I am in need of advise

[Hermias_mom]

Withe the bubble pools will I still need to spray the tank down if it keeps up with the humidity needed

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You probably won't have to spray anymore. One reason folks do the bubble pools is to keep the humidity up - I hear they work great for that, and help you not have to spray anymore. Also, spraying a lot can lead to bacterial bloom if you overdo it, and once you get an accurate temp/humidity gage you'll see the humidity generally fluctuates a lot when you spray.

[daws409]

Link to calibrate gauges: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... hp?t=92540

No need to spray/mist tank if humidity is maintained.

Yes, you can get by without having a thermostat for heater. Some tats need them and some don't. Thermostats just maintains a certain temp -- example off at 85 and on at 82. You can also purchase a rheostat (dimmer) off Amazon that controls by turn of knob instead of by temp... You have to find out what the heater does for you tank first.

Glass lids do better for maintaining temp/humidity.... however I use lights to heat my 90G and I made DIY screen lids instead (didn't want glass to shatter). I'll edit with a link for details.

Edit: Also wanted to add that you can get an AcuRite digital set of gauges for around $10 from Wal-Mart or any hardware store. I also have a vivarium electronics TH-100 gauge that works well (from reptile basics- costs a little more tho) ... DIY screen link: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... p?t=113009

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[Hermias_mom]

Ok if I bite the bullet and get the ultratherm one could I get by with not having a thermostat? I currently don't have a lid for the tank so we r probably gonna put a mesh lid on or plexiglass with holes drilled in. The thermometer/hydrometer is the one from zoomed. I have no idea if it is accurate or how to calibrate it. We plan on doing quikrete play sand with the red and green fence and some EE. I also have a humidifier hooked up to it and we r gonna to a bubble pool for both saltwater and freshwater to help with humidity.

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Those gages from zoomed are known for being highly inaccurate. I'll try and find the link for the calibration routine for you. Here it is: http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 26&t=92544 The link under "Calibrating your Hygrometer" has the exact instructions. Your gage reading could be off as much as 20-30% or more from the actual humidity in the tank. And recalibrating often (every few weeks or monthly) is recommended, because sometimes they drift. Once you calibrate, you will have to take into account the correction factor to mentally calculate the actual humidity (like plus 15% or something) for every reading. Most folks write this on a sticky note and tape it to the tank so they don't forget/mis-remember.

When you get your lid for the 30 gallon, plastic wrap works great to cover a reptile mesh lid or a plexiglass one. Or Press-n-seal. Many crabbers cover up the entire tank with no holes. Changing out water/food once a day provides enough air exchange for the hermits to breathe just fine. I have a reptile mesh lid, and I cover all but about 2 square inches of that with press-n-seal. When I turn on the overhead fan in the room, I cover the tank completely, since air movement from the fan tends to reduce the humidity in my crabitat.

If you get an Ultratherm, you may not need a thermostat - no way to tell until you get it set up and run it for a day or so. It may take a few days for your crabitat to get to equilibrium. If you do find the Ultratherm runs hotter than you like, you can get a light switch dimmer from the hardware store - I think they only run a few bucks, and use that to decrease the power going into the Ultratherm, which will reduce the Ultratherm temperature. There's probably a thread about how to do that on here somewhere, but I personally have not yet run across it. I like my Zilla thermostat, because I can set it right on 80F, and I don't ever have to worry if the tat is too hot or cold, it cycles the Ultratherm off and on to keep the temperature constant. Other thermostats may do just as good a job, but I haven't used them.

Quickrete play sand and EE sounds great! You probably already know that many crabbers on the forum mix a 5:1 ratio playsand/ee by volume with marine saltwater to sandcastle consistency and use that as a substrate. Minimum depth is 6" or 3 times the height of your largest crab, whichever is deeper. I found that once I got an Ultratherm mounted to the back wall of my tank above the sub, set it to 80F, and substrate mixed up like I just described, my humidity climbed to just over 80 and stayed there consistently. I spray maybe a squirt or two once a week. I didn't even need bubblers in my 10 gallon tat. I'll expect I'll need them in my 30 gallon tat, though.

