DIY 40 Gal Tote Tank
Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2022 5:40 pm
Hey everyone! I’ve been working for the last few days on a 40 gallon tank for my two crabs, Scuttle and Tank. I’ve had them in a glass 10 gallon tank since I got them in Dec. 2020, they have molted 3 times since then and I felt it was time for an upgrade. 40 gallons is a bit overkill for their sizes (1 in and 1 1/2 in leg spans), but they are awesome and I wanted to give them tons of space to explore and burrow.
Here’s all the supplies I picked up:
The bin is a Sterilite 160 qt, sadly the lid is opaque but every bin with a clear lid and the right size is sold out in my area. I also got 150 lbs of Quikcrete Play Sand and several bricks of Eco-Earth for the substrate. The toys and decor was from Petco, Dollar Tree, and Walmart.
I added in about 130 lbs of the sand along with approx. two bricks of EE, in the normal 5:1 ratio. I just used a cup and put in five cups of sand, one cup of EE, and a bit of dechlorinated water and repeated until I hit 7 inches. This thing is crazy heavy, but slides along the carpet perfectly which will be great for when I need to hide them from the landlord
This is a picture of the (mostly) completed project! My favorite part is the lights, they’re hooked up to an app on my phone and I can control the colors, intensity, and schedule. I made the hide in the middle by threading some pet-safe plastic plants through the spaces of a clear Dollar Tree paper holder. There’s a shell shop under the hide. I also put a 3 in. curved PVC pipe and a large decorative piece of driftwood, as well as some more shells, fresh and salt water pools, and a hamster wheel. I will remove the wheel if my crabs aren’t interested, but I’ve seen other people use them and I wanted to give it a shot too. I would like to add some cholla logs, and I need a bigger heating pad as well. I’ll have to order those from Amazon this week.
I put both of my crabs in, and they immediately began exploring. Both of them are preoccupied with a large piece of cuttlebone at the moment, but I hope they enjoy their new enclosure! Tank was camera shy, but Scuttle let me get a picture of him
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here’s all the supplies I picked up:
The bin is a Sterilite 160 qt, sadly the lid is opaque but every bin with a clear lid and the right size is sold out in my area. I also got 150 lbs of Quikcrete Play Sand and several bricks of Eco-Earth for the substrate. The toys and decor was from Petco, Dollar Tree, and Walmart.
I added in about 130 lbs of the sand along with approx. two bricks of EE, in the normal 5:1 ratio. I just used a cup and put in five cups of sand, one cup of EE, and a bit of dechlorinated water and repeated until I hit 7 inches. This thing is crazy heavy, but slides along the carpet perfectly which will be great for when I need to hide them from the landlord
This is a picture of the (mostly) completed project! My favorite part is the lights, they’re hooked up to an app on my phone and I can control the colors, intensity, and schedule. I made the hide in the middle by threading some pet-safe plastic plants through the spaces of a clear Dollar Tree paper holder. There’s a shell shop under the hide. I also put a 3 in. curved PVC pipe and a large decorative piece of driftwood, as well as some more shells, fresh and salt water pools, and a hamster wheel. I will remove the wheel if my crabs aren’t interested, but I’ve seen other people use them and I wanted to give it a shot too. I would like to add some cholla logs, and I need a bigger heating pad as well. I’ll have to order those from Amazon this week.
I put both of my crabs in, and they immediately began exploring. Both of them are preoccupied with a large piece of cuttlebone at the moment, but I hope they enjoy their new enclosure! Tank was camera shy, but Scuttle let me get a picture of him
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
