HCA: Hermit Crab Association

My tank is slowly getting too dry. On the side opposite of the water (with bubblers) the sand is really dry. I don't want to flood the bottom by over misting. I have at least one crab buried and possibly molting.

Oddly, humidity is fine--a bit high at around 88%.

What you y'all do to keep the sub at sand castle consistency?

I'm thinking about reversing the décor and putting the water on the dry side. That way I'll not be disturbing anything deeper than an inch or so.

Well.... Do the test to test consistency to the very bottom. Does it collapse? If its bad enough and you feel it absolutely won't hold a tunnel... You have the choice to dig everybody up, iso molters, mix back to correct consistency (risk molter survival)... Add water to the sub (risk a flood)... Leave it alone (risk a collapse). If its drying it will keep drying.

I had to excavate my entire 55 gal for the same thing. Glad i did it BUT i know it was by pure luck that both of my molters survived! If you excavate the tank be mindful on how you dig them up, look for exo skeletons, and have iso's pre-preped. Good Luck its scary!
Keep us updated

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The sub was fairly normal about 4-5" down. The top was very dry to the side away from the bowls. I reversed the décor in the tank so that the bowls are now on the dry side. I turned the bubblers up full blast and filled the bowls to the brim. Quite a bit of water is splashing out and hydrating the dry sub. I also put about a quart of water into the tank in various small holes I dug and then stirred it up.

Thanks for responding Kaydee!

Thanks for posting this question - it's good for me and other newbies to know what we can be up against, an how to get around it!

No problem! Glad you could solve this easily

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You're welcome LLJ! A few months back in the same tank I was fighting humidity being too low and I was misting a lot. The misting created a very small bacterial bloom because the sub got really wet at the bottom. I didn't have to replace the sub, I just stirred it up a bunch so the bottom material was able to dry and be exposed to oxygen (to kill the anerobic bacteria). It worked well. Bubblers now keep the humidity up and half the tank's sub hydrated, but the opposite half gets dry.

My plan going forward is to either periodically reverse the décor so that the pools change sides and/or get set up a humidifier or pool on the other side of the tank. I like my main pools together, I find that the crabs use them more when they are side by side.