Building My Crabitat

[daws409]

Looking good so far...

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[aussieJJDude]

Could cut pieces of plexi to size and line the liner. No silicone required, since substrate will hold it in place?

[GotButterflies]

Wow! You got a lot done! Looks great! Love the idea of the wheels


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[Hermiearth]

Looks great! What are you going to do for heat?


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[EPAS]

You're doing a great job with the tat.
What about eggcrate or plastic needlepoint canvas over the plastic. You can cover the eggcrate with some kind of screen. Check out your local hardware store. They might give you some suggestions.

[emberfusion]

Looks great! What are you going to do for heat?


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I still have to go through all of my crab supplies before I decide for sure about heat. I may mount a heating lamp to the inside of the tank but I'm not sure yet on placement.

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[emberfusion]

You're doing a great job with the tat.
What about eggcrate or plastic needlepoint canvas over the plastic. You can cover the eggcrate with some kind of screen. Check out your local hardware store. They might give you some suggestions.

I just had to look up needlepoint canvas but that's a great idea! I was hoping to find something like that! I'll have to pick some up this week.

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[emberfusion]

I'm at a point where I do something and then have to sit and wait for it to dry, so slow going now.

Got the wood covered in plastic, sprayed in my great stuff, started painting the foam. It looks an absolute mess in the pictures, but it actually looks nice in person.






I finally went through all of my crab supplies... (sorry blurry pictures)




and noticed I don't have anything for pools, so off to the habitat store I went. Picked up 2 glass loaf pans and a shallow long like cake pan or something (idk? i don't bake lol). My 3yr old picked out blue aquarium gravel that we are siliconing to the inside of the pools. So the long shallow pan will sit in the substrate as a base and the 2 pools will sit in the shallow pan for easy removal/cleaning without having to disturb any crabs/tunnels/caves/etc.






&&& that's where i'm at so far. quite a ways to go yet, but getting close. i expect i'll be able to start mixing up substrate late this weekend or early next week. & then i'll just need crabs

[wolfnipplechips]

My crabs are jealous.

[LadyJinglyJones]

Definitely digging this build!

I'm looking for glass pools that I can nest so I can silicone rocks in 'em too - I like the way you did yours, so I'll def. be keeping yours in mind while shopping!

[Just Jay]

aaaaah so close!

[GotButterflies]

You have accomplished so much in so very little time! Great job!


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[emberfusion]

Okay, she's pretty much finished. I have a few little tweaks to make, but that can all be done with crabs in the tank.

The substrate was a beast to mix. 550lbs of sand and 5 bricks of EE -- I have another bag of sand and another brick on standby for when this settles over time. It's 15" in the front sloping to about 18" in the back.



But anyway, here are a few pictures of my view from the computer desk.











I'm not totally happy with the shell shop, but I need to look around and see what I can find to spruce it up & to give the crabs a bit more privacy up there. I also want to do a few pieces hanging from the top of the tank, I just want to give it a little time to make sure temp/humidity is stable first (all of my heating/humidity fancy things will be coming in from the top).

Humidity seems to be holding at 84% at the bottom and 86% at the top, but temp needs a boost so I gotta head downstairs and find one of my light fixtures to put in a heat bulb.

Most likely will be doing quite a bit of redecorating over the next week or so until I come up with a setup I really like.

[EPAS]

Wonderful tat build !!! The tat looks awesome. You're very creative.
What did you use to cover the plastic on the bottom of the tat? It looks interesting.

[emberfusion]

Wonderful tat build !!! The tat looks awesome. You're very creative.
What did you use to cover the plastic on the bottom of the tat? It looks interesting.

I just used some sort of plastic mesh - I just wanted some sort of extra barrier so the crabs couldn't pinch holes directly in the plastic if they got to it.

I must have gotten rid of a lot of my decor when I tore my old tank down. I definitely need to browse around for decoration inspiration and pick up some more things to decorate with.