I recently got a red claw crab and he is in my old fish tank lots of hiding and places to stay out of water my lid is taped down because of worries he will escape but there is a lot of condensation on the glass of the aquarium, ive looked up getting rid of it and I know my lid isnt ideal but is there anyways I can get the condensation off the glass instead of buying a new lid?
red claw crab tank
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Is condensation an issue? Cant you just periodically wipe it off?
If you have warm water inside the tank, colder air outside of the tank and an impermeable lid, condensation will always form on the underside of the impermeable lid. Short of removing that lid, or replacing that lid with something that lets water vapour pass through, ventilating the air gap between the water surface and lid, insulating the lid, or increasing the air temperature in the room to the same as the water temperature i dont see how you can avoid condensation. If you come up with a better way the flat roofing industry has several million pounds waiting for you.
If you have warm water inside the tank, colder air outside of the tank and an impermeable lid, condensation will always form on the underside of the impermeable lid. Short of removing that lid, or replacing that lid with something that lets water vapour pass through, ventilating the air gap between the water surface and lid, insulating the lid, or increasing the air temperature in the room to the same as the water temperature i dont see how you can avoid condensation. If you come up with a better way the flat roofing industry has several million pounds waiting for you.
sorry for a lot of info but like I mentioned I have to tape my lid in case he escapes, im new to owning him and my mom doesnt want a crab running around the house or attacking my animals (dog and cat). I dont mind wiping condensation, but it comes very quickly, at the moment I have warm water and my room is warm in my other tanks I dont have much issues with condensation and my siblings dont either. im wondering if it’s possible to get a mesh net instead. I have set it up so he cant escape but im not sure if he will still try he sticks out his legs and tries to get onto the heater but he cant reach. earlier tonight he had jumped into the water which had surprised me since I havent seen him do that before so im wondering if he may jump onto the heater.
Make the lid out of eggcrate ceiling tiles. That will let the water vapour through the same as simply removing the lid.
Condensation will form where warm, moist air hits a colder surface unless the air is allowed to bypass or pass through the colder surface.
Condensation will form where warm, moist air hits a colder surface unless the air is allowed to bypass or pass through the colder surface.
Make the lid out of eggcrate ceiling tiles. That will let the water vapour through the same as simply removing the lid.
Condensation will form where warm, moist air hits a colder surface unless the air is allowed to bypass or pass through the colder surface.
the only concern is that he may escape and getting food in my tank, where can I find that for the top of the tank?
How big are these crabs? Sorry i know nothing about crabs. The squares on those tiles are about 1cm, i doubt a crab will get through, but like i say i know nothing about them.
You wont be able to buy a ready made lid from eggcrate. You would have to DIY one. Eggcrate should be available from builders suppliers, maybe DIY suppliers.
You wont be able to buy a ready made lid from eggcrate. You would have to DIY one. Eggcrate should be available from builders suppliers, maybe DIY suppliers.
I have a red claw crab and they are escape artists being new to it im taking caution to make sure he doesnt escape he is definitely not 1 cm but if they crawl up into filters they can push up on lids, so my tank lid is pretty secure taped where holes are and anywhere they can push up, I only have one and hes still exploring he may be able to jump onto things if he tries hard enough I will look into it thank you for the suggestion, is it fairly cheap?
this is his tank I have set it up fairly safe so he cant get out but its still possible, he does need air and water which does cause condensation. I just worry abt moving things around because of pinching and it is fairly hard to get them out of their tanks considering they are very fast
Eggcrate used to be used in ceilings a lot, so used to be readily available and quite cheap. It is seen as a bit 1970s now and not commonly installed. Probably 20 years since i specified eggcrate. You can still get it. Builders supplies will sell packs of 10 600×600mm tiles. You will probably pay more for delivery than the pack of tiles if you cant go and collect it. Online sellers will sell individual tiles specifically for use in aquariums at a big mark up, but it may be cheaper if you only want to buy 1 or 2 tiles. Buy a pack, resell the ones you dont use maybe. Make a little cash.
This is whats causing the condesation. If everything is sealed up and there is a temperature gradient between the water and the room, water vapour will condense somewhere unless its ventilated. Most likely place will be the inside of the glass and underside of lid. If you cant provide ventilation, the only way to stop condensation is to remove or reduce the temperature gradient. Increase room temperture 24 hours a day to the same as the room. Or stick an inch of polystyrene to the top of the lid.
If you wanted to have a ventilated lid avoiding louvres and grills i suppose if your DIY skills are up to it and you wanted an overengineered solution. You could frame out a lid and line it with a vapour permeable roofing membrane (Tyvek). This is way OTT though.
ADsnail
Aquarium Advice Freak
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Unless your crab is the size of a pin head, an alternative would be screening, like what's used on screen doors. It's usually made of fiberglass. This is sold by the roll and is flexible and easy to cut to size. It can be rubber-banded around things, fit into holes and then the lid clamped down over it, etc. Some old-time hardware stores still sell it by the foot, cut to size from a big roll.
