Question: New Axolotl owner, read plenty (now: diary of Fred's new owner)

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Hey nice find! the only thing id say is a 12inch bubble stone may be a bit big for the tank as its half the length of it but the bubble disk sounds cool you could always buy extra air diffusing things they are all very cheep and attach to the tubing in the same way. the bubble curtain thing (strange porous tube) seemed good coz you can just cut it to length ive only got it at bout 12cm (it was 45cm originaly), but thats just a couple of quid purchase.

One thing about airstones! they are more fragile than you think be careful about knocking them in the tank as they seem to shatter easily. I spent all last weekend picking bits of blue airstone sand out of my tank, gomez enjoyed the company tho!

Actually looking at that set again a 7.5cm bubble disc might also be abit big for the tank as it will take up a large chunk of that valuable floor space! [Gets ruler out] (im just thinking it might be abit big for my tank and seeing as ours are the same..) also thinking about it everything i got was under £20 and i just got that from a pet shop so you may be able to find something abit cheaper!

Wondering if there's the next size down set available?

I wouldnt dismiss it tho as you may be thinking of upgrading your tank sooner than you excpect and the larger size bits and bobs will all come in handy! as i said the bubble diffuser attachment bits are all very cheap so you'll be able to experiment!

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Yo heres my bubble set up haha!

Bout 12cm bubble curtain

The whole thing!

Same tank as yours
Airpump left
Airstone far left centre of tank (random little blue thing)
Bubble curtain middle right of tank
Gomez head poking out of cave middle left
you can see everything else im using for cooling!

as you can see ive tried to minimise the floor space used from the bubble things as we dont have alot as it is, (did have a 8.5cm bubble ring but felt it took up too much space) but as i keep saying just keep experimenting you'll soon see what your axie likes and doesnt like, uses and doesnt use etc. He may even love all the bubbles and just float in them all day (or not at all haha)!

You will soon notice that the problem we have is lack of space and will want to maximise that by taking out everything thats not really needed (while still making it look nice of course!) you can probably imagine why im thinking a 12" bubble stone or even the 7.5cm bubble disc may be a tad on the large side for the tank but you never know you could cover it in stones and make a feature of it! might be quite nice actually, can just picture your Fred sitting on a pile of bubbling rocks getting a nice belly massage from all the bubbles!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Thanks Ted,

That looks great, tank is wicked.

I'll do my best to add air pumps and stones at the same sort of size as yours.

Fred is changing every day for me. I think this could be a result of me getting the temp lower, his bowels not being full of stone and just generally less stress.

He's turning into a little explorer and isn't such a scaredy cat now. He could obviously smell a few stray worms that got caught in my grass patch, caught him slowly building the confidence to climb on it.

Then last night I went in for a glass of water and he was suspended, almost floating on a bout 3 blades of grass. It looked mad:

​

He still doesn't really swim a lot but is enjoying climbing, which brings me to my next question nicely....

As he isn't much of a swimmer but does like walking about, the top 2/3 of his tank remain largely unused except just to be full of water.

What about suspending a shelf that comes out half way across the tank at about half depth creating a second level area (however still not going across the full depth of the tank so still a full height area as well).

Would axolotl enjoy this, having another area to play on?

Just musing really but would welcome feedback.

Ted what backdrop you got on that tank? looks dark, is that just plants or some kind of image?

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

was thinking of fashioning it out of a piece of glass, and attaching to the inside via a set of suction cups so that it could easily be removed for cleaning.

Could possibly have a hinge?

I dunno just playing with ideas.

Another I had was a setup of rotostack style hamster pipes (underwater) which would be great fun but would obviously require another tank (or would make an interesting bridge between two tanks).

lol

Surely driftwood would float, which would kind of defeat the point of the shelf?

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Yo heres a thread i started a couple of weeks back has quite abit of info on that 2nd floor effect you are after and a few ideas on how to go about it!
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...otl-gallery/69039-gomezs-new-tank-set-up.html
I used a floating turtle dock/beach thing that i just wedge against the glass to stop it floating but have now got a layer of big plant things that stick on the side to get that second floor. and yes my axie does use it as the pictures on that thread will show you only not quite so much when the light is on!

Tis a good idea thats worth experimenting with coz it wont take up any floor space!

Wouldnt bother with a glass shelf either as someone elses post pointed out!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Well Tom I'm one step closer to some Aeration.

Was very tempted with the elite value pack just because it's a good saving, but happened to be searching ebay and got the same pump, a piece of hose and some valves for only £2 (plus p & p) instead of the £20 they want for it new!

So now all I need is some air wall and a small stone and I'm set, probably for under a tenner!

