Temporary housing thoughts for deep clean

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Thu May 10, 2012 9:48 am

I think I'm going to break down and take Memorial Day weekend to do a deep clean on my 90 gallon. I'm really dreading removing 250 pounds of substrate and then putting 350 pounds back in. For someone with back issues this is not fun, but it needs to be done and doing it will allow me to move my straws into the main tank after I get the substrate deeper.

I know that plastic bins are commom for holding the crabs, but I'm going to have to have them out of the tank and somewhere else at least 2 days. Just can't do all the sand moving in a day, maybe not even in 2 days. I'm thinking of an alternate plan. I could pick up a 20 long and a 10 gallon on craigslist for $20 total. I have a spare 29 gallon lid (same top size as 20L) and 10 lid. I also could arrange heat lights and UTHs to heat both of these while the 90 is being cleaned and reset. I'm thinking that if I could put the crabs in a better temporary environment then I could keep them in the temp tanks longer and move them the weekend prior to Memorial Day weekend. Then I would work in the evenings for a week, plus the long weekend, to get the 90 torn down, everything cleaned, then set back up. That would be a lot easier on me.

The question is what would be less stressful on the crabs - plastic storage bins that I may or may not be able to keep at 80/80 for 2 or 3 days, or temporary smaller tanks for about a week that I'm pretty sure I can keep close to optimum temp and humidity? I have 12 or 13 crabs in the 90, probably 12 because I think I lost 1 PP. There are 5 Es (2 large, 1 med, 2 small) and 7 PPs (2 large, 3 med, 2 small). Not sure if I'd split by species or size in the 2 tanks. Any thoughts on that? I also have a 10 gallon set up as an ISO now and if Peanut my teeny E molting machine comes back up by then I could put the small Es in with her. She's on her third molt in 2 months and I can't catch her up long enough to get her moved!

What do you think? I'd prefer the tanks and the longer time to do everything, but not if it would be a lot more stressful on the crabbies.

Happy Crabber · Post by **Happy Crabber** » Thu May 10, 2012 10:02 am

Yikes. I don't know what would be easier on the crabs, but I do know what a bad back is like.

Any chance you could hire someone to help you for a day? Maybe a teenager in the neighborhood? You'd have to pay them, but any amount of money is a better alternative to exacerbating a back injury.

Good luck,

HaydenHermie · Post by **HaydenHermie** » Thu May 10, 2012 10:07 am

I'd say keep the humidity and temperature at the same, even if it is moving them into the smaller tanks. The storage bins will have them suffocating. The tanks will allow them to maintain their normal home and what they're familiar with without too much stressful flucuation, plus, they'll give you some extra time to tackle that 90.

The smaller space will be stressful, but I couldn't imagine it'd be more stressful if they had flucuating temperatures and humidity readings.

I'd even split them up between the three tanks. Make the ISO one side-home as well, so that they have more room and aren't getting aggrivated with each other. I'd also split them up by various sizes. Less space could trigger more shell fights, and if you have a larger and smaller crabs together, there are less shell fights. =)

That's just what I would do.

EDIT: I'd also take the above advice as well with either hiring someone, getting a family member to help, or even some friends over for a "Hermit crab cleaning party". XD Spend a little money to get some free pizza for everyone who comes in to pitch in. Then you can have a system going on, and you wouldn't have to worry about doing this task all week long. =)

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:06 am

My husband will help with carrying the sand. I can't pick up the 50 pound bags. It's the mixing that just takes time and wears out your arms. I'll have to take the old sand out 1 bucket at a time...that's about 25 trips. I do have a teenager. He may help some, but that is the weekend before finals and I'd much rather he be studying. Emptying the tank will have to be done slowly (and by me). There are a few molters somewhere in that 250 pounds of sand.

They wouldn't suffocate in the storage bins. I'd poke holes in the lids. I am concerned about being able to maintain the temp. Plus, I'd have to take off the cover frequently to check on temp and humidity and every time that would drop the humidity.

