substrat

Question
hi i was just wondering what your stance is between beach sand and playground sand for a substrat.  i live in australia and im like a 5min drive from the beach so it'd be easy if thats better for them.  also i have a 29 gallon tank and i was wondering about heating and lighting.  ive heard uth can be bad because its not natural to heat from the bottom.  just one more thing :)
if my biggest cab is around the size of a golfball how deep should my substrat be?
thanks a lot :)

Answer
Lacey,
Heres the thing.....personally i LOVE using play-sand, for me its $1.50 for 25 lbs and its clean and NO BUGS. I am sure your crabs would LOVE the beach sand...BUT there are bugs and sand crabs in it....if you want to use it you can put it in the oven and bake it on full heat at maybe 400 degrees F until you think and micro-organisms are out.....it will stink up your house though....I would go with play-sand.
I personally LOVE using heat lamps for reptiles that hang or clip to the top...but get the lowest wattage you can.
The deeper the better!!!!! Depth should be twice as tall as your biggest crab but i make mine about 3 times as deep that way they aren't on the glass bottom.
Ask any more questions you have!

-Katie