Question: Tank Drama

I have a single axolotl juvie aprox 11 weeks old give or take a week or so. When I first got him I was told that a 10g would easily support him. Within a week I was having some pretty serious ammonia issues that was attributed to the tanks small size. I have only just recently got the tank ammonia down to resonable levels but I have to change nearly 50% of the water daily. I went ahead and bought a 20g that I was able to get on clearance due to the fact it was missing the solid hood. With the money saved I was able to buy a wire mesh hood to fit it. The problem is I have room for 3 tanks. With the addition of the new tank I have 4. I hate to put the little (still unnamed) axie through all this a second time but with the filter (which is actually sized for a 20g tank anyway), plants and water from the old axie tank cycled tank (plus I'm going to pull more plants from my cycled fish tanks to put in axie's tank) will it hopefully cycle quickly? I don't have anywhere to set up the 20g to let it cycle. I don't mind doing water changes daily until it cycles and I can't fridge him because ours is too cold and I can't adjust the temp. I just really want him in a good tank. Through the entire cycling process before he never appeared stressed or showed any signs of stress. He ate and behaved normally even when the ammonia shot up to EXTREAMLY dangerous levels.

Cheat.

Drain the smaller tank, put all the water into the new tank, trasfer decorations, substrate - everything. Transfer the filter too. Depending on the dimensions of the new tank you'll have to add a few gallons.

If its a 20glT - frankly I think its worthless it doesn't have that much more floor space than the 10 but it will hold more water and you can create levels equaling floor space with logs and maybe pottery. BUT if it is a 20T you won't have to add as much water.

When I had tropical tanks I always cheated that way - I never paid attention to ammonia spikes though, I knew they'd come and I knew that they'd be relatively small because of the tank water I was using to establish the new tank.

Good luck!

Sharon

Hi
I think if you transfer the water, filter, plants and the axolotl into the 20g from the 10g it should continue to cycle, and should do so quicker then starting from scratch.Keep checking the chemistry and changing water as necessary. Good luck. Im about to do the same thing -- transferring from a 3ft to a 4 ft tank.

Thank goodness! Just what I needed to hear! Thanks so much to you both!

Hi,

Sounds like a cunning plan, I would not use the plants from the fish tanks or anything from any tank except the 10 gallon tank your axolotl has been in.

The best thing for tank cycling is patience and time.

Good Luck