Post by **wodesorel** » Thu May 10, 2012 1:57 pm

Is there anyway you can put it off until the weather here is more stable? We should be hitting 80-90 degree days here shortly, and then you won't have to plan for supplemental heating. And the humidity around here has been so high that my tanks are already at 99%, yet its staying so cold that I can't switch to screening to bring it down! I doubt you'll have problems with the humidity, at least.

Spare tanks are a blessing to have, and I can't tell you how many times I've been glad we bought cheap smaller tanks to have as back-up. As long you have a place to store them, I think it's a great idea! They should be fine for a week in a smaller space, but be prepared to have at least one of them decide to molt while they're in there. (It's a Law of Hermit Crabdom, after all. :roll: )

Personally, I'd split by species and make sure they have a lot of hides, or moss piles, or anything to be able to separate themselves from each other. It's been a long time since I've had to put mine in temporary housing, but when they got used to being a big space and I would have to move them into someplace smaller they always panicked and a few got hurt. Giving them all a place to go where they felt safe and they weren't crawling all over each other trying to escaped stopped it from happening again.

All my tanks open basically onto the floor and it's really hard to get in and out of them, so I imagine that a 90 would be a little nicer in that you wouldn't be working on your knees.

I think if you were to take a table (a kitchen table, or even a strong fold-up) and cover it with vinyl for protection it would make emptying and filling so much easier! I also have to highly recommend a cement mixing tub: http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... =202086173 They're really inexpensive but are extremely heavy-duty. It is so much easier on you to be able to easily wet and mix the substrate out of the tank and then just scoop it in! They'll take a full 50 pound bag of sand with room leftover.

I know we make the cleaning out to be this huge ordeal in our heads since we generally set the tanks up over weeks or months rather than all at once, but it really won't be that bad!

I planned for two days the last time I had to do something huge, and in the end it only took me about six hours at a slow place. Had everything back in place in time for dinner.

Still, having a good plan in place never hurts and if something comes up it's not going to be a problem.

piccolo41099 · Post by **piccolo41099** » Thu May 10, 2012 3:40 pm

I just did my 90g a few weeks ago. I had 350 lbs of sand plus a couple of bricks of ee. What I did was take it out by the gal ice cream pail. I filled the buckets and my boys dumped them into the wheel barel for hubby to dump later.

When it was time to add sand back into the tank hubby dumped them in for me (50 lbs is a lot when you are pregnant) ha ha
Then I would add some ee, and some salt water and I mixed it right in the tank. I just used a big plastic serving spoon. And I probably did 100 lbs at a time.

Either way, from the first crab out of my tank until the last crab was back in my tank it took me 9 hours. Of course I also have 6 children that had to be fed and changed (toddler) and such too.

Oh, and I would use the tanks and just put the e's in one and the pp's in another.

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Thu May 10, 2012 4:24 pm

Appreciate all the input. I'm tending toward some sort of temporary tank(s).

Waiting until the temps go up won't help me since we have air conditioning and turning it off is not an option for several reasons, including allergies for me and my son. The supplemental heating isn't a concern. I have several options. I have one 11"x17" Ultratherm on my 90 that is currently off. The slightly bigger one on my straw tank is mostly off so I could turn it up and steal their heat lamp, replacing it with the regular aquarium lid. Lots of options there.

One reason I decided to go for it soon is that my insulatation came loose on the bottom of the tank. Before putting it back in place I looked and found 3 round spots that look black. Could be a shell. More likely could also be mold starting from either a crab that passed or food someone took down there. If I wasn't needing to do a deep clean anyway I'd just dig, but that is my motivation to go ahead.

Yeah, the 90 means not being on your knees, but it does mean working on a step stool and bent over. I suspect one is as bad as the other.

As far as molting while they are in there, I plan to only give them an inch or so of the sand that I'm taking out of the 90, so trying to make it less of an option for them. If someone does decide to molt they'll end up in the ISO with Peanut the molting machine.

Love the cement mixing tub idea! I used a plastic container last time, but that would be so much more sturdy. It's on my list for when I buy the sand!

You guys apparently work a lot faster than I do. When I filled my 90, just mixing and adding the substrate took me from mid-morning until evening. I had to take frequent breaks between every bag of sand to not stress my back too much. Just a note that getting older has it's drawbacks.

