mold

Questions about unexpected problems.
hyper.mum
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Post by hyper.mum »

Changing of sand/substrates is of personal preferance and taken with care. If using sand and this becomes wet or damp this will need to be removed as it has been known of crabbies becoming stuck when the sand dries and hardens. I personally think a rotating type system works well, removing a small area of sand trying to avoid burrowed hermies and replacing with washed/dried sand, then week or 2 later remove and replace a different area.
With the hygrometer the spraying of the back panel may cause it to jump around in readings as spraying will boost the humidity and will drop and again as it dries, there is a way to test them but I will have to look it up.
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Post by Jaci »

that would help a lot. i'm at home now on spring break, i see my family once a month, so they're not really letting me out of their sight to do anything. :) but when I get home i will also look up how to test it. i use calci sand but wai just told me, in another topic, that play sand is better. could that also be a problem?
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hermiesrokmysox
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Post by hermiesrokmysox »

you might want to spray the sand, not directly, but just spray over the whole tank. I squirt four times each "session", and my bottle is a nice size (not like on eof those dinky ones).

Is you sand wet at all?

okay, to a newer post!
Calci sand ios okay to use for a portian of the tank, even in a large food bowl is okay (some crabbers do that since the hermies really just eat the sand). I always use play sand (and crab soil). It always worked for me! :D
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Post by Jaci »

so i could mix the play and calci sand together? i've seen that soil substrate at petco, what exactly does that stuff do? my sand is not thoroughly wet, just semi damp, if that makes sense. it's not wet, but it's damp.
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hermiesrokmysox
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Post by hermiesrokmysox »

you could mix it, but keeping it seprate might be better (it dosn't matter if it accidentlu mixes, i don't think it will hurt anything!).

Petco usually uses crab soil, i use it in parts of my tank, but not all of it...i think that's what you were asking!
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Post by Jaci »

yep, that's what i'm talking about, that big circle thing. i always wondered. well i can't change my sand now because of shelley and lemi being buried. i'll wait until they surface. do you have like one half calci and the other play? will the play sand keep the mold from coming back? one guy in another forum said that he has a "wet area" and a "dry area" in his tank. is that good to do? what would be the meaning of that?
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hermiesrokmysox
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Post by hermiesrokmysox »

i don't have any calci sand (although i hope to try it in the future, seems like its good!), but having a sepreate place for calci sand is cool. Half and half would work. I don't think the play sand keep mold away, although i have no mold on my wood, but i still get mold on my food if i leave it in too long, but that's off topic ^) .
the 'dry area' 'wet area' seems okay, i would just have more of the wet. The dry area could be where the calci sand is. i think maybe the pupose is for crabs who like wet and crabs who like dry [sand].
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Post by Jaci »

that's so interesting. although it does make sense, crabs can be confusing sometimes. they're so individual it's funny. i may have to try the wet/dry sand after lemi and shelley come back up. wonder which of my crabs prefer the wet to the dry. should be interesting! adam said that the mold he spotted was near the food, not on top of it. when i put fruit or veggies in there i don't leave them longer than a day. it comes out the day after. they have dried bloodworms in there now and bebe seems to really like them, they shouldn't grow mold.
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hermiesrokmysox
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Post by hermiesrokmysox »

i hope not. food mold is so nasty. i hate it!
Sometimes food get's out of the bowl and molds fater 9probably because it's on dampish sand).
Do you use big dishes?

lol, i know, it's funny how such teeny creatures can still have personalities!
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Post by Jaci »

i didn't htink about the wet sand. the food is next to the sponge, which bebe likes to drag out into the middle of nowhere. so the food is surrounded by wet sand. i have medium sized shells for the food. should i change to something different? what do you use?
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