Alternative to Sand and Rocks

Hi all,

i just got 3 new tanks to play with and i kind of got bored with sand, gravel or rocks as substrate. Has anyone any experiences with other kinds of substrate.
I'm thinking styrofoam, vermiculite, peatmoss, driftwood, pp-pipes...

But i am very open for suggestions.

i saw a post on here where someone has used slate tiles on the tank floor?it looks pretty cool too!

Yeah, slate tiles is what I was going to say. Or, paint the bottom on the outside? Black silicone the whole bottom of the tank? Theres a kind of soil used for planting aquariums, not sure what its called, but that could work.

I wouldn't use styrofoam, as I'd be scared of the sealant coming loose and the stuff floating abruptly to the surface. Vermiculite might be as bad as gravel in some ways, and I'm not sure of the chemical composition of the stuff. Driftwood, like, ground up? Might look cool, but be hard to clean.

I know it's pretty much the same as rocks, but have you thought about using those big pebbles that people put into vases? if you axie is big enough of course. or even large shells. i have some of both in my fish tank (my axies aren't big enough to need rocks etc yet. my friend has an adult axolotl and she uses big jewel like rocks. they look like gemstones etc, except they're big enough to not harm the axies. it's definately pretty looking and as long as they aren't sharp ones, safe for them too

I would avoid those glass bead things at all cost. Not only is it a waste because you have to toss it when your axie gets bigger but it will eventually be very dangerous

Same with gravel and river pebbles etc
I would also avoid shells. They can add minerals to your water and really mess up your PH

I wouldn't worry about what you are bored with...i would worry about whats safe for the animals

thanks for all the replies, I think slate tiles and silicone are pretty funny ideas. I'm not sure whether they wouldn't be to smooth for the axolotl or not, but i think i've seen some rough slate tiles somewhere. I will definitely check this slate tiles-thread out :wacko:

It is true that safety for the animals must come first. I am by no means planning to implement something harmful to the axolotl tanks. That's certainly a good point to make :happy:

So maybe i will look into different (natural) colors of sand (white or black or red)
This should also make a difference...

Thinking a red wasteland with some old wood and some yellow or white axos ^^

Or a black tank with white wood and gfp axos ) - man this would certainly look nice.

I also thought about letting the whole bottom overgrow with some moss before letting the axos in. This would need warmer water, decent lights ans co2 in the beginning.
Does anybody know whether the moss will survive if i suddenly skip the lights and co2 and lower the temps. Will it just cease growing or will it simply die?

Is there something like artificial moss? hmm....

I like the idea of big jewel like stones. Put some underwater LED between them and this may sparkle very nive. Don't know whether the axos will like them.

Has anybody experiences with mud at the bottom. It obviously will be very cloudy at the beginning but i think it could look very nice...

Order some crazy sand from the internet, the real website, they have some wicked colours!
I used to have orange sand but recently changed it to purple!

i don't know if its suitable for tanks,but there is a fake moss/grass kind of thing available,used usually by green grocers outside shops,like astro turf? again don't know if its suitable to go in tank and if it was would probably need cleaning quite well......you could always stick it under the tank to make it look like a lawn!

You can buy plastic plants, which are like moss, to put on the bottom of the tank. I would be wary of sharp edges and attatchments though.

I agree, I often get bored with the white sand so I might just get some colored sand. but it's so darn expensive >_< I can't make myself pay that much for sand.

I think mostly you just need to think about what's going to be practical for you and safe for the axy of course. whatever you do just remember you have to clean the tank and don't want debris getting trapped anywhere and you might have to move the tank later on so don't glue heavy stuff in the tank.

Some people just use dirt haha, but of course they usually cap it with a layer of sand/gravel.
Good luck!

I placed a thin layer of mud and carpeted the floor of my tank with live lilaeopsis brisbanica or Brisbane Water Lawn. It's been working great as a wild habitat, water filter and general waste absorber.

Right now I'm growing a new mat of the stuff so I can completely rework the tank in about a month. But I'm told that here in Australia Pisces sells 20cm by 30cm mats of the stuff ready to go, and you can probably get similar products in other countries. I cannot imagine why you would want to use anything other than live plants as a primary substrate.

Hi askab,

I use a "Hamburger Mattenfilter" on the bottom and I put some little bushels of javamoss in my tank. Now the javamoss has spread all over the "HMF" and it looks fantastic - a green, natural ground. But it´s a bit tricky to clean it up.

Greetz, Tina