My (very bare) setup

[eric]

This is my new 75 Gallon aquarium! As you can see I had to re-arange my room for it - total disarray! Don't look. I am searching for decorations for it at the moment - I was told to put those in first before adding the water and cycling it as the decos might affect the pH. Does anyone know what the platic stuff on the bottom and that secomd pump do? It looks to me like it sucks water from the bottom and spits it back out on top. But it seems to have no filter - what is this thing used for?

 

[rheann]

Hi Eric ^_^ Thanks for emailing me the pic of the dragon. That plastic thing at the bottom is an undergravel filter. They can't be used with sand because they suck the sand right up into them. I think (could be wrong here and if I am someone please help Eric out)That second pump thing at the top isn't a filter, it is used to help circulate the water and to also help direct waste into the overhang filter. The second pump will spray out water very quickly and will be too strong of a water current for Axolotls (could be wrong on this) but I think there are spunges you can buy at petshops to help delute the water flow. You just insert them into the output. I think Cynthia uses a RX pill container to help slow it down, very clever of her to think of that! Would save you money if you did that, or you can get the spung. I hope I am not leading you wrong, someone please correct me if I am! LOL. Because Sand can't be used with these under gravel filters, I would suggest just getting rather large river rocks for the bottom. Home Depot sells a lot of different gardening supplies for very low prices. When I got my very first bag of sand for my axolotl tank, I got it at home Depot. It was a 50 lb. bag of natural Play box sand and it was less than $5. It was a very good price for sand, concidering petstores will sell sand that looks simliar, and will only sell like an 8lb bag for $10! It's really stupid. Home Depot has river bed rocks, good quality for low prices. As for the tree roots you are looking for, good luck with the drift wood. When I was at Petsmart today, I saw Fake Tree roots that would really fit nicely into your tank. At our local petstores they have small, medium, large, and, Extra Large. It looks really natural. Here is a picture again of my tank. It is 20 gallons, and the tree roots look real.

The biggest I saw at Petsmart was huge and all twisted up. Absolutely beautiful, and i think would look outstanding in your tank! It was positioned differently than the one in my tank, spriraling up towards the ceiling, very nice looking. If you can't get the big ones at petsmart and you think you might like to try one out, ask your local pets mart to order one for you. I see on the site of petsmart they don't have the treeroots that I am talking about. If they don't suit you, I will look online to see what else I can find for you. What ever you do, don't go with Grape Vine. it will change the water quality in bad ways. Driftwood needs to be baked and cleaned, which is very time consuming because it has to be baked for hours and hours and eventually overtime rots away. I will see if I can find some stuff on that for you because there are a lot of parasites and bugs that live in driftwood. Next time I am in petsmart, I will take some pictures with my digi came of these giant treeroots. They are much, much bigger than the one in my tank. ^_^

 

[eric]

Wow. Thanks Rheann. All they have at my Petsmart are the smaller roots. I love the one in your tank - but they don't have it. And the only online company I've found that does is in the UK. I hadn't thought about the rotting. Maybe I will just go with the fake ones. I think I will go with the river stone bottom instead of the stand. I've given it some thought and it seems that sand will be more problematic for me than riverstones. Plus the $100 price tag on 4 little bags of sand at the pet shop didn't really appeal to me. Now if I can just find the company that makes those roots.....

 

[rheann]

Ask your local petshop to ordor one for you. They will order one for you with no problems or at least they should but petsmart staff sometimes aren't very helpful. What I will do this week I will go to pet's mart and see if I can find the serial number or product number of the largesst root for you and email it to you so that you can ask yoru local petsmart to order that product. I will also take some pictures of them and post them in this thread so you will get an idea of what I am talking about before you make any decisions. I really think you would like these larger roots. Wish I could fit one in my tank! Home Depot sells play sand which is good for aquariums. They sell 50lb bags for $4.00 or so. Great price but wont work with an undersgravel filter. Not sure the price on riverbed rocks at home depot, but I know it is really en-expenshive in the long run saving you a lot of money rather than getting them from a petstore which can really get expensive. Go to the Garden center of Home Depot. This is where the river bed rocks should be. They will in the part where they have the mulch and cedar chips and ground covering if I remember correctly. I rely on Home Depot for a lot of my aquarium needs when it comes to substrate, though last substrate decided to go with black sand which was a 20 lb bag for $20. Really expensive. Got it at Petsmart, and one bag barely covers the bottom of my 20 gallon. 2 out of 3 plants in my tank have to be pushed down and sideways just to get the bottoms covered and ankered into the sand. I will check around some more for the roots online to see if I can find a place where you can order them, otherwise I will get the serial numbers and get some pictures for you with my digi cam. Since you have a 75 gallon tank, there are some 75 gallon tanks at this local petsmart. I'll even gets some pictures of the roots inside of the tanks there for you so you can get an idea of what it would look like if you would like to try them out

This is going to be fun. I love taking pictures! I'll see about going out tomorrow and doing it for you. ^_^

 

[eric]

You are awesome Rheann! I truly appreciate your help! I tried to get Petsmart to order the bigger roots for me but all I got was the run around. The company that makes them is called Pacific Coast Dist. Inc ----aka---- TopFin located in Pheonix, AZ. I tried to contact them but I can't get a hold of them. The Petsmart people told me that the larger roots had been discontinued and that they would no longer carry them. If I like the roots that you have over there.....and I can't find them here.... if I sent you a check could you possibly get them for me and ship them over here?

 

[rheann]

Sure thing Eric

Your petsmart down there doesn't sound like a very good one. At the Petsmart here they have about 13 I think of the big roots, plust tons of the smaller ones. I will go to Petsmart and take pictures of the roots inside of the big 75 gallon tank they have there, I will find out how much they cost a piece and find out how much it would cost to ship them. I will email you the details tomorrow, and also post here on this thread again concerning the roots. I really don't think they are a discontinued item. I think the petsmart staff there are too lazy to go through the paperwork of ordering one or two for you because the roots here are constantly in stock here. I really don't mind helping out at all. The roots are really well worth it, simply beautiful pieces of work that are modeled right after actual tree roots. I will also just in case look to see if there is an Arizona Top fin website.