Couple of qs - water depth and sand types

ive found some contradicting info in the web. some people say that just enough water to cover the axies body is good, others say as much water as the tank will hold so they can swim about freely. what do you thinks best? also, what kind of sand is best? i dont really want the dirt to show up so what colour would hide it best? is there any brand youd recommend?

I fill my tank all the way up to the top. I think what they mean is that just enough to cover the axolotl is the least ammount of water you should have. Although people advised me not to, i have beach sand in my tank. To steralize it (if u use beach sand) you have to bake it for like an hour. Then let it soak to get out any of the debris that might be in there. I dont know why there would be dirt in the tank but i cant see any dirt in mine
*closely inspects the sand looking for dirt*

I had white sand a few weeks ago but it got really dirty really quick! plus my filter kept sucking up the sand in one corner so there was bare glass at the bottom and my axies kept getting stuck in the corner like they were running on a tredmill.

Not sure of the brand name (but you prob wont have it in hawaii anyways) but you can get sand for reptiles which is okay for them incase they swollow it.

I think the sand made for reptiles has something in it for extra calcium. I would use aquarium sand to be safe.
What kind of filter do u use?

what filter do i use? i use a fluval 4 or 3. cant remember which. its an internat filter.

And how much water is in the tank?? isnt that filter a little powerful??
i dont know about why its sucking up so much sand. Is the intake hole(s) near the bottom??
if they are is there someway you could prop it up so that it didnt eat the sand?

it sucks up some sand but mostly it just sort of sucks it up into a pile near the filter.

I dont have sand anymore though because it was white and it went filthy. It was a bugger getting it all out though. the hoover got a bit damaged to and needed a big clean out (especially seeing as the sand was quite wet hehe)

i know have very small black gravel with larger rock type things on top

look how dirty the sand was after like a couple of days

I fill the tank to the top because I like to watch them swim, and it gives them more room. I do use a completely covered top so they can't accidently jump out.

I just put in white sand (marine sand from caribsea) as you may have read in the gallery section. I am not fond of how it shows up all the debris, but the axolotls seem to like it better than the rocks they had before.

I like the way it packed down. The water is clear this morning and that was a worry for me as I have never used sand before. I thought it would be cloudy all the time from the axolotls poofing up sand when they walked. But that doesn't happen, they just leave little foot prints and tail drag marks in the sand.

I ordered a battery operated vacuum to clean the sand with. When it gets here I will let you know how it works. I thought it would be easier to use than the water python I normally use to clean. The water python hooks to the sink and it has a lot of suction power, I was sucking up some sand when I was using it. So I thought I would try something with less power.

Fill your tank to a an inch or so short of the top. If startled axies may jump out of the water. Better still fit a lid as well.

I don't use sand I prefer pea sized gravel and under gravel filters.

I used the battery powered cleaner for a while. It was good at first but worse than useless within a few weeks. I won't be wasting any more cash on of those and will be sticking with my syphon cleaner.

Kim has used sand for quite while ...if she see's this thread i'm sure she will comment for you.

mik - what brand of battery vacuum did you order?
I hope mine lasts longer than that lol

For now I'm cleaning poo with the ever faithful turkey baster.

Yes if Kim is around I would like to know how she is cleaning it. The sand I have is very fine grain and light it sucks up in the syphon cleaner very easy.

(Message edited by cynorita on December 28, 2004)

Cynthia,

Yeah ive used sand for quite a while now and having good luck with it. I had some worries when my axie got sick and that it was because of the small gravel I had. But in the end found out it was nothing to do with it (thank god!) but still a sock to make me think!

Any way...

I have a vacuum too, but its not a battery one its one you connect to a air pump, it works great.

Ive not found it sucks up much sand just a little if I disturb the sand alot.

I have the natural colour in my tank, yeah it does show up the poo and dead plant matter, but I hover up every day, if I can and find its easier to see anything that needs sucking up, no missing poo!

And I also find little tale and foot prints in the sand which is very cute!!

As for my filter sucking it up... never had a problem... I only have a filter that it for a tank half the size of mine (20% water changed eat week), this is because I found the others were too strong and created to much current in the tank.


Good luck Cynthia, let me know how it goes for you...

Jenny,

If you having problems with your filter sucking up the sand, I think your filter maybe a bit strong for the tank, but as long as its baffeled it should be ok.

Kim - thanks for the info!

If the battery model is a dud I will buy the air driven model. When I was picking one out I was torn between the 2. I went for the battery one because I thought the airline might be a pain to try and keep attached when I'm "Into my hoovering groove" hahaha.

I am liking the sand more every day because the axolotls look more comfortable on it. Once I can clean the leaves and what not off of it I think I will be a "satisfied customer".

I am still bothered by the size of the rock that Jude puked up the other day. (there is a pic of it in the axie gallery, under the "My Axolotl Tank" thread.

I will report back on my vacuum demo.

Jenny- I have one of the fluval 1 internal filters I bought for a frog tank and it was WAY to strong of a current even on the lowest setting. I thought it was going to blow someone into the side of the tank and put them into a coma. lol I had to put it on the shelf.

Is there any reason you can't just use the old method of sucking water through a length of tubing and letting it run into a bucket? In addition to being simple and cheap, it's also easy to put a finger on the output to stop the pull in case it sucks up gravel or sand.

Or better yet get a 'gravel siphon' which is basically the same thing but with a special end so it doesn't suck up gravel. I use one, it's excellent.

K Hansen - Yes, there is a reason I couldn't use a length of air tubbing into a bucket. I am too short to reach into the bottom of tank comfortably. That might work for other people though.

My stubbiness is also the reason I only have 40 gallon breeder tanks (they are only 18" tall) and nothing larger.

Eric- I have gravel syphons they suck up the sand, which is why I want to try the battery operated vacuum so I can perhaps lightly hoover the surface of the sand.

- Cynthia

i topped up the tank to an inch below the top and this morning found not only one of my axies having a leasurely swim but also some s'phores! hopefully this time ill get some babies! im hoping third time lucky.... they definately prefur the tank filled up more but about the sand, the s'phores seem to be covered in it! is this bad for breeding? does it detur the female from picking them up it its gritty?

My Battery Operated Gravel Vacuum Review.

I purchased the Penn Plax Super Battery Vac to lightly hoover my sand for debris because my sypon/gravel vac that attaches to my sink was sucking up all my sand.

This vacuum comes with a bag so you do not have to remove water to while vacuuming. The vacuum does come with a hose adapter so you can add 1/2" hose and remove water while vacuuming if you should desire.

I tested using the bag. I just wanted to remove plant debris. The directions suggest lining the bag with some loosely packed filter floss to aid in collecting dirt.

As long as I held the vacuum end above the sand and did not disturb the sand, it worked great for picking up pieces of plant and small floating bits. The vacuum will suck up sand if pushed into the sand.

Do not suck up axolotl poo while using the bag. If you do it just liquifies the poo through the bag and back into the water. I made a quite a mess.

Over all the vacuum does want I wanted it to do. The vacuum needs opened up and cleaned after each use. The debris passes directly through the impeller and can get caught there. Cleaning is easy as it comes apart at the impeller.

When it comes to light sand substrate, the faithful turkey baster works best for picking up poo.

Cynthia, thanks for this! It might be good to also post this review over in the "Product Reviews" section of the forum too. That way the newt people who ignore the axolotl section will see it too. It's a useful set of information.

ok I will repost it over there.