Elite 802 Air Pump on eBay (end time 16-Jun-10 17:28:58 BST)

0 feedback though so not 100% confident it'll arrive but you gotta start somewhere.

Now I'm starting to also think about lighting. (as I've saved a bit on aeration) The 15W tube that came with the aquarium is too bright for Fred, and tbh it's noisy as hell too.

I'm thinking of getting an LED strip or a couple from ebay, as I assume LED's would be lower power and also silent.

Here's the thing, I can't decide what colour.

Blue seems obvious and looks nice at night like moonlight,

I also like the idea of yellow or amber to bring out the sand and give the impression of daylight.

I assume white would just create a general light in the tank but would highlight all the imperfections.....

decisions decisions...

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Hey why not get 2 sets of l.e.d.s if thats what your going for, a brighter set for daytime and a nice blue moonlight for night viewing. Im guessin the light you have is the hagen sunglo (if its the one that came with the tank) which is way to bright for my axie. You could try a hagen aquaglo (alot dimmer beautiful color brings out the color of the tank nicely!) but i settled on using a moonlight tube as it is nice and dim and doesnt effect gomez in anyway hes allways out and about and up near the surface even when the light is on!

Nice find with the pump btw very cheap and yes you easilly find the bubble diffuser things for well under a tenner!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Hey,

well as promised I got my cooling fan setup, and have slightly modified it for use.

Here's a little walkthrough on how I simply modified an ebay 2 fan aquarium chiller (nice little bit of SEO txt there):

When I got it, it had these large clamps on it, while i could use it on the tank alone, I've read too many horror stories in the illnesses section about Axies leaping to contemplate that any more.

I unscrewed the hinges which left the casing totally flat which meant it should easily sit on the top of the hood.

I purchased some velcro (hook and eye) super sticky strips from Wilkinsons and measured up. I set it up to attach to the side of the tank.

Need to get a less aggressive light setup, only switched this on for a second to get a good shot of the tank. Light is fan too bright and am investigating LED lighting.

After a night of use, the temp went from 21.7 to this morning 18.9, with no additional cooling which I think is pretty impressive from a £15 fan. It had only been at 21.7 because I'd been cooling during the day with an oscillating fan, which was struggling after a particularly hot day yesterday. Temperature here is around 21 degrees outside and room is about 24 so I'd say it's doing the trick.

I would be more comfortable with Fred at 17-18 degrees, however I'm doing what I can. Fred had been in a hot conservatory before so whatever happens he's seeing improvement in his conditions now.

picture taken after messing in the tank reattaching probe etc, hence the slight rise.

Just want to shave off another degree or two though, without using chillers or ice bottles and so am looking forward to when my new air pump arrives to create an aeration setup.

I agree this isn't the most complicated of case mods, or the most impressive but shows that a simple £15 ebay purchase can make quite a large difference on a small aquarium setup with minimum effort and provide a nice elegant solution to the summer months.

When looking to purchase Forrtex AQUARIUM COOLING FANS UK SELLER 2 FAN MODEL i couldn't find any images or pages of it in use and hope this is useful to somebody like me.

 

[wendyatk]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Have been away and so I am now trying to catch up on the postings. I have considered these cooling fans off ebay. I did have same tank as you did and the temp of the water use to rise but then i brought a bigger tank and have found that the temp is okay. But thank you for posting pics about how you altered the fans this may be useful for me at some point or others.

I do have LED blue lights in my axies big tank, they were ideal in the smaller tank like yours but feel need some more in the big tank. They are great for night time viewing

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

When you get your airpump and airstones youll get that extra degree or two drop you're after! for even more effective cooling id recommend another set of fans facing the other way (sucking air out) for maximum air circulation, its the circulation that aids the evaporation rather than just blowing on the water (but thats another £15 if you go for the same fans, and no point spending money if you dont have to!) anywayz what youve got going on will probably provide enough circulation for the temp drop you're after (if not you know what to do!)!

As for the lighting id seriously consider the hagen aquaglo tube its such a mellow light compared to the brutal sunglo that tank comes with and makes the tank look so nice! Your gonna be lookin at about £11 for one from a shop and its a 15W your gonna be after!
(ul find that all the 46cm tubes are 15W its the different light spectrums that set them apart as the moonlight one is in the actinic wavelength which as far as im aware is closer to U.V than typical visible white light but its still 15W)
look for something like this on the boxes!

oooh some tubes have light reflectors on em so you can use them upside down and reflect light away from the tank it makes a huge difference!
I think tubes should be cheaper than L.E.D''s someone may suggest otherwise as i have no experience with them for tank lighting (I would like to know how bright and what sort of light they give off compared to tubes as i have been considering getting some also) if those little led torches are anything to go by they could be pretty bright but then you can get loadsa cool colours!
(my personal preference (and Gomez's preference) is the bluemoon moonlight from interpet, less hiding more swimming! but then again my axie REALLY hates light, yours might not be so fussed about it!)


take it easy dude


the tanks lookin nice too!

