HCA: Hermit Crab Association

1. What kind of substrate is used in your tank and how deep is it?
50/50 Ecoearth/play sand 7inches slanting down to 4inches on shallow end
2. Do you have gauges in the tank to measure temperature and humidity? If so, where are they located and what temperature and humidity do they usually read?
Yes, I have temperature strips on the hottest end and one at the coolest end. Recently purchased this reader (forgot the name) but it is recommended on this forum and put it in the cage. Humidity: 85% Temperature 75 at night 85-90 during day
3. Is a heat source used in the tank? If so, what?
Ultratherm long heat UTH on back of the tank, medium reptile UTH adjacent to the ultratherm, other end has a heat lamp over it
4. What types of water are available (fresh or salt) and how is the water treated (what brands of dechlorinator or salt mix and what ratio is used to mix it)?
Fresh and salt, use Prime to treat, follow instructions on instant ocean to get the salt concentration
5. What kinds of food do you feed and how often is it replaced?
calci dusted crickets, dried apples, shredded carrot
6. How long have you had the crab and what species is it, if known?
1 month, Ecuadorian, or Eccie's
7. Has your crab molted, and how long ago did it happen?
All of them resurfaced this past Saturday and Sunday, one down for a month, one down for 3 weeks, one down for 1.5 weeks.
8. What type of housing are the crabs kept in, what size is it and what kind of lid is on the housing?
29 long aquarium, aquarium lid
9. How many crabs are in the tank and about how large are they?
3. 2 smalls almost medium, 1 medium almost large
10. How many extra shells are usually kept in the tank, if any?
26
11. Have there been any fumes or chemicals near the crabitat recently?
No
12. How often do you clean the tank and how?
Scoop top surface at end of week. Every 2 weeks add new substrate mixture
13. Are sponges used in the water dish? If so, how are they cleaned?
No sponges
14. Has anything new been added to your crabitat recently?
1 Hanging plant that was rinsed with safe water


16. Please describe the emergency situation in detail.
I have a heat lamp, halogen, that is situated on the left side of my aquarium, I turn it on in the morning to get the heat up because it cools down overnight, but sometimes I just.. don't turn the heat lamp off. I mist the cage frequently to compensate for the heat lamp draining humidity making sure to not over-saturate the substrate. My problem is having a day and night cycle. I try my best to turn the light off at night, but I have mental health issues where that proves to be the biggest task in the world. So now what I'm doing is I'm turning on the light after it has been off for ???? hours and turning the light off after it has been on for ??? hours.

TL:DR, how detrimental is it to the hermit crabs to not have a proper day/night cycle

Are you talking about the infra red heat lamps or something else? Regardless, maybe consider to get a night heat lamp - which may be better at stimulating a day/night cycle, particularly if its a regular day light lamp - or the spectrum it produces is close to daylight. One like this:
click for link ~ Exo Terra Night Heat Lamp

https://zoomed.com/nano-halogen-heat-lamp

This is what I use. Your suggestion is to get the night heat lamp, use it at night and turn off in morning? Do I need a light to mimic day time? Or is ambient room light from the window fine

Ambient lighting is fine for crabs - and you certainly dont have to turn it off (night heat lamp) during the day if you need it to maintain temperature.

Edit: you could place your current light on a timer for day/night cycle if you are worried about it... likewise for the night light. Some reptile oriented brands make light fixtures for multiple fittings for cases like these... where all thats required is to purchase a timer separately...

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I use ambient lighting during the day for my crabs. I use an Exo Terra Tropi-Sun 2.0 18” bulb. The humidity and temp are at 99% and 76 degrees. I currently don’t have a UTH, but the crabs seem to be okay without it for now and they’re both underground molting right now. I don’t want to dig them up and stress them out. My tank also stays sealed with seran wrap.