Enclosure Maintenance

I'm about to change the substrate of my imps enclosure, I currently have about 4 inches but i'm going to 6 after I clean. A few questions:

1. What should I use to clean out the cage as far as soaps or disinfectants go? Or should I just rinse very well with water?

2. I'm thinking about slanting the substrate as i've heard of people from here doing, to maximize surface area in my 10 gallon aquarium. Good Idea, bad idea? Tips?

3. As far as packing the substrate goes, should I pack it differently in layers? Pack it all hard so it's stable?

Thanks alot guys.

I can't tell you too much, but what little I know is that bleach is ok, but you have to rinse it out really good, the risky thing is that it will kill stuff if it isn't rinsed completely out. The alternative I took was Vinegar, the White Vinegar you can buy from the store. I have been told that most people even switch to cleaning class with it because of how good it works. I've been told it needs to obviously be rinsed out but is not nearly as risky as bleach.

I don't think slanting the substrate is bad (someone please correct me if I'm wrong there), but the problem I had was that I put my water dish at the bottom of the 'hill' and substrate will fall into it a lot easier. Not a big deal but just a little something to keep in mind when setting up the furniture.

As for packing the substrate, I've seen people do all different things. I would assume that packing a bit would be good help stay firm and allow for some good burrows. Don't know if I'd pack it terribly solid but don't think it matters too much. I have a false bottom set up so I did some layers. I packed about the first 2 inches pretty good and added another 4 inches that I pressed down with my hand moderately, then sprinkled more on top to achieve and filling in or landscaping I wanted.

I'm a noob on here next to most of these guys and gals so take my input with a grain of salt check out what others are doing and saying.

1. i use 2 capfuls of bleach when i clean my tanks, fill with water, wash every inch the cloth can touch, and use as hot as water as possible to rinse as thoroughly as possible...and i still have my 3 emps and fl bark...so it hasnt harmed them...
i dont know about the vinegar thing, being that i think vinegar is probably the most disgusting smell in the world, but i have heard people using it to clean windows, glass, etc...


2. it varies dude...like iito said, youll have an issue with the water dish, but thats not really a hard thing to fix...
you could add a ledge big enough for the dish to sit on...
its basically trial and error


3. if i used 6 inches of substrate in my tanks, id pack down 5 inches to promote stable burrows that wont collapse, and id scatter the last inch of substrate so the scorpion can start its burrow naturally...
every week or so i add 1 1/2 cups of water (measured) to keep the substrate moist and packed incase it starts other burrows (this is in my 4i tank by the way) when i add the water i do it in the corner farthest from the main burrow so i dont accidentally collapse the burrows myself...

my 4i emp is a very active burrower....
my 2 adult female emps could really care less, they love the caves i made for them out of rocks and i imagine they feel really secure in them =)


but 50% of my research and way of doing things comes from this site and the 50% is really my own trial and error....
but i hope this helps and good luck dude