With the bubblers in salt and freshwater, you may not need an additional humidifier, once you get a sealed lid. You may or may not need a bubbler in both pools. Some folks only put one in the fresh, but many folks put one in both, so see how it goes I guess. If you have any challenges with that, there's some good posts on here for how to do it. If you do get something like a Repti-Fogger, I've seen where they often only last a year or two due to calcium/scale buildup inside the unit, and sometimes can malfunction and flood your crabitat, which may lead to molting deaths. Most of us on here don't use them, but some folks do and have been pretty happy with them. If it's just a regular humidifier pointed into your crabitat, I've known folks to do that, but I'd make sure your gage is telling you the true temps and humidity so you know when you get the setup right. Anything 80% and up makes crabs happy.

Good luck!

[jdauby09]

Ok my humidifier is basically an aquarium air pump going into a sealed bucked of water with a bubbler pumping air in and I have 2 lines coming out and going into the tank. I am hoping to get rid of that once I get the new tank and just have bubbles into the pools

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[jdauby09]

With the gages I haven't calibrated them at all I just bought them and stuck it in the tank...I am completely new to this...my young kids just happen to see the crabs at a store and had to have them as their one souvenir...they love watching them lol

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[Hermias_mom]

With the gages I haven't calibrated them at all I just bought them and stuck it in the tank...I am completely new to this...my young kids just happen to see the crabs at a store and had to have them as their one souvenir...they love watching them lol

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I feel for you - that's very similar to my story. Just hang in there! I know it can be overwhelming when you're trying to change a lot of things all at once. My story was - my son says to me, "I want a hermit crab!" I think about it for a week and do a little research, but I have all the wrong information, and only after I bring it home do I realize everything I bought was wrong. Had to throw away food, two batches of substrate (both incorrect), water conditioner, two UTHs (well I kept those, but I don't use them anymore since they don't change the temperature of the tank at all ), and I have a 29 gal tank upgrade underway. The misinformation perpetuated on consumers by the pet industry is morally wrong, and should in my opinion be criminal. Lots of well meaning but uninformed pet store workers don't help the situation. Check out the Advocacy Forum if you want to really understand why everything you knew / bought was wrong and what you can do about it.

I was so overwhelmed, frustrated, and had seriously exceeded my budget, that I actually considered taking the crab back to the store at one point, but I had really started to care for her, so it was too late. No critter of mine that I had even the remotest responsibility for was going back to the petstore environment! Good news is, once you get everything set up, it will be a while before you have to do it again, and you can reuse a lot of your setup when you upgrade your tank. And once everything's set up, crabs are seriously low maintenance compared to a lot of other pets.

[Hermias_mom]

Ok my humidifier is basically an aquarium air pump going into a sealed bucked of water with a bubbler pumping air in and I have 2 lines coming out and going into the tank. I am hoping to get rid of that once I get the new tank and just have bubbles into the pools

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Sounds like you're on the right track!

[RebsCritters]

Ok my humidifier is basically an aquarium air pump going into a sealed bucked of water with a bubbler pumping air in and I have 2 lines coming out and going into the tank. I am hoping to get rid of that once I get the new tank and just have bubbles into the pools

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Ooh, I saw a diy video of this on YouTube. Haven't tried it myself yet (though I've got all the supplies!). Let us know how well it works for your humidity

[jdauby09]

Ok my humidifier is basically an aquarium air pump going into a sealed bucked of water with a bubbler pumping air in and I have 2 lines coming out and going into the tank. I am hoping to get rid of that once I get the new tank and just have bubbles into the pools

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Ooh, I saw a diy video of this on YouTube. Haven't tried it myself yet (though I've got all the supplies!). Let us know how well it works for your humidity

It has worked out very well for me. I basically copied the youtube video...I put little valve adjusters on it so I can control it better...if you don't want to spray all the time try it...if had most everything on stock for an old aquarium we had so it really didn't cost me anything.

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[soilentgringa]

I got my plexiglass sheets on Amazon for less than $10 US.

I measured where they would sit and ordered the closest sizes they had. I scored the small bit of excess with a box cutter on both sides and broke it off with pliers.

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[jdauby09]

So I finally was able to calibrate the hydrometer and it is of course way off...I used the salt method like it said and had it sitting in a butter bowl for 12 hrs and got it out and it says 65% where as the usual reading in the tank says about 70%-75% without spraying but every other day which I am now gonna stop. At least that seems to be a good reading...now for ther thermostat side of it...

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[jdauby09]

Thank you everyone for all your help...you have been amazing! I am so glad I found this forum! Will keep you all posted!

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