The Great Crabitat Picture Project - Discussion Thread

Thanks--I was just admiring yours as well!  That is fish net wrapped around the piece of wood, yes, and it's actually just a branch from one of the oak trees in my backyard lol.  I didn't necessarily *need* the netting, just liked the way it looked and figured it would make it even easier to climb which was important since it was the main way to access the 2nd level.

The level you're talking about is actually just a panel of powder coated wire grid that is from a random hamster playpen I took apart to use the pieces for things like this (the playpen was too small to be much good anyway and short enough that my hamster could easily climb out of it heh).  I covered it with burlap that I secured with just regular hot glue.  It actually fit perfectly so that it simply sat on the small lip going around the bottom of the 20g tank without me having to actually attach it.  The two acrylic levels on the left side of the 20g were secured using aquarium silicone though.

The baskets were all being held up by the water-resistant 3M Command hooks--I LOVE them, if you're careful to first apply them to completely dry and clean glass then they don't ever budge until you actually want to remove them--which is also really easy, then they can be used again with a refill adhesive strip.  Some of the baskets they were holding up were actually really heavy too due to what was inside them--I was nervous at first that it'd be too much weight but there were never any problems.  I really like how the vines on top turned out as well--still decorating and arranging my new 'tat and want to create something similar to that also.

That's a medium Exo Terra waterfall that you see on the far right.  I randomly found it on clearance for $10 at Petco sometime during the winter of last year, and I figured for that price (they typically retail for ~$70 I might as well try it.  I use FW in mine, and my crabs like it much more than I'd expected--they climb into the bottom basin to drink from the FW but it also makes a great "mountain" for them to climb.  Before setting mine up I went online and read as many of the reviews from people who'd bought this specific product to get a better idea of what to expect.  There were tons of them where people complained that they constantly leaked, but noticed a trend in that the people who had NO issues with it leaking had it placed on a perfectly level surface.  Played around with mine in the kitchen to see if it did, in fact, leak and if so, where it was leaking from.  In this particular style of waterfall it's actually a specific area just below and to the right of the opening the water flows out of--I the waterfall isn't sitting on a level surface, even just one that's a little bit off, it does end up causing some of the water to be diverted from it's "path" and a substantial amount ends up running down the back of it.  Obviously I couldn't just place it on the floor of the tank due to the depth of substrate needed, so before adding anything to the tank, specifically substrate, I made a very basic "platform" for it to sit on that was completely level and made it so that it would come right up to the top of the sub--hiding the platform and allowing it to sit right on the surface.  I actually like it much more than I'd expected, so it was very much worth the $10--I really didn't have the money to buy one at retail price but if you find one on sale/clearance or it's price isn't really an issue, I'd def recommend getting one