Setting up new 75g

[Crabmama2]

So I am adding a new tank to my house. I already have a 30 gallon that has three crabs in it. With 9 inches of substrate 80% humidity 80% temperature everything’s going well I have two pools and a bubbler. So my new tank is a 75 gallon , I know I need to cover 75% of the back of the tank with under the tank heaters. Do I need to have heaters across the whole bottom of the sand including part of the area that’s not covered in sand? And if anybody else that has put up a 75 gallon how many pounds of sand and how many pounds of ebark did you use? I am figuring roughly 250 pounds of sand, but haven’t figured out the ebark yet. thank you in advance for your help.

[myllkti]

Hello! I'm not sure I understand correctly but no, heat mats should not be going under the sub line. For sub, here is a handy chart! Please do note that LHCOS (who made this chart) has more stringent guidelines on exact sub composition than the HCA, so I am not saying you have to follow it down to the decimal point, but it can be helpful to see a general idea of how much sub you might want to start out buying! https://i0.wp.com/crabstreetjournal.org ... 1304&ssl=1

[JoeHermits]

Typically one 50 lb bag of play and one brick of compressed coconut fiber per ten gallons will fill the tank halfway, so for a 75 gal about 375 lb of sand (7.5 bags) and 7.5 bricks of coconut fiber (I don’t use bark, don’t want it rotting under the sand). Those numbers may be adjusted for different depths or mixing ratios.

A heat mat that goes below the substrate line will cause the substrate to dry out quicker near the heater, which isn’t necessarily bad but is something to consider when choosing heat pad(s).


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[curlysister]

No offense to you, Myll, but that has to be the worst chart I've seen in a long time! LOL! The 5 to 1 ratio really isn't important - it might be easy to maintain, but all play sand, all eco earth, or a mix of the two in any ratio are all good!

[JoeHermits]

Curly that’s mean


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[myllkti]

No offense to you, Myll, but that has to be the worst chart I've seen in a long time! LOL! The 5 to 1 ratio really isn't important - it might be easy to maintain, but all play sand, all eco earth, or a mix of the two in any ratio are all good!

No worries hahaha! The numbers seems a bit odd but because LHCOS is so strict about 5:1 ratio I thought their chart was probably really carefully calculated. Not saying it wasn’t but this reply was less surprising than it could be

[myllkti]

A heat mat that goes below the substrate line will cause the substrate to dry out quicker near the heater, which isn’t necessarily bad but is something to consider when choosing heat pad(s).

Ooh really? Shouldn’t we always or at least mostly avoid? /gq

[JoeHermits]

You should still mostly avoid, since the tank won’t warm up as well if the substrate absorbs all the heat, but some overlap is okay so long as you still have plenty of heater above the line


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[myllkti]

Ah I see, seems I misunderstood, sorry and thanks

[curlysister]

Curly that’s mean


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Sorry!! But it's like super tiny font, and it's blurry, and crowded, and so hard to read!

[curlysister]

No worries hahaha! The numbers seems a bit odd but because LHCOS is so strict about 5:1 ratio I thought their chart was probably really carefully calculated. Not saying it wasn’t but this reply was less surprising than it could be

I wasn't even really referring to the content - because I can hardly read what it says! LOL!

[myllkti]

OH lol

I will go back to trusting their numbers for now then, it does seem like a lot of work XD