Help with 20 gallon

[Commanderlcc]

Not too long ago I convinced my parents into letting me get a 20 gallon long (Next stop will be 40). It was fine at first, but I have been experiencing some problems. There are a couple things that I have questions on. First, the humidity. I had a bubbler in my salt water pool, but my mother was scared of a fire and made me unplug it. The humidity in my tank is absolutely awful and I feel terrible about it. Seran wrap doesn’t work too well against my screen lid and whenever I talk to my parents about just doing plexiglass, they say my hermies won’t be able to breathe. They won’t listen. I’m thinking about getting a humidifier to go along with my daily/nightly mistings so the substrate doesn’t completely dry out. What do you guys think? My next questions goes with the pools. I have two decent sized tubber ware dishes for my fresh and salt water pools. And it is extremely frustrating to clean it and then come back to it and see dirt all in it. Can I place gravel or stones around it to help or should I just learn to deal with it? My next thing is the temperature, as you can tell my mother is frightened dearly about fires. She wouldn’t do a UTH, and I feel like a light bulb would be better. So what should I use for my 20 gal? My main concern is how quickly my substrate seems to dry out. I know my crabs need to molt and that they need good substrate to do this. I am currently using Ecco Earth. I know that goes with humidity, so that’s my top priority. Thank you for helping!

[GotButterflies]

Well, first of all...perhaps you could convince your parents to jump on the HCA and take a peek around here? That might help you out a bit! Even if they just read your thread...Just a thought!

Humidity...on newly established tanks...it can take time to get humidity established. Air pumps are very unlikely to cause fires. I've personally never heard of one causing it. If you can plug this back in, I would recommend putting it into the freshwater instead of the salt.

Plexiglass will not prevent the hermits from breathing. When you lift the lid to change the food and water there is enough of an air exchange for them.

For heat, I personally don't like light sources or heat lamps. They evaporate the humidity in the air. Ultratherms have been used for a long time! I personally don't like Zoomed Brands - They are expensive and put off little heat. I have bought my fair share of them. I prefer the ones from www.reptilebasics.com or www.beanfarm.com Those can be safely insulated. You place those on the back of the tank above the substrate.

As far as having dirt/eco earth in your pools...that's bound to happen! They go in there and clean out their shells

Is there a reason that you use just eco earth? Just curious. Lots of crabbers use just eco earth, or just sand. I use a mixture. To each his own.

Humidifiers - some people do use these, but they put them on timers. Please use caution with these. They can lead to substrate flooding if not used properly.

[Kermie16]

I totally back up what GB posted above. Also maybe ur mom would feel better if the bubblers were on a timer so they aren’t on all the time? Just a thought And, yeah, gonna have to get used to dirty pools (lol!) I put some coral and mussel shells around our pools and that seem to lessen it but not by very much! Also, do u have a moss pit? That can also help boost humidity:) Good luck! Hope it all works out!


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[AwesomeHermit]

Agreed. I have timers on my Incandescent light.