HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I'm thinking I should probably do a surface clean and since this will be my first one I'm slightly clueless. OK, probably a little more than slightly. What does a surface clean entail exactly?

My surface cleans include:

Washing of the water pools & food bowls.
Cleaning of the spare shells.
Cleaning the walls of the tank with vinegar water.
Picking up food stuffs & poop from the sand.

I also add more water to the substrate if necessary during a surface clean. Be careful not to disturb any buried/molting crabs during this time.

Thanks you guys! You know that might be a good care sheet to have available too, a checklist for a surface clean and a deep clean.

MrsCrab wrote:Thanks you guys! You know that might be a good care sheet to have available too, a checklist for a surface clean and a deep clean.

You don't even wanna know what is required for a deep clean. :roll:

oh.. i have never cleaned out the spare shells. just rinse them out with dechorinated water?

im glad i read this post!

Yes, rinse them out with dechlor water, or if you want to get them really clean, boil them. I usually only boil them when I do a deep clean, though. During a surface clean, I’m mainly just getting the sand out of them.