New 18 Gallon Tank

Questions about designing a terrarium.
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POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by POPPIT »

These are some pics of my new set up...little bare but will get a couple more things soon...there is an igloo home and a dome home with plants over them..a palm tree and another plant..i have two ZooMed duo gauges one for the cool side and one for the warm side..A ZooMed hermit heat pad 4watts and im getting another one tomorrow..A heat lamp with 40watt infrared bulb..The sand is the high point at 9cm and goes down to coir fibre with pebbles under and around the water bowls..The salt water pool is the bigger pink one that covers their whole shell with water..Many spare shells (i might take out some of the bigger shells)..One of my crabs loves swaping shells but also likes to go back to its own shell..They are very shy though i have only had them 1 week this weekend..I will be trying to see if they are male or female which should be fairly easy but scary as they come out all the way when you pick them up which i found out when i moved them into the new setup.
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Ginger
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 212
Joined: 22 Nov 2014, 12:19
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 11
Total gallons: 60
Total tanks: 3

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by Ginger »

Looks good Poppit, the only thing that I would change would be to add some more second levels, more climbing gear as specified in one of your other tank posts.
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appps
Zoea III
Zoea III
Posts: 292
Joined: 15 Jul 2011, 13:01
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Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by appps »

Looks good, much less stressfull with all the extra hiding spots.

I give it a day before your neat shells are all over the place though ;-). They love to browse :-)
Annette
Carer of 5 Australian Land Hermit Crabs
Fili & Voldemort since 12/07/2011
Turbo since 29/09/2011
Frederickson & Kai 12/02/2012
and our new addition Stripey Ninja 25/10/2014

Our Crab tank setup & Journal -http://crabbycreatures.wordpress.com
POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by POPPIT »

Thanks Ginger im getting a hammock off ebay soon for a shell shop then i will get something like a log type ornament or a platform for the ground.
Appps your right they make a mess scattering the shells every night hopefully once i get the hammock the shells will be up away from the sand in one spot and i wont feel the need to straighten the shells up lol
POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by POPPIT »

A comment about my heat/humidity....the day i set up the tank everything was great with one 4watt heat pad and my 40watt infrared heat bulb...however we had the fire roaring away to aid in the heat..yesterday was a horrible day for my tank as far as temp/humidity..the fireplace wasnt on so the house temp was 18C...the tanks temp never really reached 20C and humidity was very low on both sides...after rearranging the blanket and tea towels a few times and only leaving a small square where the lamp was aimed i managed to get a reading of Warm side temp 73F humidity 54% Cool side temp 68F humidity 67% the substrate humidity more on the warm side was at 77%...I bought another 4watt heat pad today and added it to the warm side and my readings were Hot side temp 82F humidity 57%(heat lamps huh)Cool side temp 73F humidity 85% so thats better with the extra heat pad..my main duo guages are placed on the back wall of the tank the cool side one is down low near the salt pool and the warm one is towards the top of the tank above the second heat pad...I turned the heat lamp off and covered them up at 7:30pm and i will check a bit later to make sure the 2 heat pads aren't making it too hot in there well too hot for overnight temps anyway
Ginger
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 212
Joined: 22 Nov 2014, 12:19
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 11
Total gallons: 60
Total tanks: 3

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by Ginger »

it sounds relatively OK at the moment however these small changes may help:
1. To prevent your humidity from dropping in under the heat lamp, maybe try to put your water dishes directly underneath? The evaporation should chuck some more moisture around, but I would keep an eye on the water level - it may drop quite a bit. Had a look at your current bowls and they look like they have a good amount of surface area which is beneficial to this. Also, have you considered sourcing some moss? Usually plant nurserys will have sphagnum moss for hanging ball plants.
2. With your gauge placing, it might help to move both of them roughly in the middle of the cold/warm zones, this way you will get a more average reading (just remember that heat rises). Also, as a small experiment put the warm gauge right up close to the heat mat and see what it reads. If the crabs want to they can always huddle up beside it.
3. In addition to using blankets, consider adding styrofoam and/or plexiglass/cling wrap covers It will insulate the tank a lot better to hold in the heat and hold in the humidity respectively.
4. Put a sloping ornament quite close under the heat lamp - which is obviously warmer than the mat - so the crabs could really get a heat blast (make sure it's not excessively close to avoid burns). I've tried this before and watched 2 of my crabs have an antennae fight to get the top spot.

I know this is a lot to think about, (it would be for me anyway :D) but even looking at a one or two options is a small step towards improving your tank. Any other more senior crabbers please do correct me on anything I may have mis-advised!
POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by POPPIT »

Thanks for the info Ginger...I have thought about some moss and saw a pretty big bag of sphagnum moss at bunnings think it was really expensive but maybe there was a smaller bag...I will move move the gadges to the middle of the hot and cold sides for better readings...i wanted to have the water in the cool side like at the beach and yes i didn't want the lamp to evaporate the pools also increasing the salt content...I misted the plants and sand to add some humidity too...keep in mind the humidity at substrate level is always higher then the warm side gauge reads..so sub humidity read at 77% when upper hot side read 54%...I like the somewhat easy access the blanket and towels provide and they seem to work fairly well...with the two heat pads on and the lamp off(for the night) the humidity is good...just checked my gauges Hot side 79F 75% Cold side 70F 100%+(maxed out) too close to the water pools i think...Some trial and error for me but at least you all have very good advice :)
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appps
Zoea III
Zoea III
Posts: 292
Joined: 15 Jul 2011, 13:01
Gender: Female
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Location: NSW
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Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by appps »

I'm afraid I don't speak Fahrenheit?

Yeah the heat lamps definatly take out moisture more than the heating pads. I have a ceramic one above but to the side of my salt water pond and I have to top it up with about 4 cups of fresh water each week. For a while I thought I must have had a leak it went down so fast but double checked and it's all just evaporation.
Annette
Carer of 5 Australian Land Hermit Crabs
Fili & Voldemort since 12/07/2011
Turbo since 29/09/2011
Frederickson & Kai 12/02/2012
and our new addition Stripey Ninja 25/10/2014

Our Crab tank setup & Journal -http://crabbycreatures.wordpress.com
Ginger
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 212
Joined: 22 Nov 2014, 12:19
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 11
Total gallons: 60
Total tanks: 3

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by Ginger »

Your welcome Poppit, my Debco brand of of sphagnum moss bag makes 10L for $13.95, I've looked at other options but they all seem around this price range (is this the one you were looking at? http://www.bunnings.com.au/brunnings-15 ... k_p3010215). Fair enough regarding your decision for having cool water, your readings seem pretty good at the moment. Hope your trial and error works well :)
POPPIT
Zoea II
Zoea II
Posts: 219
Joined: 05 May 2015, 17:26
Gender: Female
Hermit crabs: 4
Total gallons: 69
Total tanks: 3
Location: Melbournes Western Suburbs

Re: New 18 Gallon Tank

Post by POPPIT »

Sorry Appps my guages are in Fahrenheits 79F=26C 70F=21C about..
Wow 4 cups a week is a lot..those ceramic heat lamp are really hot though...I really wanted a moon light so i could see them at night but without the heat but i can only find the puple bulb thats heated...I heard them playing on the shells again last night lol
Hi Ginger thats cheap and no i didnt see those block ones...i was looking at a bag of loose moss i cant find it on the website it might have been live moss..Aw those bricks annoy me as i saw off what i need...I will check out options for the sphagnum moss later today though..Thanks
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