How often do you change your substrate?

LordofScorpions

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 7, 2007
Messages
72
Starting when I come back to school, in December, I'm going to do a whole substrate change. I spot clean at least every 3 or 4 days.

But how often should you remove all the sub and add new sub?
 

Aztek

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
May 22, 2007
Messages
1,733
Well I've had them since April and I haven't done it once.

I just mix it around...

I guess I need an answer too.
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
2,301
I never change mine.

Early on in the hobby, I changed it when I discovered that I was using the wrong kind. I also changed out one tank when mushrooms started growing.

The vinegaroon didn't seem to mind, incidentally . . .
 

Vietnamese510

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
185
d

i cange my sub for my emps like about at least 2-3 months
and i clean up a little when i inspect every week
 

Normski2020uk

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 18, 2005
Messages
603
Never, ive had my sub in my main tank for comeing up to 2 years. Its had mushrooms, it had spring tails, Its dirt, the scorps hose keep their selves, have u not noticed how they seam to burrow a little deeper everynow n again. Check the spill they bring to the surface, its all their waist. Pluse if you add woodlice, spiders, springtails, n mites (predatory) you have a self contained echo system. So u dont need to empty it out.
Me personaly, id only empty it out if something ghoes wrong and i cant controle it by altering the enviroment. E.g. I had an outbreak of fruit flys in 1 tank. Could not controle them so i had to change it out.
 

Cyris69

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Sep 10, 2007
Messages
1,413
I clean my tropical tanks out every 2 months max.
Haven't had my desert setups for to long so I doubt I'll change those very often. Then again a 50lb bag of play sand is 2 bucks compared 5 for a freaking brick of coco fiber.

I also do weekly inspections with my LED pen light and spot clean when I see it.
I think it depends on the environment. Tropic, desert, etc..
Then all the variables come into play: Heat, Relative Humidity, Ventilation, Ground Moisture, and any others. If you have high heat, good RH and moisture and bad ventilation your going to have to do a lot more cleaning and changes.
 
Top