55 gallon tank questions

So my dad just messaged me on facebook while I was asleep to let me know he found a 55 gallon tank somewhere.......which would be great except I have NO idea if it has a filter with it, and....I live in a trailer and I don't know how the floors will handle the weight of 55 gallons of water. I know you don't have to fill the tank up completely for an axie, but my concern with that is the tube to the filter (if it even has one) reaching down far enough for me not to have to fill it more than half way or so.

What kind of setups do you guys have for 55 gallon tanks? Is this way excessive for one axie? I don't want to let my dad down too hard but 55 is WAY more than what I was looking into getting (I told him I wanted a 20-30 gallon rofl).

Kokiron said:

So my dad just messaged me on facebook while I was asleep to let me know he found a 55 gallon tank somewhere.......which would be great except I have NO idea if it has a filter with it, and....I live in a trailer and I don't know how the floors will handle the weight of 55 gallons of water. I know you don't have to fill the tank up completely for an axie, but my concern with that is the tube to the filter (if it even has one) reaching down far enough for me not to have to fill it more than half way or so.

What kind of setups do you guys have for 55 gallon tanks? Is this way excessive for one axie? I don't want to let my dad down too hard but 55 is WAY more than what I was looking into getting (I told him I wanted a 20-30 gallon rofl).

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axolotls prefer length to depth so you do not need to fill it to the top, the water only needs to be a maximimum of the length of the axolotl
you do not need a filter as the water movement will stress the creature, just leave the water still and scoop out any poo it makes.
I have never used a filter in over 5 years and change water every 4 weeks and have 2 in my tank. they are happy with that situation and seem to prefer it.

Axolotls are sensitive to ammonia and nitrite so it is highly recommended to use a filter. They are big and produce a lot of wastes so it is very hard to make sure the water stays perfect with out a filter. The bacteria need a lot of surface area to grow on and the filter provides that.

Stevenwignet, I would suggest you reconsider how you keep your axolotls too since I see you have started a thread recently about your axolotls losing their gill filaments. So obviously your axolotls are not fine in those conditions.

The filter situation with the new tank depends on what kind of filter it has if it has one. Many filters can be used even if the tank isn't filled to the top. A minimum of about 30 cm of water is needed in an axie tank. If you are worried about your floors, you can put a big sheet of plywood under the tank to distribute the weight more and also place it next to a wall for better support.

One axie doesn't necessarily need a 55 gallon tank, but I bet it would love all the space.

ok one more question; if it comes with a regular power filter and I dont want to fill the tank up all or even most of the way, is there a way to extend the tube down into the tank more if it's not already long enough? I know the one for my 10 gallon tank doesn't even come half way down into the tank so that's worrisome :\

Okay I can answer this because I have two 55 gallons set up each with axolotls. 55 gallons is fine for them as long as you provide vertical climbing areas but if it's only one you really don't need to worry about that. The filter you described will probably cause too much current and unless you like the constant sound of a mini waterfall you will have to fill up the tank at least until the intake. The best filters for axolotls are simple sponge filters. A simple air pump is at most $15 and the sponge filters can be bought online for less than $10. I recommend the whisper air pump if you go that route. All the air pumps I've had are a little noisy except for whisper brands. With the sponge filter you can fill the tank up only about a third and still be fine. Since you're keeping the tank less than half full you can even add terrestrial plants over time in a sort of paludarium like setup.

I've never used a filter like that; can someone show me how it's set up?

Picture a round semi rigid sponge with a long plastic cylinder and an air line blowing bubbles through the cylinder. The air pulls water through the sponge. If you google it you'll see a few different sponge designs but all work on that basic principle.

Cool; I looked them up on ebay too and they're pretty cheap. I'll probably get one of these instead of using the annoying power filters

You will probably want 2 sponge filters (or one with dual sponges). They don't last forever, and since much of the tanks biofilter will be in the sponge, if you change the sponge, it will be like your filter "crashed". If you have 2, you can change them out one at a time (with several weeks in between.)

Yeah i'm gonna get one of the double ones; I plan on putting my current filter inside up against it too so the bacteria on it will hopefully transfer off onto the new sponge