Fred is gonna ****ing love you for all this work, money and research your puttin in for him!

Nice one

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

haha thanks Ted,

He is treating us with his company a lot more now. As soon as he knows we're home he stand and flips on the sand, or climbs about to get our attention.

Now I was tempted by your advice on the new lamp, and I probably will go that route if an led cluster doesn't give the effect I'm going for. The only issue I have with lamps is.... you guessed it, the sound they create.

The lamp as standard which you see above (which let me stress I don't use except for a second to take a photo) makes quite a loud humming noise. My experience with LEDs is that they are silent.

I've just purchased a cheap 9 led cluster from ebay (moonlight kit) which you can be sure I'll give a full review on here . I'm sure they'll do for the time being and only cost £8 delivered.

The fan setup i have is fairly loud, but i will be hooking it up to a thermostat setup in due course, possibly a part of chain so at certain temps the bubbles come on, at a higher temp the fan kicks in, and then possibly as a last resort an additional exhaust fan to aid evaporation. That way when the ambient temp outside drops I should be able to run it fairly silently when we're home and then kick everything on full whack (no thermostat) when we're at work or at night so Fred gets as cold as possible for say 20 hours a day.

While I agree the warm air being sucked away would aid in reducing the temperature, I believe it would be minimal due to the fact there's a large opening and physics alone dictates the increase in pressure will push the warm air up, but when I've ran out of things to buy, you can be sure I'll give it a try (or else create a prototype with a case or laptop cooler as you suggested.)

All this stuff is just while I get used to this world of Axolotls, I'll surely upgrade my tank in no time.




A few years ago I did something similar with Venus Flytraps. I became addicted and create a site www.myvenusflytrap.com which is right there front page Google now with little effort.

VFT's are similar to Axolotls (here me out) they require special care, are bizarre to the uninformed and once researched can be kept by most easily.

Have gone from 1 plant to 20, and this weekend am planting 1000, next summer 14,000 lol.

The new site will be live soon for that, but for now give it a look (if you're interested in the slightest).

I also created a Mobile phone site a few years ago, which has grown out of control also: www.mygreatphone.com

I'm a very dedicated person, all or nothing. lol


edit: just noticed you added to the post, those lamps look great.

Should you wanna have a geeky Axie chat online at anytime my msn is tangle(a-t)hotmail.co.uk, same goes for any of you Axie geeks. Can't get enough of it.

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Strange i really diddnt expect those aquarium fans to be even noticeable and also strange is that our tanks are identical and my light is absolutely silent even with the original tube in, how sensitive is your hearing dood?!

Wow thats alot of plants dude, i tried growin some with one of those gay little kits, it really diddnt work haha, and tell me about it i did abit of research as to why it wasnt working and man those plants have needs! seemed like too much hard work!

Ha your an all or nothing kind of dude, i can just imagine in 6months time we'll still be chatting but you'll probably be referring to a monster 6ft tank with a chiller thats entirely soundproofed and of course Fred will have some slimy friends haha!


Let me know how those leds go might get some myself!
I could make an led rig as i have an abundance of leds kickin around at work I just really dont think il be able to make it all water safe enough to go in a fishtank and for £8 I might as well just buy em!

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Yo is that guitar site one of yours too? if so where is dimebag?!?!?!! eh?!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

You don't know how close you are to the truth.

I'm already investigating larger tanks not at around that size but give it time, lol.

And as for sound proofing, it's already on my mind, I do have some extremely sensitive hearing although the filter I find therapeutic.

I think most of the noise is from the air hitting the water as opposed to the fan itself. There is some vibration but nothing major.

I would love silence though

haha, I love the way that within a week of being here I've already painted this picture of myself, which appears to be quite accurate too.

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Haha mate youve also shown that your very caring so you must be doing something right!

Its so odd tho i cant even hear my filter at all, buuuuut that might be explained by 20years of drumming and not once used ear protection, didnt think my hearing was that bad tho haha!

Most noise is caused through vibration and most probably the lid, ive put abit of sponge on each corner to minimise it also if you can hear your filter something may not be clipped on or in place quite right again causing vibration, im sooo sure my filter is silent my girlfriend also cant hear a thing, good thing your not bothered by it tho!

anyways back to this guitar site, is it yours? I demand to know the reason why dimebag isnt on there it!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

hahah, yes mate, thanks for that. I like to think of myself as caring.

You and I are clearly similar, I've yet to see a pic of Gomez without a big cheasy grin.

