New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

This is where you discuss the conditions of your crabitat -- temperature, humidity, substrate, decorating, etc.

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Kydra
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New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Kydra » Wed Jan 29, 2020 6:11 pm

So I had posted that was planning on upgrading from my 20L soon enough. Just saw Petco is doing the dollar a gallon/tank sales now. I have my 20L on a dresser and looking at the dimensions a 40G would be too wide whereas a 55G for $20 more would actually fit.

I've already upgraded now 3 times since August and used the dollar sale for all. What gets me is the lid price and then of course the price for heating pads. Any thoughts on cheaper lids or anything even temporary or DIY... do they even sell lids for the 55G? Currently have a mesh lid on the 20L with an exact cut taped piece of cling wrap for humidity and all.

Then I get to the UTHs... purchased the 20L with a zoomed UTH for 20G or whatever their recommendation was. Had to buy 2 more as I realized it just wasn't enough. I know many will dog on the zoomed UTH, but my tank is running around 7-8 degrees higher than the temp in room. Probably paid way too much for them and for not enough heat compared to the better brands most here use so would need help on exactly what to purchase here esp for a 55G.

I'm kinda rushing the upgrade a bit as my current substrate with 2 molters down and 1 up is currently about 3:1 ish. I was bored reading reddit posts about the EE degrading and needing to replaced at minimum 6 months and I'm sure the crabs have dug down even more bio mess into it lol. I have had successful molts so far just hoping my one guy is doing fine as has been down a bit. Rambling as I tend to, but about how many bags of playsand would I need for a 55G? Also, I had bought extra bags of EE and have 2 decent sized unopened bags of loose EE. This shouldn't go bad as it's new/unopened, correct?

Sorry so many questions, but it's for the crabs! Seriously though, I would def appreciate any help here. I might take a trip to Petco tomorrow, but want to setup correctly and not just impulsively buy and spend too much. Difficult enough with end of month bills right now! Thanks for any advice/suggestions/links/anything! Would be greatly appreciated.

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Wed Jan 29, 2020 7:37 pm

Kydra wrote:So I had posted that was planning on upgrading from my 20L soon enough. Just saw Petco is doing the dollar a gallon/tank sales now. I have my 20L on a dresser and looking at the dimensions a 40G would be too wide whereas a 55G for $20 more would actually fit.

I've already upgraded now 3 times since August and used the dollar sale for all. What gets me is the lid price and then of course the price for heating pads. Any thoughts on cheaper lids or anything even temporary or DIY... do they even sell lids for the 55G? Currently have a mesh lid on the 20L with an exact cut taped piece of cling wrap for humidity and all.

Then I get to the UTHs... purchased the 20L with a zoomed UTH for 20G or whatever their recommendation was. Had to buy 2 more as I realized it just wasn't enough. I know many will dog on the zoomed UTH, but my tank is running around 7-8 degrees higher than the temp in room. Probably paid way too much for them and for not enough heat compared to the better brands most here use so would need help on exactly what to purchase here esp for a 55G.

I'm kinda rushing the upgrade a bit as my current substrate with 2 molters down and 1 up is currently about 3:1 ish. I was bored reading reddit posts about the EE degrading and needing to replaced at minimum 6 months and I'm sure the crabs have dug down even more bio mess into it lol. I have had successful molts so far just hoping my one guy is doing fine as has been down a bit. Rambling as I tend to, but about how many bags of playsand would I need for a 55G? Also, I had bought extra bags of EE and have 2 decent sized unopened bags of loose EE. This shouldn't go bad as it's new/unopened, correct?

Sorry so many questions, but it's for the crabs! Seriously though, I would def appreciate any help here. I might take a trip to Petco tomorrow, but want to setup correctly and not just impulsively buy and spend too much. Difficult enough with end of month bills right now! Thanks for any advice/suggestions/links/anything! Would be greatly appreciated.
Hi!

As far as lids go, they do make aquarium hoods with a light strip and a plain screen top with a center hinge for a 55 gal. I have them both. I used my 55 gal as a fish tank and tortoise enclosure at one point. Once I move in a couple weeks, I'll have the same issue as you, as I'm going to use my 55 for my hermit crabs. If I find any glass/plexiglass lids that aren't too expensive I'll let you know. Image

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Motörcrab » Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:20 pm

I figure one 50 pound bag of sand for every ten gallon. 5 bags would get you pretty close to the 6" of sub. 6 bags may get you a little more.

As for the UTH. Depending on where you like I highly suggest an Ultratherm from Reptile Basics. On our 55 we use an 11x35 across the back. We also have an 11x11 on one side too. Both are insulated and the side heater is only used in the winter months.

