HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Hey guys! So over the past 2 years my hermit crabs and I have unfortunately been mostly apart. I moved my crabs to Buffalo where I was starting grad school thinking I'd be living there only to find out school was going to be remote and life in a tiny apartment with 2 roommates working remotely also was kind of horrible. Long story short, I moved back to my hometown 5 hours away and unfortunately I was unable to keep my crabs with me.

While they were being taken care of by my roommates some algae started to grow in the tank. I just moved them back to my hometown and am getting ready to set the tat back up. I brought the old substrate with me. If I use the old substrate, do you think the algae will come back? Should I start fresh?

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Hi! Good to see you back!
I have no answer to your question LOL. I just noticed algae for the first time along the front of my tank this afternoon.

curlysister wrote:Hi! Good to see you back!
I have no answer to your question LOL. I just noticed algae for the first time along the front of my tank this afternoon.

Hey curly! Glad to be back! Ugh frigging algae....

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Algae grows where there is ample light and some moisture. It's going to come back anytime those needs are met, no matter if you clean and change everything out or not. It's NOT harmful in any way. Some of my tanks have had it growing below the substrate line for a decade now. If it bothers you, you can always blackout where it's growing which will kill it off for a short period of time.

Mine isn't bothering me LOL, it's actually a nice shade of green.