Sand in Axolotl tank

[officerPuckles]

So we recently went to pet store and purchased Riverbed sand (if any of you saw my previous post, we had to remove Officer Puckles gravel due to him consuming it)
we emptied out the entire tank (keeping the water in buckets so it can cycle) but left about 4 inches of water.
We poured in the sand and now the water is cloudy.

I was going to take out the rest of the cloudy water and then pour the clear water in, until my friend pointed out that it would just make all of it cloudy.
My question is: how do i go about adding the rest of the water in so that it isnt cloudy?
should we fill it up and then cycle it through with the filter before placing The Officer back in?

 

[zoezakella]

Heh again,

So how is he doing now??

Am hoping you washed the sand like I advised in your last thread as sand is full of dust and needs to be washed, washed , washed and washed again before being added to the tank?

Do you still have some cycled water left?? Best thing to do is scoop the sand out, stick it in a bucket, let a hose run through it for ages whilst stirring it and then add it to your tank.

Your not having an easy time of it heh!

Good luck :happy:

P.s. You should post any axie questions into the axololt section as they may get lost in this bit.

 

[ahritchie]

Unless you did a very good job of rinsing the sand in the first place (15-20 minutes worth of rinse and repeat) you are probably going to have to start over and clean the sand properly or it will stay cloudy for quite a while. It's a common misconception that axolotls NEED cycled water; aged tap water should do fine unless you have several axolotls making a mess; just use the filter you have; it should have millions of bacteria on it to start cycling anyway. I would do a 25% water change weekly for a few weeks .I have put my axolotls in aged tap water upon the advice of a respected axolotl breeder with no adverse affects and they are growing like crazy! Good luck

 

[officerPuckles]

Ut oh....
we definitely did not rinse the sand....
so, letting it sit and eventually settle to the bottom is not a good idea?
right now, we dumped all of the water back in and are running the filter, but it seems like its just clouding up the tank consistently.
looks like we'll have to take it out and rinse the heck out of it!!

@Zoe, where is the axolotl forum? I am having so much trouble finding my way around this site still haha.

 

[officerPuckles]

And at your first question, he is doing so well! He pooed twice in sanctuary, and he is now as happy as can be!
He has been swimming around so much more, hanging out in the top of his tank and stuff. He even has a smile on his face i swear

 

[Bellabelloo]

I have just moved the post into the axolotl section

 

[zoezakella]

Ut oh....
we definitely did not rinse the sand....
so, letting it sit and eventually settle to the bottom is not a good idea?
right now, we dumped all of the water back in and are running the filter, but it seems like its just clouding up the tank consistently.
looks like we'll have to take it out and rinse the heck out of it!!

@Zoe, where is the axolotl forum? I am having so much trouble finding my way around this site still haha.

LOL bless you :uhoh:

I am unsure how long that would take if you left it have never tried that, is he in with it as if so maybe better to take it out and start again sorry???

All these forums take a while to work around, thankfully the frog one is the same as this but just joined RFUK and thats completely different

If you go to your home page and then Forum Index axolotls is 7th down there are sections for axolotls, newts, frogs, classifieds, you name it caudata has it!!!

So chuffed your axie is doing a lot better, great job on acting so quickly!!!

 

[officerPuckles]

We rinsed it in the bathtub in the tank itself, and shuffled around the water.
It is now clean!
Thank you all so much for your help with everything.
I will be posting pictures of his new improved tank very soon.

 

[memojo1979]

And at your first question, he is doing so well! He pooed twice in sanctuary, and he is now as happy as can be!
He has been swimming around so much more, hanging out in the top of his tank and stuff. He even has a smile on his face i swear

Of course he's smiling - that's what makes axies so appealing

 

[ikeyballz]

What I did for my sand was that I bought a fish net with a small amount of sand in the net I'd slosh it around in a bucket of water. The finer sand + dust falls out, and you're left with a nicely sieved sand pile. Takes FOREVER but my tank was cloudy for less than a few hours when I transfered this sand in. When I vacuum/clean the tank, the sand hardly gets kicked up!

So we recently went to pet store and purchased Riverbed sand (if any of you saw my previous post, we had to remove Officer Puckles gravel due to him consuming it)
we emptied out the entire tank (keeping the water in buckets so it can cycle) but left about 4 inches of water.
We poured in the sand and now the water is cloudy.

I was going to take out the rest of the cloudy water and then pour the clear water in, until my friend pointed out that it would just make all of it cloudy.
My question is: how do i go about adding the rest of the water in so that it isnt cloudy?
should we fill it up and then cycle it through with the filter before placing The Officer back in?

