change my substrate...to what?

Big MaC · Post by **Big MaC** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 9:05 am

HOPE it goes well for him Spi.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 11:14 am

@ Spiral - hope it goes well! and the tat you use the coral sand in...is it 100% sand? I mean I'm not TOTALLY against having 100% sand in my crabs' tat, I'm just getting tired of how "dusty" the crabs and the tat always look. I think I'm definitely gonna try a mix, but I might look for that coral based sand to USE in the mix...it sounds like it's beneficial to the crabs...and I just HAPPEN to have an empty 10 gallon fish tank FULL of "shell" substrate that I might even throw into the mix.

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:23 pm

just remember with the shell substrate, any sharp pieces can get stuck in the crabs shell and hurt the soft tail. That can be deadly for a crab. I would stick to finely crushed shell to a powder. I wanted to give live sand a try but i heard (and its written in a live sand thread here at HCA) that the live sand can hold bacteria. Maybe once it was dried out or baked it would be ok. I do give it as a food source but it does seem to get clumpy and hard after about 24 hours in the dish.

Post by **wodesorel** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:58 pm

Live sand is scooped straight off the ocean floor - with bacteria, crustaceans, and all types of micro-organisms included. It's used to seed marine fish tanks will everything necessary to make them a complete and healthy environment

By not using the sand in an ocean replica, it kills off everything inside of it - which is why it's dangerous for crabs. What live sand becomes in a crab tank is a pile of sand filed with dead, dying, and rotting organisms in very short period of time!

suebee · Post by **suebee** » Sun Feb 14, 2010 10:29 pm

i wonder how the stores keep in alive so long for shelf life. It claims on the bag that it has no expiration date and is still alive. Maybe its alive until it drys out?

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Feb 15, 2010 8:41 pm

well I switched to eco earth today, and mixed in a little of the calci-sand I had, but I got rid of MOST of it...I kept the relatively fresher sand that was in there. one of my PP's...who's been digging holes all this week...has already buried himself. I can hear him tunneling down there and it makes me happy!

I hope my crabs enjoy the change as much as I do! thanks again for the input!