Adding Water?

I am a NEW axolotl owner!
My water consists of the large amount of water given to me at the fish store. I am currently using a non-filtered tank until I set up a new one and my gravel substrate gets all bacteria-ed up.

How should I add water to my non-filtered tank? Should I treat tap water? Buy water from a store? Let tap water sit for a day or two and then treat it? There is a lot of info I've been reading, but it seems some of it is spread out and hard to find/remember.

hi, i will try to help.
-first and foremost get rid of gravel and replace with sand, as this doesnt block up the axolotls digestive systems.
-i would remove about 25% of the tap water per water change, i personally do this once every 10 days, and it works well for me and my axies.
-tap water should always be treated as it contains harmful chemicals such as chlorine which can harm your axolotl. i use aquasafe, but i no its differant over in america.
-dont buy water from the store, its a needless waste of money.
-there is conflicting evidence whether to let water stand or not, but if you are treating the water anyway, then i see no reason to let it stand.
if you are finding info on keeping axolotls hard to find, then have a look at this site, it has all the info you need.
http://www.axolotl.org/
hope this helps somewhat.

thanks alex
-as for the gravel, my gravel is way too big for them to swallow. more like small rocks.
-by removing 25% of the water, do you mean removing 25% of the tanks water before adding the new water?
-I've been reading on axolotl.org and its been helpful, but not thorough on the adding water to still water tanks.

Thanks for the reply. I will do as you suggest, but I'd love to hear more suggestions from folks.
Thanks,
illgore troutface

hi
glad to hear that it helped.
what i do when i clean my tanks is i take out 25% of the water in the tank, i then fill it up again with treated water.
id also like to find out how much/how frequently they change their water.

We have filtered and unfiltered tanks.

Husband changes our adult axie tanks filtered ones once a week, 30% maximum. Unfiltered tanks every 3 days, 30% waterchange. I change our unfiltered baby axie tanks daily majority of water.

Treated or dechlorinated tapwater for waterchanges should be kept in the same room as the tank to be changed in.

The reason we leave it for minimum of an hour/but generally overnight is because you need to let the water both

a) degas (the bubbles disappear that form on the side of glass when you fill with tapwater); and

b) so the water can drop/increase to room temperature - same as the tank to be changed; otherwise you cause fluctuating temperatures which in turn can stress your axie.

We always test our tanks for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate (once a fortnight pH)prior to waterchanging or when our axies seem stressed (in case there is a water problem). Unfiltered tanks get monitored every 2-3 days also prior to waterchange.

Are your axies in the tank yet, if they are and as your bacteria hasn't established yet you will need to keep a watchful eye on the tank water parameters - test it every day for ammonia, nitrite and do a 20-30% waterchange if its needed (generally any ammonia/nitrite readings above 0 you have to do a waterchange to keep the water safe enough for your axie to live in without getting stressed/sick).

Don't bother adding any chemicals to try and "speed" the bacteria (ie cycling) or fix the ammonia/nitrate, nitrite. these are generally temporary fixes which won't help your bacteria to establish/invariably muck it up so the best thing is regular partial waterchanges until your tank is cycled. Once cycled then you can drop the amount of waterchanges back to weekly or 10 days (our friend does 10 days too)

(Message edited by kapo on April 14, 2007)