He's also the first Wild type I've seen which I really like the look of.

Re: MGG.com, That's one of my start ups, it's really just a place to house tabs and manuals atm as I collect them.

Also have a wallpaper site MyGreatWallpaper.com for the same purpose full of good intentions me..

My main sites are
mygreatphone.com
mygreatiphone.com
myvenusflytrap.com
mygreatguitar.com
mygreatwallpaper.com
dkeirle.com

there are a ton of others but thats what i actively work on, usually. They are my private sites, in my personal time sort of thing.

My company is www.somersetwebservices.co.uk, we do corporate stuff, NHS, Charity Commission, those kinds of businesses.

I must say, this is a smashing example of a VB 3.5 setup though (this forum). Very nice skin. It's familiar to that of VBSeo's but I can see the subtle differences. Like it.

My main forum is that on MyGreatPhone.com, got 100,000 members

I'll investigate this dimebag you speak of, although tbh I don't know them.

Noticed in one of your pics the headstock of a Strat of some kind. Couldn't make out the decal. What you rocking?

I'm also a guitarist, have two sweet Strats:

Warmoth: Darren Keirle's Photos - Custom Strat Build - Warmoth / Mighty Mite | Facebook

Fender: Darren Keirle's Photos - My Guitar - 97 USA Strat | Facebook



Back to the subject of Axies, my filter, err i don't have a clip, it's attached via suckers.

When i say i hear it, i mean a very low mumble of the motor working and the water passing onto the side, which is probably why the fan sounds loud in comparison, as that does cause vibrations, air hitting water, motors etc.

Also surroundings are pretty much silent, live 3 doors from an old peoples home, which is silent usually and the people of the estate similar.

Still, I'm going to follow your advice and add sponge squares to the corners of the lid, and also under the tank. Good thinking batman.

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Ha didnt mean clip on filter mean things like the inside bits all clipped in and the case clipped on properly haha!

And about dimebag i find it an outrage that you have not heard of the greatest guitarist that has walked the earth! Surely you heard of pantera?
This will explain all.....
(Tried posting a youtube link but cant just paste the link without the video showing search dimebag darrel on youtube!)
He was a funny bloke diddnt take anything seriously, diddnt have a bad bone in his body was tragic what happend, wikipedia will explain all!

He must be added to your site!



Man you seem to have things pretty sorted and seem good and what you do, nice one! Cant wait to see a new axolotl site up soon haha!

Ive dabbled with guitar been playin for a fair few years but havnt picked it up for ages the strings have gone rusty! got a beat up tele and a washburn maverick, im a drummer really been playin forever but recently got into producing trippy psy-trance and lovin it!

 

[ted22]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Oh and I was also informed that Gomez is a melanoid axie and not the wild type i first thought,I get the impression they are quite hard to come by in the uk compared to most others I always knew he was abit special! I diddnt chose him coz of that tho it was like getting a dog he chose me! haha!

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

ok thanks, that's good to know.

I'll investigate, Hopefully LED's will be a good and lower heat solution for me, but if not I saw those reflective 15W moonlight bulbs for £12 on the weekend so will pick one up.

Quick question, how often should I be feeding Fred and how much?

There's a lot of conflicting advice around, and if i fed him every time he looked hungry or begged for food it would be all day every day.

I have been feeding him about 1 bloodworm cube an evening, and he eats that no probs, I'm wondering should it be less, like 1 cube every other evening or more so I feed him till he can't eat any more?

I don't want to stuff him so he grows too quickly.

Also about 3-4 days back one morning there was piles of poo which i cleared up.

That was the only day i've actually seen poo, in any quantity in the tank. How often do they go and what typically does it look like?

I'm wondering if what i saw that day was vomit, as it was around the time he got rid of all that white stone in his belly.

 

[dazkeirle]

Re: New Axolotl owner, read plenty, just want to confirm a few things.

Well he's 8-9 months now.

I'd say width wise since losing all the gravel his head is a bit bigger so I'll let him chow down daily until it gets the same size.

Today's an exciting day.

I thought before i get the aeration setup I'd experiment with backing for the back of the tank.

I'd tried some of those photo ones but to me they look really cheesy so I just went with plain black card, makes the tank pop in my opinion, what you think?:

Think it'll look good with bubbles and LED's, speaking of which my £2 bargain £20 air pump just turned up complete with tubing and non-return valves:

So just popped down pets at home and got him some stones. They were all out of inch stones so settled for the smallest disc, it's it's too much I can always restrict the flow:

Just looking forward to the lighting arriving, and finding out what the ambbient temp of the tank will be with aeration without and with the fan.

Record with fan alone now sits at 18.3 degrees.