HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hermit199013 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 12, 2019 12:30 pm

I'm lost here, my 8 cup pool is losing a ton of water. Seems like it isn't normal at all...I'm putting about 16ounces(a water bottle in almost every day. Am I missing something here?

Heat stays around 80-82 degrees..and I'm not even noticing much help keeping my humidity up. Its a 40 gallon long.

What is going on? I don't see any splashing from bubbles either

Motörcrab wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 14, 2019 5:04 am

If you were loosing that much water be sure to make sure your substrate is not flooded. That can turn ugly very quickly.

In line air regulators will be around $3 at Wal Mart for two of them.

I like to put my airstones under the crab mesh at the bottom of the pools too. It helps to spread the bubbles and helps reduce over spray.

Be sure that you aren't using netting or other cloth like material for the crabs to climb in or near your pools. Water will soak into the material and move into the substrate without seeing any real signs.

Also check out my water cabana thread. I basically added roofs on top of my pools to catch even more of the misting and also added a tray under them to collect more water. I have been using that set up for at least 2 months and I haven't had and issues so far. They aren't the easiest to do water changes with but they really help with water build up. Plus if you decorate them, they give additional climbing areas!

Oliviet#1 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:26 pm

All you really do is check around each side of the tank but sliding a knife against the glass and in the sand and you wiggle it around a bit. It should leave a gap and if the sand is flooded water will probably fill the gap in a few seconds. I think with a straw (you would need a strong one) you just stick it in the sand and wiggle it around to see if it is soggy. The knife one will probably be better if you are concerned about disturbing your hermit crab. I checked my tank a while ago with the knife trick but I should probably check again soon. If it is flooded there is a higher chance of a bacteria bloom and that could also put your molting crab in danger, so you probably want to check for flooding.

Motörcrab wrote: ↑

Sat Jun 15, 2019 11:01 am

Great! It sounds like you found the problem.

Wiggling a butter knife down along the glass works the best for flooding as Oliviet stated. I believe as long as there is no hole near where you are poking down you should be safe. The water will pool up and be a similar color to your substrate when you pull the knife out. It only takes less than a minute for water to fill the hole. I like to check two or three areas along the glass to be safe.

For the cabana toppers I used the same size containers to make the tops. I just drilled small holes on the tops and bottoms to zip tie them together. I imagine you could try and find a slightly smaller tub to fit inside the bottom securely to avoid using zip ties.