Questions from a future crabber~

[ilykebubbletea]

Hey everyone, my name's Vanessa and I am very new here and I'm not a crabber... Yet. I live in Perth, Western Australia. I've been fascinated by the cute little crabs I've always seen on my recent trips to the pet shop as a kid, but now I just began to realise how terrible their living standards were. The shops were typical small tanks with not even one inch of substrate (which was powdery dry sand), and it had hermit crabs with painted shells, and no climbing toys (until recently a piece of large bark was put in). I felt really sorry for the crabs living there, and I've been thinking of buying a few for my 4ft tank, which can hold 200 litres (199 actually, but let's just say 200 because it is a better looking number). I've done tonnes of research on them, and I'm feeling pretty confident I've located all the products I need, and I'm going to buy them at their stores, set up the tank and get everything ready for crabs. But I have one problem. Where I live, I can't find any place that sells salt mixes for saltwater fish. So I was thinking if anyone has any suggestions or alternatives? I've found someone who supplies saltwater for fish at $0.20AUD for one litre, and I'm wondering if I can just buy a lot and then store it somewhere, but I don't know if that is okay? And I know that hermit crab brand salts aren't good, because it isn't salty enough etc, but would it be okay to just use it for a while? (since if I buy salt online it would take a long time to arrive, so I'm considering ordering) I'm so worried about this because I'm still stuck and need desperate help, since I swore that I'll get everything done before my birthday haha :0 And I was wondering every how often saltwater pools need to be changed if it is filtered? Any ideas on these questions would be fine. I'm sorry if I asked any noob questions~


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[mool]

Welcome! In your position, I would order the Instant Ocean online and wait for it to arrive since you don't yet have any crabs.

If you can't wait, I think the next best solution would be to buy the premixed water for salt tanks. You won't need that much to get you by while waiting for the online order. Can you ask the place that sells the water to just sell you the salt?

[Crabinski]

Hi, Vanessa! So glad to see that you're doing your research before starting your crab colony. As usable products vary from country to country, what US crabbers take for granted as a go-to product may not be available elsewhere. One of our junior Moderators, aussieJJDude, should be chiming in soon and will be a great source of information for you as to what items are available in Australia and what are good alternatives.

[ilykebubbletea]

Welcome! In your position, I would order the Instant Ocean online and wait for it to arrive since you don't yet have any crabs.

If you can't wait, I think the next best solution would be to buy the premixed water for salt tanks. You won't need that much to get you by while waiting for the online order. Can you ask the place that sells the water to just sell you the salt?

Hey, thanks for answering! I've thought about ordering Instant Ocean online, although it is kind of expensive with shipping costs, I managed to find a few. I've done some research on it and the reviews for it are all pretty positive, so I've definitely set my eyes on this salt!

I may ask to have a bit of salt water delivered to my door, since it seems like an easy option. I'm not sure where this place even gets their saltwater, as it's just an ad from a local who is looking for ways to find money. I might ask them if they use salt mixes, and where they purchased it. Thanks for the ideas!

[ilykebubbletea]

Hi, Vanessa! So glad to see that you're doing your research before starting your crab colony. As usable products vary from country to country, what US crabbers take for granted as a go-to product may not be available elsewhere. One of our junior Moderators, aussieJJDude, should be chiming in soon and will be a great source of information for you as to what items are available in Australia and what are good alternatives.

Thank you! I really want the best conditions for them, they look so cute but it's such a sad thing how they are in the small tanks, so I'm just doing what I can to rescue a few! I be really been stuck trying to find Instant ocean online to order for the future crabbies, it is quite expensive though. I'm so jealous of the US because of the products they have there and not here :/ and thanks, I'll be waiting on him! This is really great help, thank you~

[aussieJJDude]

Hey,
Welcome to HCA! it's extra exciting to see another aussie crabber, and bonus points for doing your research first!
Have you checked out all the local fish shops in your area? If so, and nothing has turned up I'd suggest ordering it in; which most fish shops can do for you. What your looking for is salt make for marine aquariums. My local fish shop doesn't always stock the salt I want - but will happily order something in. I'm currently going through a 1kg box of aqua one "marine salt", set me back around $20 but will last for around 6 - 12 months depending on the size of your pool and how much you change out. I currently debating on swapping over to another mix, as I'm not 100% happy with the quality of the mix. It always comes in a solid lump and there's always some small particles floating around.... not to mention that some chunks don't dissolve. It works great, but I know that there are some better alternatives out there - such as red sea.
If your local pet stores are unable to order it in - which would be very surprising - I'd suggest shopping online.
The ones I found after a quick google research:
http://marinefishdirect.com.au/equipment/salt
http://www.sydneydiscusworld.com/marine-salt/
http://thereefshop.com.au/index.php?mai ... x&cPath=12
https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/marine_salt.php

Even ebay should have salt mixes available!