I forget what size lids is used on a 55 off the top of my head. 55's generally have a divider in the center. I think they take two 20 tall glass tops. To be safe so you get the right ones I would measure the inside lip on the 55 so you don't accidentally get the wrong ones.
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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:34 pm

If you have the 55 gal with center brace like I do, I believe this is the split lids that will fit our tanks. Just a heads up though, I've ordered a glass top for my 40 gal breeder online from That Pet Place before, and it arrived from Fed Ex broken, twice! I hate Fed Ex. They've broken pretty much anything I've ordered that was shipped by them. So when I'm ready I'm actually going to go to That Pet Place to get the lid.

https://www.thatpetplace.com/marineland ... -48in-13in

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My Pets: 2 Pomeranians, 1 Russian tortoise, fishes/snails(40 gal freshwater aquarium), and 13 hermit crabs.
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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Kydra » Wed Jan 29, 2020 9:11 pm

Thank you all for the help. I'm going to take a look tomorrow at Petco. In reality I could go 40G, but I'm not sure. I just want to get everything 'right' and be done with upgrades lol. I do know with the 10G and 20G the mesh lid was pretty much the same price as the tank with the dollar sale which I thought was a little crazy.

So about one 50lb bag of playsand for every 10 gallons? That def helps as I ran low on the 20GL and ended up with more EE. I'll have to check out the UTHs from reptile basics as well. I basically have so much now that half isn't even in the 20G so really just need a larger tank, lid, heat, and substrate (planning on doing the 5:1 as recommended).

Thanks again! 👍👍

Edit: I have been looking at the ultratherm UTHs at reptile basics and even after reading the FAQ, still a bit confused lol. Guess I'm just used to buying the zoomed and sticking it on without having to insulate myself. Seems I'd have to tape then insulate so I'd be heating the crabitat rather than the air in the room. Maybe I am misreading this though. 🤔

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:08 am

Kydra wrote:Thank you all for the help. I'm going to take a look tomorrow at Petco. In reality I could go 40G, but I'm not sure. I just want to get everything 'right' and be done with upgrades lol. I do know with the 10G and 20G the mesh lid was pretty much the same price as the tank with the dollar sale which I thought was a little crazy.

So about one 50lb bag of playsand for every 10 gallons? That def helps as I ran low on the 20GL and ended up with more EE. I'll have to check out the UTHs from reptile basics as well. I basically have so much now that half isn't even in the 20G so really just need a larger tank, lid, heat, and substrate (planning on doing the 5:1 as recommended).

Thanks again! ImageImage

Edit: I have been looking at the ultratherm UTHs at reptile basics and even after reading the FAQ, still a bit confused lol. Guess I'm just used to buying the zoomed and sticking it on without having to insulate myself. Seems I'd have to tape then insulate so I'd be heating the crabitat rather than the air in the room. Maybe I am misreading this though. Image
If you're going to upgrade one last time, I'd just go for the 55 gal. For some reason I had a harder time finding a top for my 40 gal breeder (no center brace) than I did for my 55 gal. I used my 40 gal for my tortoise and fish too. I just keep moving all my pets around from one tank to the next lol. Good luck! Image

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My Pets: 2 Pomeranians, 1 Russian tortoise, fishes/snails(40 gal freshwater aquarium), and 13 hermit crabs.
"Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game." -Paul Rodriguez-
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Kydra
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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Kydra » Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:21 am

CrabbyLover77 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:08 am
If you're going to upgrade one last time, I'd just go for the 55 gal. For some reason I had a harder time finding a top for my 40 gal breeder (no center brace) than I did for my 55 gal. I used my 40 gal for my tortoise and fish too. I just keep moving all my pets around from one tank to the next lol. Good luck! Image

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You are probably right. If I go 40G, I'll be looking in the summer at 55G. New to hermit crabs bought original on vacation in August... went from that round mesh cage to the largest plastic one I could find just to get them out of the wired cage to a 10G to a 20G long.

Going to take a look tomorrow to get a better idea of actual sizes in person. When I first thought about just doing the upgrade now, I was thinking no biggie, I don't need much. In reality at minimum I'd need the tank/lid/heater/substrate. Then I'll want to upgrade pools so this is going to be more of a project than I initially thought for sure!

Appreciate the help.

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 4:09 am

Kydra wrote: You are probably right. If I go 40G, I'll be looking in the summer at 55G. New to hermit crabs bought original on vacation in August... went from that round mesh cage to the largest plastic one I could find just to get them out of the wired cage to a 10G to a 20G long.

Going to take a look tomorrow to get a better idea of actual sizes in person. When I first thought about just doing the upgrade now, I was thinking no biggie, I don't need much. In reality at minimum I'd need the tank/lid/heater/substrate. Then I'll want to upgrade pools so this is going to be more of a project than I initially thought for sure!