Well, just found out the 20L was sold.

The same person does have a 55 gallon, plus a "tara top" velcro screen lid that he'll sell together for $50. Decent price, but more than I wanted to pay for temp housing. Plus, I wouldn't want to keep the spare 55 around so I'd have to resell it. In a way the 55 would be good because I could put them all in one place. Decisions, decisions.

Post by **wodesorel** » Thu May 10, 2012 5:51 pm

Heat lamps will work just fine with plastic tubs.

I have one on my lat roach tub to keep it in the mid 90's, and the plastic neither smells or heats up too much.

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Thu May 10, 2012 6:26 pm

Got the person down to $45 for the 55 gallon and screen lid, so I'm going to just go with that. It's a deal and hubby has agreed to just keeping it on an end in a corner of the garage to pull out every year and a half to 2 years for deep cleans. Being able to put them all in one tank does have its advantages (feeding, water dishes, etc.) Plus, somehow saying I have 4 tanks set up at once sounds better than 5!

Post by **wodesorel** » Thu May 10, 2012 7:30 pm

Congrats!! That is a great price for both.

(Wish you were closer, I'd offer to buy it from you when you were done! Still trying to find a 55 around here for a good price.)

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Sun May 13, 2012 3:44 pm

I picked up the 55 yesterday. It looked pretty gross from having fish in it, but cleaned up amazingly easy and fast. I used diluted bleach, rinsed well, then used a dobie pad with white vinegar. The main problem with it is that the plastic support in the middle at the top of the 55 is broken at one end. I think that its purpose is it keep the long pieces of glass from flexing. If I was using it as a permanent tank I might be more concerned, but as a temporary location during deep cleans I'd think it should be fine as long as I don't lean in the tank (not a good idea any way). Any thoughts to the contrary?

Squeaky · Post by **Squeaky** » Sun May 13, 2012 8:52 pm

If the part of the plastic that is broken starts showing signs of getting wider, I'd say just throw a piece or two of duct tape from the front to the back over the top where the brace is. It'll give enough support to hold the glass from bowing during the week or do you use it.

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Sun May 13, 2012 9:37 pm

Squeaky wrote:If the part of the plastic that is broken starts showing signs of getting wider, I'd say just throw a piece or two of duct tape from the front to the back over the top where the brace is. It'll give enough support to hold the glass from bowing during the week or do you use it.

It's a complete break through the plastic. It will pop back in place, but is cracked completely through and separates. I only plan to put in 1" of sand so that no one gets any bright ideas about molting in the 2 weeks. I'm thinking this tank is good for my purposes, but maybe not for any full use.

Post by **wodesorel** » Sun May 13, 2012 10:08 pm

For a 55 gallon tank, the glass has to hold about 346 pounds of force back when it's completely full, which is why the brace is in the middle. For sand or cocofiber, the pressure would be a lot less since the force is naturally pushing down more than outwards, and there would be a lot less of it in the tank. (Say, 2 inches of substrate versus 21 inches of water!)

CrabbyMom33 · Post by **CrabbyMom33** » Tue May 15, 2012 9:01 pm

I'm on a "work at it slowly" plan for my deep clean. My back just won't tolerate a lot. Tonight I set up the temporary housing in the bargain 55 that I got. I took the easy route and just went out and bought a $3 bag of all purpose sand last night so I could set the temporary tank up before I even start doing anything in the 90.

They get 2" of sand and hopefully none of them will attempt to molt in that. They are all at least large smalls, most medium to large, and most have molted recently. There is enough that they can dig in to chill if needed. I put in all the spare stuff I had - basket to fill with moss (they love sleeping in their moss pit!), several hides, a couple piece of cork and some spare pieces of vine. Before I move them I'll put in a few shells, but not a bunch. Just mixing and moving 1 bag of sand tonight pretty much finished off my back for a day. That's why I have to do it slowly.

The plan is to move all the crabs that are up on Saturday, then start going through the substrate slowly to find the rest. I think I have everyone in the 90 up except 1 PP and 2 Es.

HCA: Hermit Crab Association