HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My unmixed Instant Ocean is now a solid brick of salt. I resealed the bag and thought I'd be good, but apparently not. I store it under the crabitat in the normal room conditions, so it's not like it's in an extremely humid part of the house.

Does anyone have any tips for keeping Instant Ocean from turning into a salt brick...and for "unbricking" a box that has already solidified?

You could try bagging it up individually, 1/2 cup per baggy. I gave up and just scrape, beat, bang to break it up for measuring. I don't think it causes any harm.

I bag mine individually (1/2C in baggies) and I think it's just normal for it to harden up over time. In small amounts it's easier to break up, at least. I don't think there's a way to keep it from hardening, at least in my experience. I store all mine under the tank as well.

Oh, gosh, that's a great idea. Would make mixing a gallon so much quicker and simpler, too. Doh! Next time I'll divvy it up the first time I open it. Brilliant. Sure wish I'd thought to ask this question about two months ago.

I keep mine in little plastic tupperware containers and the only part that gets a little crusty is a thin top layer, but it breaks apart easily.
and a cheese grater may help to break it apart.

One other thing - I keep a moisture absorber thingie from Dollar Tree (https://m.dollartree.com/h5/r/product/T ... /index.pro) under my tank as well and that helps some, I think. My salt clumps but not rock hard. Also, when I fill a gallon jug I use a funnel to dump the salt in and run hot water over it into the jug to dissolve it easier.

megmaholm wrote:One other thing - I keep a moisture absorber thingie from Dollar Tree (https://m.dollartree.com/h5/r/product/T ... /index.pro) under my tank as well and that helps some, I think. My salt clumps but not rock hard. Also, when I fill a gallon jug I use a funnel to dump the salt in and run hot water over it into the jug to dissolve it easier.

GENIUS!

I use the snack size zip baggies and pre measure to make my gallon. It is a tight fight but very little air is in the bag. The air seems to make the salt get rock hard. I then cut the corner off when I need to make a gallon and it pours right into the bottler.

I just keep mine in the box. Sometimes it gets a little hard, but i just chop it up with a plastic spoon before adding it to the water.

I bag mine individually and store it in a plastic shoebox. I buy the 50 gal bags and when I did it the last time it looked like i was running a drug ring out of my house. It has been a year and none of it has hardened yet.

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I don't bag mine individuals, but I might start doing so. One thing I do differently though if I mix my salt water in a measuring cup then add to my jug and repeat till all the salt is added to the jug. I made a mess with our with out a funnel before.


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