Appreciate the help.
No problem. Image Just figured I'd throw my thoughts out there. Image It's fun to upgrade, but like you said, there's always a lot of stuff to buy to go with it. At least you'll get the tank for a decent price. Image

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Motörcrab » Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:04 am

CrabbyLover77 wrote:
Wed Jan 29, 2020 8:34 pm
So when I'm ready I'm actually going to go to That Pet Place to get the lid.

https://www.thatpetplace.com/marineland ... -48in-13in

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We love going to That Pet Place! It's about a two hour drive for us to get there but it's awesome! The store is the size of 5-6 Petsmarts, easily! Be prepared to spend at minimum an hour there. Sign up for their rewards program and get a discount too! They are one of the only pet stores I have seen that have their hermits in decent conditions for a store.
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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:27 pm

Motörcrab wrote: We love going to That Pet Place! It's about a two hour drive for us to get there but it's awesome! The store is the size of 5-6 Petsmarts, easily! Be prepared to spend at minimum an hour there. Sign up for their rewards program and get a discount too! They are one of the only pet stores I have seen that have their hermits in decent conditions for a store.
I love that place too! Unfortunately, I probably only get there once a year. It's about an hour from my house. I met a young lady there to adopt her crabbies back in August. I bought some shells there, but realized when I got home that they had some type of varnish on them. Image So they just ended up being decorations for me instead.

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Motörcrab » Thu Jan 30, 2020 12:42 pm

Yea, we make a day trip there every few months to stock up on moss, cork and other crabby stuff. Unfortunately they you still need to watch what you are buying since they still sell unsafe crabby items. I think next time we visit we will try and talk to them about their hermit supplies.

I saw on Instagram they built someone a custom crabitat. Someone commented the substrate wasn't deep enough. They replied back and wanted to know how to improve it. I never check back to see what the outcome was. Another time they did recommend a tank and other supplies rather than a wire cage. I think they would at least listen to what I had to say.

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Kydra » Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:29 pm

I'll have to search as I've never heard of "That Pet Place" to see if ones around sometime. I'm pretty much overstocked on everything at the moment except for some playsand (home depot a mile down the road next to Petco).

I mentioned before in another thread that the 'reptile guy' at my local Petco does his own shows, sells his captive bred snakes, and basically called the Petco gig more a part time hobby. Still have to look him up and go to one of his shows. He was very knowledgeable on hermit crabs as well with both of us laughing at the sign "easy care" next to the crabs. Basically said he can only do so much for the animals he's in charge of at Petco because of store management/corporate nonsense.

Maybe you'll have better luck talking to those at That Pet Place though. Worth a try at the least. We're all aware basically everything labeled for hermit crabs at Petco is either completely useless or just harmful to them which sucks. Somehow ended up looking at pics on reddit and saw so many terrible setups with basically no substrate/not enough most common. I'm anxious enough to upgrade with having 2 molters now down in the 20G with one being a first molt. One's been down for a few months now and would really like for him to come up lol.

Anyway, going to take a ride there in a few hours or so. I usually end up in there forever just looking at everything, other animals, ya know. So would enjoy going to That Pet Place if it is that much larger than the typical Petco. I'll post back if I do end up purchasing a tank and a few things. If I do, will go to Home Depot as well. Going to go by the bag of sand for every 10G that was mentioned here as a guide for how much to buy.


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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Kydra » Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:43 pm

One more question that I wasn't sure about in the original post... I have 2 full bags of loose EE from a few months ago (maybe longer) never used and unopened. These are still all good, right?

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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by Motörcrab » Thu Jan 30, 2020 5:48 pm

I wouldn't have any issues using it. Just inspect the sub for any mold or anything funky to be safe. It's always dry when packaged so it should be good. We usually have a bag of EE just in case sometimes sitting around for months and never had a problem.
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Re: New Tank Purchase? Lid?? (substrate issues)

Post by CrabbyLover77 » Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:20 pm

Motörcrab wrote:Yea, we make a day trip there every few months to stock up on moss, cork and other crabby stuff. Unfortunately they you still need to watch what you are buying since they still sell unsafe crabby items. I think next time we visit we will try and talk to them about their hermit supplies.

I saw on Instagram they built someone a custom crabitat. Someone commented the substrate wasn't deep enough. They replied back and wanted to know how to improve it. I never check back to see what the outcome was. Another time they did recommend a tank and other supplies rather than a wire cage. I think they would at least listen to what I had to say.

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That would be great if they listened to what you have to say. You'll have to keep me updated if you ever get the chance to chat with them and how they respond. Image

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My Pets: 2 Pomeranians, 1 Russian tortoise, fishes/snails(40 gal freshwater aquarium), and 13 hermit crabs.
"Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they're in the game." -Paul Rodriguez-
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