HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm setting up a tank and unsure what needs to be boiled or cleaned before going in the tank. I have play sand and cocohusk, fake plants, climbing toys (coconut and wood), dishes, shells, etc. Does everything need to be boiled or sterilized? Does everything need to be cleaned with conditioned water?

(primed=treated with Seachem Prime water conditioner, or similar)
(IO=Instant Ocean marine salt, or similar)

Playsand-some people bake it to sterilize, but you're probably fine if you don't.
Cocofiber-if it comes in a brick, rehydrate with primed water. If it comes in a bag, you should be good to go!

Plastic items: DON'T boil, many of them will melt! Just rinse them with primed water.

Shells (both wearing shells and dish shells): boil in a pot of primed water for a few minutes. Some people add IO salt as well.

Anything made of wood/coconut/jute/etc: soak in primed IO salt water to prevent mold.

hermitsinnc wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:27 pm

(primed=treated with Seachem Prime water conditioner, or similar)
(IO=Instant Ocean marine salt, or similar)

Playsand-some people bake it to sterilize, but you're probably fine if you don't.
Cocofiber-if it comes in a brick, rehydrate with primed water. If it comes in a bag, you should be good to go!

Plastic items: DON'T boil, many of them will melt! Just rinse them with primed water.

Shells (both wearing shells and dish shells): boil in a pot of primed water for a few minutes. Some people add IO salt as well.

Anything made of wood/coconut/jute/etc: soak in primed IO salt water to prevent mold.

thank you so much! this is super helpful

Play sand and coco fiber are good to use right out of the bag. You will want to moisten them with dechlorinated water so that they are 'sand castle' consistency.
Anything plastic should not be boiled. I usually just rinse in a mix of vinegar and tap water, then let it dry.
Shells can be boiled in tap water. Many people will dip the shells in the salt water after to make them more attractive to the crabs, but I have never done that LOL. Don't boil in salt water, it will affect the surface of the shell.
As for the wood, depending on what it is, you may want to give it a soak in salt water to help prevent mold growing. You can use regular cooking salt for this, you don't have to use Instant Ocean. I have some driftwood and a nice stick from my yard in my tank, and I soaked them in some salt water, scrubbed the yard dirt off, and then let them dry in the sun before they went into my tank. I have a half-log hide that I got right when I got my crabs, and I don't think I did anything to it at the time (I have since soaked it in salt water as it did get moldy).
The term 'primed' isn't actually accurate - we aren't priming the water for anything, we are dechlorinating the water. Prime is a brand, but there are other brands of dechlorinators that are appropriate.