How much substrate?

[Justthreehermitcrabs]

Hello again!
I will be cleaning out my 55 gallon hermit crab tank within the next week but I’m not sure how much sand I should buy.
Right now I’m planning on using “quickrete premium play sand” which come in 50 pound bags and I want to provide about 10 inches of substrate. I’ll also be getting the 3 pack of eco earth bricks to make a 5:1 ratio (sand to dirt). Should I get 3 bags of sand? 4? More?
Any help is appreciated, thanks!

[The Crab Maid]

Quickrete has multiple types of sands and some have cystalline silica, so just make sure the bag doesn't have a warning for it. I'm pretty sure the playsand ones are free of it, but I just wanted to put that out there.

I have a 50g tote and 3 bags of sand and 3 bags of EE gave me about 7 inches of substrate. Do you know the dimensions of your 55g? Mine is long and not super tall, so I had more space to cover. A tall would fill quicker with less because of the space going up.

What's your current substrate and what do you mean by cleaning? Trashing it? Correcting it? Old substrate is fine, adding a few tank cleaners like isopods will do all the cleaning for you.

[Justthreehermitcrabs]

Quickrete has multiple types of sands and some have cystalline silica, so just make sure the bag doesn't have a warning for it. I'm pretty sure the playsand ones are free of it, but I just wanted to put that out there.

I have a 50g tote and 3 bags of sand and 3 bags of EE gave me about 7 inches of substrate. Do you know the dimensions of your 55g? Mine is long and not super tall, so I had more space to cover. A tall would fill quicker with less because of the space going up.

What's your current substrate and what do you mean by cleaning? Trashing it? Correcting it? Old substrate is fine, adding a few tank cleaners like isopods will do all the cleaning for you.

Thanks for the reply! I’ll make sure it doesn’t have that warning.

My 55 gallon is 48.25 inches long, 12.75 inches wide and 21 inches tall. My crabs are getting larger so I’m looking to give them 8-10 inches of substrate.

My current substrate is a mix of 1/3 eco earth and 2/3 all purpose sand. I’m changing the substrate so it’s a better ratio (5:1) and has a better consistency because the all purpose sand has a lot of gravel/rock pieces! I’ve had hermit crabs for around 6.5 years now and it works well for me to do a deep clean about once every year- year and a half while the crabs aren’t molting.

[The Crab Maid]

A lot here don't even do a cleaning at all, unless there is a bacterial bloom or flooding. I understand wanting to get rid of the gravel though.

My 50 definitely has smaller dimensions by a few inches and 3 bags of sand and EE gave me 7-8 inches (measure, my shallowest was 7 and my highest was . You might need about 5 bags for 10 inches.

[soilentgringa]

Hello again!
I will be cleaning out my 55 gallon hermit crab tank within the next week but I’m not sure how much sand I should buy.
Right now I’m planning on using “quickrete premium play sand” which come in 50 pound bags and I want to provide about 10 inches of substrate. I’ll also be getting the 3 pack of eco earth bricks to make a 5:1 ratio (sand to dirt). Should I get 3 bags of sand? 4? More?
Any help is appreciated, thanks!

For the 55 gallon for 10-12” you need about 250lbs of sand and about half a brick of EE per 50lb bag.




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[Scarletfire]

What's the footprint of your tank?

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