But if you want to buy per-mix SW, go ahead! A lot of the marine aquarists often do exactly the same thing; they just store it in a large barrel until it's needed. I personally think that you got a really good deal; so I do wonder if it is a "quality over quantity" type issue. But I could be wrong, and if so... Go with it!

As for changing the water, it depends on how the filter is "coping". Is it - the filter cycled? Basically, has it grown a healthy and wanted bacteria colony? When adding filters to a pool inside a crabitat, think of it as a fish tank. If you had a fish tank before, you will find it easy to get a nice "eco-system" going. If you have no idea what the nitrogen cycle is or cycling a fish tank, I'd suggest looking it up. Unfortunetly, its one of those things that you have to research yourself and have a basic understanding in. Here are the first few results that poped up "cycling a fish tank"... click click click click

(Hopefully this makes sense, writing at 11pm at night often has negative results)

[ilykebubbletea]

Hey,
Welcome to HCA! it's extra exciting to see another aussie crabber, and bonus points for doing your research first!
Have you checked out all the local fish shops in your area? If so, and nothing has turned up I'd suggest ordering it in; which most fish shops can do for you. What your looking for is salt make for marine aquariums. My local fish shop doesn't always stock the salt I want - but will happily order something in. I'm currently going through a 1kg box of aqua one "marine salt", set me back around $20 but will last for around 6 - 12 months depending on the size of your pool and how much you change out. I currently debating on swapping over to another mix, as I'm not 100% happy with the quality of the mix. It always comes in a solid lump and there's always some small particles floating around.... not to mention that some chunks don't dissolve. It works great, but I know that there are some better alternatives out there - such as red sea.
If your local pet stores are unable to order it in - which would be very surprising - I'd suggest shopping online.
The ones I found after a quick google research:
http://marinefishdirect.com.au/equipment/salt
http://www.sydneydiscusworld.com/marine-salt/
http://thereefshop.com.au/index.php?mai ... x&cPath=12
https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/marine_salt.php

Even ebay should have salt mixes available!

But if you want to buy per-mix SW, go ahead! A lot of the marine aquarists often do exactly the same thing; they just store it in a large barrel until it's needed. I personally think that you got a really good deal; so I do wonder if it is a "quality over quantity" type issue. But I could be wrong, and if so... Go with it!

As for changing the water, it depends on how the filter is "coping". Is it - the filter cycled? Basically, has it grown a healthy and wanted bacteria colony? When adding filters to a pool inside a crabitat, think of it as a fish tank. If you had a fish tank before, you will find it easy to get a nice "eco-system" going. If you have no idea what the nitrogen cycle is or cycling a fish tank, I'd suggest looking it up. Unfortunetly, its one of those things that you have to research yourself and have a basic understanding in. Here are the first few results that poped up "cycling a fish tank"... click click click click

(Hopefully this makes sense, writing at 11pm at night often has negative results)

Hey! Thanks for all the links! It's very helpful for me so far, and I'm also adding in a bit more research with all this. I've still got one or two more shops to check, and hopefully I'll be able to find the time to go there. I've heard of Red Sea, and in actually very interested in it, also Instant Ocean because everyone seems to be giving good reviews on them.

I might be going for online orders because there are plenty of options. I think I always go to eBay for help first! The problem here is the shipping costs from products overseas or the ridiculous pricing which comes with it but I'm willing to somehow convince myself it's worth it (because it is!!)

I've got a few bettas, guppies and goldfish and I have read up cycling the tank before. I'm not really the one who does it, it's my dad who does and he works miracles! I'll ask him for help and also research note into cycling, and hopefully I understand a bit more about it.

I'm up at 2:50 writing this and the time is really getting to me right now! Ha ha, whoops.