Finding the poop in the substrate

[Crabby7Crabber]

That's smart! I'm cleaning the tank out this weekend, so that's good. Any thoughts/suggestions on how I clean?
Clean tank, wipe out with warm sink water, wipe that out with paper towels. Then for the decor I'm going to -
Boil shells/wood and wash out with a paper towel
Soak other things in tap water and dry them thoroughly before placing new sub, then decor, then the crabbies back in the tank!

[Motörcrab]

You shouldn't really have to do too much to keep your tank clean. I will usually pull out some things to search for funky food bits that have been carried off. Rinse shells in dechlorinated saltwater, redo the moss in dechlorinated fresh water and clean the inside glass.

I usually let the crabs in the tank unless I am doing a major overhaul. Even when I decorate for Craboween I will let the crabs in the tank.

If your wood isn't moldy it is fine to leave it alone. Maybe just a dip in saltwater would be ok.

Once your shells were boiled once they only need to be rinsed. It's too easy to accidentally miss a small crab in a big shell. A rinse in your mixed saltwater is plenty.

You should always use your dechlorinated freshwater for any type of cleaning done near your tank. Especially with anything going inside the tank. It's safe to clean food dishes, and other plastic decorations with tap water. Before the stuff goes back in your tank it needs to be rinsed in your dechlorinated fresh water first.

[curlysister]

C7C, you aren't planning on changing out all the sub, are you?

[Kydra]

That's smart! I'm cleaning the tank out this weekend, so that's good. Any thoughts/suggestions on how I clean?
Clean tank, wipe out with warm sink water, wipe that out with paper towels. Then for the decor I'm going to -
Boil shells/wood and wash out with a paper towel
Soak other things in tap water and dry them thoroughly before placing new sub, then decor, then the crabbies back in the tank!

I'm just getting out of bed so tried reading back, but may have missed why you need to do a full on change/clean? When I did this I slowly took everything out boiled/baked it all including all extra shells. Just the crabs and substrate left at that point. Placed the crabs in the 10G temporarily then removed all of the substrate with a large cup into a trash bag (doubled up) using wet paper towels to get the last bits as best I could. After that, cleaned the tank with a drop of plain dawn dish soap and water. Wiped it dry then added the new substrate. Mixed it well adding saltwater to get to right consistency then slowly put everything back in. The last were the crabs and I did dip them all in freshwater then placed back in tank.

I'm going to guess this was likely stressful for them, but I had a major bacterial bloom going on and wanted to clean everything. This was one of those 'emergencies' mentioned above when people will actually change all of the substrate, but that's basically how I did it since you asked for thoughts on cleaning everything. Have had a successful molt (maybe 2) since.

[Crabby7Crabber]

Sorry I haven't been on, I've been having some mental issues going on and just haven't been doing well in general. I hope it's okay that I'm going to soak the decor in tap-- I'm going to make sure to dry it really well, because my parent's won't let me use filtered water for "some crabs". I'm going to clean the food bowl with galloned though, so that should work. I'm changing the sub because one 1) No matter how many times I tell my mom I don't need to she thinks I should do a deep clean every two months and 2) I have some calcium sand she gave me and I am going to take it out so I can mix some E with the Quikrete sand instead (I was kinda annoyed when my parents made we wash out a old bucket to put it in- I saw a spider and freaked out! I think I need a lid for it, right? My parents are frustrating sometimes!). Thank you on the tips, guys! I also am going to add freshwater while mixing-- is that okay? Thanks for all the help!

[HermitCrabCHICA]

How to keep rolly pollies from over populating?