Substrate cleaning
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Substrate cleaning
I know we should never do a deep clean unless there is flooding, but what about surface cleaning to remove poop? Not sure what I need to do for that.
Is there a"cleaning schedule " for when things need to be cleaned?
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Is there a"cleaning schedule " for when things need to be cleaned?
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Re: Substrate cleaning
You can surface clean to remove poo, but its certainly not required. I personally like to spot clean my tank to remove EE from the substrate whenever possible - I use straight sand, personal choice - and food that the crabs have dragged around.
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Re: Substrate cleaning
I also don't scoop out the poop, I just mix it into the substrate every now and then. I do remove bits of food every now and then, maybe once a week or whenever I notice it.
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Re: Substrate cleaning
@aussie/curly, do either of you have isopods? If no, how do you deal with it decomposing?
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Re: Substrate cleaning
In the past, I use to have isopods. In fact, I recently brought a colony of 'giant isopods' which I plan to grow before introducing into my tank.Scarletfire wrote:@aussie/curly, do either of you have isopods? If no, how do you deal with it decomposing?
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Currently I have springtails growing in my crabitat, and a couple of times seen harmless detrivous mites scampering about which naturally reside in our crabitats due to high levels of food and moisture.
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Re: Substrate cleaning
No isopods. I always just figured that the poop decomposed like compost. I think those of us that don't scoop out the poop are in the minority, most people do scoop what they can see on the surface. I only have two crabs, currently in a 55 gallon, so the poop isn't all that obvious LOL.
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Re: Substrate cleaning
I also have springtails in my tank, and I never even hardly notice them unless they are floating in the water dish
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Re: Substrate cleaning
So substrate changes are never needed unless an emergency? It seems like they would be next to impossible to do as wouldn't a crab almost always be molting if you have a few?
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Re: Substrate cleaning
Molting is why I've never done a full substrate change on my tank. There's always at least one who's underground and I'm too paranoid to disturb them. I usually just spot clean the surface and refill as necessary.Nitegoddess wrote: ↑Tue Oct 01, 2019 2:26 pmSo substrate changes are never needed unless an emergency? It seems like they would be next to impossible to do as wouldn't a crab almost always be molting if you have a few?
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Re: Substrate cleaning
Ok, that is what I was trying to figure out if that is actually something that would be needed. I was dreading trying to figure out how to do that, so I am glad to hear that it is not usually done!
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Re: Substrate cleaning
Correct. And if there was an emergency like a flood or bacterial bloom, you would need to dig up any crabs that were under.
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