Hello! I`m new to this forum and also new to having aquatic pets.
About two weeks ago I got my first axolotl (he`s a baby), I have a 100L tank with dune sand in it. When I first got the tank I asked the shop to send me some water from a already cycled tank to help with the process, and it did, first few days of having the axolotl in the tank I had 0 ammonia and 0 NO2. However, after my first partial water change (a week after having the axolotl), my ammonia and NO2 actually got higher!
I have the temperature set at about 17,5 - 18C with the help of a chiller and a hang on back filter and ph is at about 7,5 with no big variations. I`ve already tested my tap water for ammonia and the results were 0 ppm. I have been using OverNite and Ocean Blend, also Prime for everytime I add new water to the tank.
Yesterday my ammonia was at 0.25ppm and NO2 at 1ppm, so today I did another water change (of about 25% or so) and no big changes, NO2 still 1ppm and ammonia seemed a little lighter, between 0 and 0.25, but not quite 0.25 yet.
I`ve been having a very hard time keeping the substrate clean, being that I`m feeding him bloodworms every day, so I`ve been wanting to remove all his sand or maybe remove some of it and adding tiles on top of them, however I`m worried if I remove the sand and add new stuff in that`ll make my ammonia levels even higher?
Also I tried having live plants in the water (fox tales) but they died and I think that just made everything worse as parts of the plants ended up literally everywhere and I still havent been able to get all the fallen peaces out of the substrate (also they were all over the chillers bomb entrance and filter, not sure if I should do something else about it besides removing them with my hands?)
I bought some marble tiles from a construction store yesterday, currently trying to remove all the glue from the pieces and considering trying it out in the tank, would marble be okay or would it be harmful for the axie?
(here`s what the marble tiles look like: https://www.leroymerlin.com.br/mosaico-marmore-brilhante-bege-dm16-beige-polished-29x29cm-colormix_88197725#avaliacoes)
Sorry for the huge post, really hope some of you more experienced axolotl owners can help me out with this, thanks!
About two weeks ago I got my first axolotl (he`s a baby), I have a 100L tank with dune sand in it. When I first got the tank I asked the shop to send me some water from a already cycled tank to help with the process, and it did, first few days of having the axolotl in the tank I had 0 ammonia and 0 NO2. However, after my first partial water change (a week after having the axolotl), my ammonia and NO2 actually got higher!
I have the temperature set at about 17,5 - 18C with the help of a chiller and a hang on back filter and ph is at about 7,5 with no big variations. I`ve already tested my tap water for ammonia and the results were 0 ppm. I have been using OverNite and Ocean Blend, also Prime for everytime I add new water to the tank.
Yesterday my ammonia was at 0.25ppm and NO2 at 1ppm, so today I did another water change (of about 25% or so) and no big changes, NO2 still 1ppm and ammonia seemed a little lighter, between 0 and 0.25, but not quite 0.25 yet.
I`ve been having a very hard time keeping the substrate clean, being that I`m feeding him bloodworms every day, so I`ve been wanting to remove all his sand or maybe remove some of it and adding tiles on top of them, however I`m worried if I remove the sand and add new stuff in that`ll make my ammonia levels even higher?
Also I tried having live plants in the water (fox tales) but they died and I think that just made everything worse as parts of the plants ended up literally everywhere and I still havent been able to get all the fallen peaces out of the substrate (also they were all over the chillers bomb entrance and filter, not sure if I should do something else about it besides removing them with my hands?)
I bought some marble tiles from a construction store yesterday, currently trying to remove all the glue from the pieces and considering trying it out in the tank, would marble be okay or would it be harmful for the axie?
(here`s what the marble tiles look like: https://www.leroymerlin.com.br/mosaico-marmore-brilhante-bege-dm16-beige-polished-29x29cm-colormix_88197725#avaliacoes)
Sorry for the huge post, really hope some of you more experienced axolotl owners can help me out with this, thanks!
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