Question: Does this sound right?

So ive had my Axolotls for a few days now... ive been testing the water every day and gravel vac'd on the end of day one, and again this morning... ive done 1 20% water change, and fed them on day 1 lighting with some krill pellets, and again this morning with a few more krill pellets...
We went and picked up a few feeder guppies yesterday, and needless to say they are all gone but 1....

They are in a 20 gallon tank

Conditions:

Water temp. 64ºF
pH: 7.4
Nitrate: 0PPM
Nitrite: 0PPM
Ammonia between 0 and .24
(Using drop test kit, not paper)

Substrate: Quartz sand
Filter: 20 gallon AquaTop external filter
Additional from a small air stone, does not cause any notable waterflow to my eye, and the axolotls gills have gone from being curved forward when i received them, to now laying back....

The only light for the tank is a single T8 24" tube that is on for maybe 6 hours a day, the rest of the time is ambient light from the room and the windows, never direct light from the windows on the tank however....

There are a few hides in the tank, and artificial plants....
I planted a few small aquatic plant bulbs to see how that would go....

Any input would be greatly appreciated
Thankyou

Kristoff,
Your set up sounds like an ideal home. I hope you have success with the plants, they are so good for the tank!
There are people who are going to shoot you down about the guppies because of the parasites they contain, so my advice to you (as I believe live food is the best for axolotls) is to get yourself a mini-fishtank set up (ours is in the kitchen) with a couple of guppy breeding traps, and let the little guys breed away. It's not 100% safe, but if you are quarantining them like this at home you can make sure the fish are really well.
Also consider getting some tiny live river (ghost/glass) shrimp as food as well - I find them quite mesmerising fluttering across the tank (as do my axis!)

But of course the best thing you can do is obtain some earthworms. They are the best food your axies can eat. Fishing shops are great, or pet shops... Or you can just order them online. Bloodworms make a good alternative but aren't as nutritious as proper fat worms.

Hope that helps!

xC

Thanks! The guppies come from a private owned pet shop and are raised similar to how you advised, I just have space restraints until I get rid of some more of my carnivorous plants haha. I have access several ways to worms, my work sells them, I have several bait and tackle stores locally, and a friend of mine has a worm farm... My axies are only about 4" right now, so I'm trying to go with light feedings, though they are glutinous, woke up this morning to find all but one guppy left... Haha

This is their current set up, nothing spectacular but it seems to do the job

Are those pebbles siliconed together? If they're just loose, they'll have to go. As attractive as they are, axies love eating rocks.

Thy actually arent pebbles haha, it's all one piece that looks like it would be pebbles. Don't worry haha, I knew about that risk before I set anything up or got the axies haha.

So aside from adding a couple new plants (live ones this time) I ended up adding another filter, as A. a back up, and B. these guys are quite dirty, let's face it... I've got 2 kids and a full time job, and other hobbies!!!
I also added a heater, the tank water had been getting down into the mid to upper 50s (Fahrenheit) and the tank is now set to be heated to a constant 68F...
Water parameters seemed fine until yesterday (which sparked me into adding the second filter) I test my water every few days (twice between 20-25% water changes and using the tank vac) well, we had a huge spike in ammonia, not sure if it's from the feeder guppies (only 2 or 3 in at a time) or what, but it spiked to 2ppm, though nothing seemed bothered, everything has been and continues to eat or act just fine.... Wondering if it's a false positive from the water treatment I use, since I did my weekly water change yesterday....
I don't allow any food to stay in the tank longer than about an hour, and I remove all feces with a turkey baster when I can see them... I hope I didn't un-cycle the tank when I cleaned the filter sponge (in a container of water from the tank) and switched the filter cartridge, these were done at two different times about a 2 weeks apart.
Or could I be taking too much of the beneficial bacteria out when I vac the tank?
Any input is appreciated, this is my first round with axolotls so it makes me a bit nervous, in the fish hobby I would generally know what to do but there are some things I can't with these guys...

Sunday March 18th adding Fritz Zyme TurboStart 700 to fix my cycle
Massive ammonia spike over the last few days initiated the decision to add a second filter, as well as a zeolite cartridge in one of them. Emergency treatment of water with Seachems product Prime to bind and detoxify ammonia and the sudden nitrite spike that was sure to follow.*

pH 7.4
Ammonia - 2-3ppm
Nitrite - .25ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Temperature 65F

Monday March 19th

Prior to water change - 9:30AM
ammonia levels 2-3ppm
Nitrite 2ppm,*
Nitrate 5.0ppm
pH 7.4
Temperature - 66-67F

After water change 5 gallons (25%) - 10:00AM
ammonia levels 1-1.5ppm
Nitrite .50ppm
Nitrate roughly 2-3ppm
pH 7.4
Temperature - 68F

TurboStart 700 seems to be working...*

your tank is still cycling obviously.

I personally have never had any luck with the "bottled bacteria" that's supposed to instantly cycle your tank.

keep in mind too that any filters that have carbon or the like in them need to have the cartriges thrown out once a month or so, as when the carbon fills with the **** it absorbs and looses it ability to soak any nasties up. this can also crash your cycle and can be expensive, I have one of those hang on the back filters that needs cartridges like that on another tank and it's about $20 a pop for 5 new pads.

if your tank is still cycling I'd be doing water changes daily.

It's a good idea to have a backup filter as you said, I have a couple of extra air powered sponge filters going in a tank so if I have a filter that ***** out I have a backup ready to go.

Thanks for the reply, the tank was already cycled, but I think my issue was in over cleaning when it came time for the last cartridge change, I placed the new cartridge in with the one for about a week maybe a bit more, and then switched them out... I noticed the filter was running oddly so I took it out to clean it, and stupidly over-gravel vacced the tank (I have sand for the bottom) and I believe I removed too many of the BBs... I'm going to do a 50% water change today, hopefully it helps more... Been using Prime to at least detoxify the ammonia/nitrites while I get this settled.

Quick update, continuing from the 19th through today

11:13AM

Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite .5-1ppm
Nitrate 5ppm
pH 7.4

7:30PM

Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite .50ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm
pH 7.4

Tuesday March 20th*
4:00PM- 5gallon water change

4:15PM

Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite .50ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm
pH 7.4

Wednesday March 21st

4:30PM

Ammonia 1-2ppm (kind of an in between)*
Nitrite .25ppm
Nitrate 3.0ppm
pH 7.4


6:30PM 5 gallon Water change*

7:00PM
Ammonia .50ppm (finally getting down there!)
Nitrite between 0-.25ppm
Nitrate between 0-5.0ppm
pH 7.4

I'd kind of like an update on this. How is everything with the tank?

Sorry lol, all is perfectly fine and cycled again, two filters seems to have been a good idea...