HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I am planning on doing a mixture of playsand and eco earth in my crabitat. I picked up two 50 pound bags from Ace. I'm just wondering if there is anything I need to be cautious of when using playsand such as chemicals?

Playsand is good, no chemicals. As long as it's dry, no problem.

Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.

ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.

Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.

You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.

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soilentgringa wrote:

ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.

Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.

You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Thank you! I’ll check out some of the threads on substrate for some more details. It’s very frustrating that the calci sand promotes that it’s good for hermit crabs .

ApePlanet wrote:

soilentgringa wrote:

ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.

Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.

You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Thank you! I’ll check out some of the threads on substrate for some more details. It’s very frustrating that the calci sand promotes that it’s good for hermit crabs .

I made the same mistake with the calci sand also. When I redid my substrate in the new tank I did the 5:1 ratio recommended on here. Meaning for every 5 cups of sand, 1 cup of EE mixed in. I also had ordered 2 bags of the pre-mixed substrate from The Hermit Crab Patch.

All EE and all playsand can work (I've done both and every in between) but a mix of more sand than cocofiber tends to be the easiest to maintain over time. I personally like all sand, but cocofiber makes me sneeze!

I have always used the 5:1 ratio of playsand to EE. When I first got my crabs and came across this site, that seemed to be what most crabbers were using, so that's what I went with. Has worked well for me, have just added more as I upgraded tanks!

Polling your best experiences, how much water do you add to the 5:1 play sand/EE mix? I heard over-saturation can have negative side effects. Thanks!

ApePlanet wrote:Polling your best experiences, how much water do you add to the 5:1 play sand/EE mix? I heard over-saturation can have negative side effects. Thanks!

I only poured a little at a time...mixing until it was sandcastle like...I then stuck a pencil in the see if it held the hole nicely.

Thanks!

Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?

ApePlanet wrote:Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?

I like to, as it helps prevent mold. Just don't add more salt water after the initial setup, because the water can evaporate but the salt will stay in the sub. Too much salt can cause burns to molters.

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PinchersAndShells wrote:

ApePlanet wrote:Did I also read somewhere that you should/can mix Instant Ocean in with the water that you saturate the substrate mixture with?

I like to, as it helps prevent mold. Just don't add more salt water after the initial setup, because the water can evaporate but the salt will stay in the sub. Too much salt can cause burns to molters.

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Thanks for the tip! I purchased some play sand, EE bricks, and some Instant Ocean today. Gonna try to redo the substrate tomorrow if I can.

soilentgringa wrote:

ApePlanet wrote:Is there a better substrate, such as all eco earth vs. mix of eco earth and play sand mix? I mistakenly made my first tat with calci sand and will be redoing it in the next month or so.

Using a mix of ee and playsand helps maintain the correct consistency.

You'll want to remove the calcium sand asap. When it gets wet it hardens and sticks to the crabs like cement.

Sent from my LGMS550 using Tapatalk

Well, I was pre-prepping my tank for a substrate switch later this week and one of my PPs are missing, which tells me he/she probably is molting.