell apart and had to be tossed so the makeshift lids I'm using however ideal for using a heat lamp over are just not cutting it in regards to retaining the humidity levels my crabs need.I was also in need of some more hermitcrab food and I was able to find some by Fluker's thats a mixed variety type that has none of the toxic pesticides in it that we have to watch for, I ended up buying the only two bottles sitting on the shelf.lolMy tank has about twelve inches of substrate depth across the bottom all play sand because it was far cheaper for me but it took something like seven of the fifty pound bags to get it to that depth so I know what your talking about believe me and what makes it worse is I'm so short that even with a step ladder I can't reach in through the top and touch the bottom of the tank it still sits another five or six inches lower than my hand.lol

celticstarb · Post by **celticstarb** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:13 pm

That's funny. I'm having the opposite issue with my tank. I'm almost 6 feet tall, and the rim of my 100 gallon is only 48 inches from the ground. I have to squat down in front of the tank to watch my guys play at night.I actually had to go grocery shopping for my crabs last night. I was lucky to find a good deal on organic raw honey. Now if I can keep my better half from eating it all, it should last quite a while.And of course, the man at the seafood countet gave me an odd look when I asked for 4 shrimp. My crabs just don't eat shrimp that fast.

celticstarb · Post by **celticstarb** » Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:47 pm

One more question; is Rep-Cal with D3 safe to add to their food? I wanted to make up some food mixes and freeze them.

Crabber85 · Post by **Crabber85** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:12 am

We generally steer away from the calcium dusts or powders because they utilize a different chemical form of calcium that the hermitcrabs may not be able to use though if the product isn't synthetic and made from something like crushed oyster shell then it should be perfectly fine.

celticstarb · Post by **celticstarb** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 10:56 am

Good to know. I have plenty of oyster shell grit for my birds. I've always kept oyster shell and cuttlebone with my crabs. They seem to like the cuttlebone better, maybe since it's softer.