Substrate?

[soilentgringa]

I'd recommend playsand mixed with EE, as trying to keep that much EE at the correct consistency without having flooding or bacterial bloom issues is going to be tricky.

It seems that it would be a waste of money since 3 bricks is about 9 bucks and you'll need at least 20-25 bricks to get a good depth.

So spending $20-30 on the sand and $20 on EE vs. between $60 and $80 on EE which has to be replaced every so often, as IIRC the crabbers who use all EE have to do complete deep cleans every year or so makes a lot more sense and is less stressful for the crabs.



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[soilentgringa]

More substrate questions I want to start Friday. Is it 1/50lb bag of sand to 5 bricks EE? I think that's a lot of sand but now I'm overthinking!


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No. 1/2 a brick of EE to 1 50lb bag of sand.

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[Hermias_mom]

No. 1/2 a brick of EE to 1 50lb bag of sand.

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So is the 5:1 mix interpreted as 5 parts by volume playsand to 1 part by volume Eco-earth after you've gotten the Eco-earth reconstituted with marine saltwater (wet, but when you squeeze it nothing comes out) ? Mix dry playsand and reconstituted Eco-earth together, and then add marine saltwater until the mixture is at sandcastle consistency?

[soilentgringa]

No. 1/2 a brick of EE to 1 50lb bag of sand.

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So is the 5:1 mix interpreted as 5 parts by volume playsand to 1 part by volume Eco-earth after you've gotten the Eco-earth reconstituted with marine saltwater (wet, but when you squeeze it nothing comes out) ? Mix dry playsand and reconstituted Eco-earth together, and then add marine saltwater until the mixture is at sandcastle consistency?

Yes. And honestly the 5:1 ratio is arbitrary anyway; it was made up years ago. The ratio in the wild isn't 5:1 or exact anywhere the crabs live.

As long as your substrate retains moisture and is sand castle consistency , you're good to go.

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[Hermias_mom]

Yes. And honestly the 5:1 ratio is arbitrary anyway; it was made up years ago. The ratio in the wild isn't 5:1 or exact anywhere the crabs live.
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Ah. Yes, that makes sense. I won't stress about my semi-inexact ratio then.

As long as your substrate retains moisture and is sand castle consistency , you're good to go.

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So the best way to help the substrate maintain the sandcastle consistency after a correct initial mix/moistening is generally considered to be bubblers in the water pools, yes? If there are no bubblers in the crabitat, is occasional substrate surface spraying required in order to keep the top layer of substrate moist?

I assume the UTHs are slowly removing moisture from the sub by heating the air/evaporation. Most of the humidity should stay contained in the crabitat, except during food/water changes, but then a lot of it can be lost. Does the top layer of substrate need to stay moist?

[soilentgringa]

Yes. And honestly the 5:1 ratio is arbitrary anyway; it was made up years ago. The ratio in the wild isn't 5:1 or exact anywhere the crabs live.
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Ah. Yes, that makes sense. I won't stress about my semi-inexact ratio then.

As long as your substrate retains moisture and is sand castle consistency , you're good to go.

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So the best way to help the substrate maintain the sandcastle consistency after a correct initial mix/moistening is generally considered to be bubblers in the water pools, yes? If there are no bubblers in the crabitat, is occasional substrate surface spraying required in order to keep the top layer of substrate moist?

I assume the UTHs are slowly removing moisture from the sub by heating the air/evaporation. Most of the humidity should stay contained in the crabitat, except during food/water changes, but then a lot of it can be lost. Does the top layer of substrate need to stay moist?

I don't use bubblers anymore. My humidity is anywhere from 82-90 right now.

There are a lot of variables depending on the climate where you live, how "dry" the air in your home is; there are people who live in places like Arizona who found that bubblers caused the humidity to drop.

Just get your substrated mixed up and keep and eye on your gauges.

A lot of new crabbers tend to overthink/analyze everything they're doing. It's not that epic.



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[soilentgringa]

Oh! And I never mist, either. I open my crabitat for about 5 minutes once every 3-4 days to a week, depending on what and how much I've fed them. I'm really hands off with them.

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[Hermias_mom]

@Soilentgringa - Thanks for the info! That helps!

[GotButterflies]

The only reason I use the bubblers is because I feel it keeps the water looking a little better. I don't have issues with humidity.

[Hermiearth]

The only reason I use the bubblers is because I feel it keeps the water looking a little better. I don't have issues with humidity.

Well you also live in Florida


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[Hermias_mom]

Yea, I haven't needed bubblers to keep the humidity up either, I was just worried that eventually the UTH/hot crabitat air would drive too much moisture out of the substrate, so I've been misting a bit. Alabama weather is kinda like Florida, but with 3 days of snow a year and tornadoes instead of hurricanes. We get what I'd consider north Florida humidity about half the time, and it gets super hot in the summer We have a lot a rivers in Alabama, but there's just something cool about the ocean ( ).

I like the beach!

[GotButterflies]

The only reason I use the bubblers is because I feel it keeps the water looking a little better. I don't have issues with humidity.

Well you also live in Florida


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True

[Jimmyfingers85]

.... but no they don't drink from the bubbles, the bubbles are just used to provide a humidity boost

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After reading this, I thought about how I've never seen any off my crabs get it into either of their water pools (each containing an air stone). I started to think maybe they don't like the bubbler at all. So I unplugged it and got back into bed so I could read some more. Not even 5 mins after I unplugged it, both my top side crabs ran into the fresh water pool. I'm feel so much better now. I'm not sure if it was the actual bubbles, are maybe the vibrations from the bubbler itself. But I was starting to think maybe something else was wrong. They've been in the new tank since September 1st and haven't gone anywhere near the water, Until now. Anyway I just thought I'd say something about it. Thanks!

[aussieJJDude]

They sometimes take a while to warm up to 'new things' as well, and need time to adjust to things lile bubblers.

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[Crabsalicious]

The only reason I use the bubblers is because I feel it keeps the water looking a little better. I don't have issues with humidity.

How often do you change out your pools?

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