Tank Development And a Question on Sand

[WhimsyMimsyMo]

Hey everyone! I just cleaned out that secondhand store tank with a 60-40 mix of ACV and lemon juice. It stunk to high heaven but now it is nice and clean and it smells nice too! From what I could tell it used to house fish. Not that I mind fish at ALL, but this is now on its way to being a crabitat! I still have to measure it to figure out how many gallons it holds but I'm really excited to take the next step and sub it. Does the 5:1 mix do well for not collapsing in a normal setting? I plan on growing a nice sheet of moss on top of the sub before I put the crabs in, that way any damage to the established moss won't be irreversible. Yes? No? Maybe so?

I have ONE big question about sand. It is widely suggested here to use play sand, which is nice and fine and evenly sized and I can see why it is so popular, since it is literally SAND. But I was wondering if anybody has had luck with "pool filter sand" which is white and somehow purified or something that makes it do really well in pool filters. Idk. I don't own a pool. I did see it on a DIY aquarium channel and I thought I would ask here if anyone here knew anything about it. I think it would be neat if it's safe to have a brilliant white "beach" in a future breeder tank... XD XD I know I'm getting ahead of myself... but I can dream!

[LadyJinglyJones]

I don't know about pool filter sand... but I expect it would be tricky to get moss actually growing on sand, or even ee... I think people generally just put it on the sand or in a container & let the crabs have their destructive way with it. Growing moss in a crabitat seems wildly ambitious.

[Rawrgeous]

The sand is fine. However, I will admit, that crabs rain havok on pretty much all live plants. Most people who want greenery just periodically plant chia/ millet so when the crabs destroy them it's not such a huge deal. I'm not trying to deter you in any way, I just want you to be pre-warned before you spend a bunch of time or money trying to create moss, just to have it destroyed. Who knows? It may very well work enough that it'll be rooted so the crabs can't hurt it.

[WhimsyMimsyMo]

I am hoping that it will root and not be a problem as far as destruction goes. However my plans always have a backup lol! I'll be constantly growing moss so if they do destroy it after its rooted I can just stick some more on there. I also plan on putting a mossy background on there so they can climb in comfort.

[aussieJJDude]

Pool filter sand is just play sand that has been "screened" - aka, all grains are the same size - and washed - somewhat... Otherwise, they are basically the same. Play sand if far cheaper however, and they both will do the same job. If you want pool filter sand, just ensure that there are no additives - such as chemical filtration - being added to the sand.

[WhimsyMimsyMo]

Thanks aussiejjdude! I was wondering what the difference was...

[Hermias_mom]

FYI, I just bought a 50 lb bag of AquaQuartz High Quality Pool Filter sand. I contacted the manufacturer to determine exact details so here they are: if the bag has no other labeling on it, it is probably #20 sand. The other option AquaQuartz makes is industrial high volume sand. I got mine from a local pool store, and they only sell to homeowners, so #20 was all they carried. It is a quartz (crystalline silica) sand with particle size range of 0.45-0.55 millimeters with an average size of 0.49 mm. It was all natural with no chemicals (per the manufacturer) so I just baked it out to remove all water (and all chlorine additions), and then mixed it up 5:1 sand/coco fiber with marine saltwater until sandcastle consistency. Seemed to take a lot of water to get to sandcastle consistency, but I suspect it's a function of particle size. We'll see if my crab likes it - it's only been a day or so, I haven't seen her dig at all yet. Things I liked about this sand - almost no dust. Very clean. It didn't need washing, just drying because I wanted to put my own water in it and not have some unknown water with unknown chlorine content. Very easy to handle, but a bit rough on the hands. Seemed rough to me compared to playsand, but I liked the no-dust. I didn't have to wash it, though I could've easily. And the best part? $10/bag in SE USA.

UPDATE: I don't recommend pool sand. I used it for 3-4 weeks and didn't have a crab burrow once. They just scratched around on top and made a few pits, but didn't burrow. 5:1 sand/coco fiber mixture moistened with marine saltwater to sandcastle consistency, 75-80F (I'm now consistently at 80F), 80%+ humidity. 4-6 inches deep in a ten gallon tank. I went to take it out to switch over to playsand, and found water pooling in the bottom. The top was getting so dry I had to spray once a day to keep humidity up. The particle size of the sand was significantly bigger, like 2-3 times bigger for the pool sand than the playsand. I think because the particle size was so large it wasn't packing densely enough, so it wasn't wicking the water properly. I probably could have mixed it with the playsand and/or eco earth in some ratio and it would've been fine, but I decided to go with what I know works (forum recommended). I changed over to the 5:1 playsand, and the moisture wicking seems much better. My water bowls go the full depth of my sub(5.5-6 inches), and I didn't see any water pooling when changing water (gravel vacuum is on order so I don't have to move the bowls so much). I'll let it go another week, and if anything changes I'll update. All crabitat conditions are good so far. Hope this helps!

[WhimsyMimsyMo]

That was helpful, Hermies_Mom! I now have 5:1 in my tank of playsand and I'm eagerly awaiting my friend to get here so we can GOOOOOO get crab #1 and thanks for the heads up

[Hermias_mom]

That was helpful, Hermies_Mom! I now have 5:1 in my tank of playsand and I'm eagerly awaiting my friend to get here so we can GOOOOOO get crab #1 and thanks for the heads up

Glad I could help. Have fun getting your crab!!! Let us know how it goes.