 

[MooncakeMyDudecake]

Unless you did a very good job of rinsing the sand in the first place (15-20 minutes worth of rinse and repeat) you are probably going to have to start over and clean the sand properly or it will stay cloudy for quite a while. It's a common misconception that axolotls NEED cycled water; aged tap water should do fine unless you have several axolotls making a mess; just use the filter you have; it should have millions of bacteria on it to start cycling anyway. I would do a 25% water change weekly for a few weeks .I have put my axolotls in aged tap water upon the advice of a respected axolotl breeder with no adverse affects and they are growing like crazy! Good luck

Hey, just picking out what you said there about axolotls not needing cycled water in their tank? is this true? because when I ask is my water cycled enough on facebook groups, all I get is slanderous and patronizing comments about why I'm doing it that way etc. I haven't the foggiest when it comes down to cycling, so do I actually need it cycled or not? I've just started again as I'm just so confused with it, and was reading this thread so that I can get an idea of whether to put my fine sand in before adding water or after?
I'm gonna rinse it some more just to be safe about it. All I have to rinse it out is a bathtub and an attachable shower head hose, so I'm gonna use that to rinse it.

 

[axolotl nerd]

Hey, just picking out what you said there about axolotls not needing cycled water in their tank? is this true? because when I ask is my water cycled enough on facebook groups, all I get is slanderous and patronizing comments about why I'm doing it that way etc. I haven't the foggiest when it comes down to cycling, so do I actually need it cycled or not? I've just started again as I'm just so confused with it, and was reading this thread so that I can get an idea of whether to put my fine sand in before adding water or after?
I'm gonna rinse it some more just to be safe about it. All I have to rinse it out is a bathtub and an attachable shower head hose, so I'm gonna use that to rinse it.

hi! haven’t bumped into/met you yet, but good to see you here! i’m ren, and i have a cycling guide if you’d like it
i think cycling is necessary, unless you can do daily water changed and siphon out waste the moment you see it

 

[JM29]

Hey, just picking out what you said there about axolotls not needing cycled water in their tank? is this true? because when I ask is my water cycled enough on facebook groups, all I get is slanderous and patronizing comments about why I'm doing it that way etc. I haven't the foggiest when it comes down to cycling, so do I actually need it cycled or not? I've just started again as I'm just so confused with it, and was reading this thread so that I can get an idea of whether to put my fine sand in before adding water or after?
I'm gonna rinse it some more just to be safe about it. All I have to rinse it out is a bathtub and an attachable shower head hose, so I'm gonna use that to rinse it.

Hi !
Just to add some precision and dissipate some misconceptions :

You don't cycle water, you don't cycle a tank. You cycle a filter. Cycled water is a myth.

As you don't indicate if you do have a filter, I'll have to consider 2 cases :
- either you have no filter. Cycling is not a priority. The best solution is putting a lot of fast-growing real aquatic plants in the tank. They'll directly uptake ammonium and everything is OK.
- or you do have a filter. Then follow Axolotl nerd's advice on cycling.

I cannot answer for your sand.
I use a sand I rince a little. My water is a little trouble (mostly clay ; not dangerous) the first day but it corrects by itself within a few hours.
I never use filters, so no cycling.

 

[MooncakeMyDudecake]

hi! haven’t bumped into/met you yet, but good to see you here! i’m ren, and i have a cycling guide if you’d like it
i think cycling is necessary, unless you can do daily water changed and siphon out waste the moment you see it

Hi! nice to meet you Ren! I'm Amy and this is my axie Mooncake Yes please, I've JUST put 84litres in my tank so I'm having 5 minutes rest haha! I think my tank is supposed to be 90 litres but I don't want to fill it to the brim.
Do you mean a 100% water change in the tank, or 20% water change in tank everyday with poop removals daily as well, because I would remove poop as soon as I see it but Mooncake likes to flail her poop around sometimes, I think its more carelessness moving her tail more than it being on purpose

 

[axolotl nerd]

Hi! nice to meet you Ren! I'm Amy and this is my axie Mooncake Yes please, I've JUST put 84litres in my tank so I'm having 5 minutes rest haha! I think my tank is supposed to be 90 litres but I don't want to fill it to the brim.
Do you mean a 100% water change in the tank, or 20% water change in tank everyday with poop removals daily as well, because I would remove poop as soon as I see it but Mooncake likes to flail her poop around sometimes, I think its more carelessness moving her tail more than it being on purpose

she’s not in the tank, correct? if so, remove her immediately.
im *hoping* that you mean she’s tubbed in a separate container
if you wanted to have an uncycled tank, i’m not sure how much water you’d remove for daily water changes. i’ve never had an uncycled tank.
as for mooncake being tubbed, if she’s in a container like i think she is, she needs daily 100% water changes

 

[MooncakeMyDudecake]

she’s not in the tank, correct? if so, remove her immediately.
im *hoping* that you mean she’s tubbed in a separate container
if you wanted to have an uncycled tank, i’m not sure how much water you’d remove for daily water changes. i’ve never had an uncycled tank.
as for mooncake being tubbed, if she’s in a container like i think she is, she needs daily 100% water changes

Yes she is tubbed don't worry, I wouldn't put her in water that isn't safe for her. While she is tubbed she is receiving 100% water changes daily. She is actually in a plastic drawer from a set of plastic storage drawers, I get into all the corners and hard to reach places with pipe cleaners and a designated toothbrush just for cleaning her out with, and even pour boiling water into those corners, so any bacteria accumulating in those corners die and get rinsed out, I have a tiny sponge filter in their with her, mainly for surface agitation, but also I think she really enjoys the bubbles.
We're using Seachem Prime water conditioner every time her water is changed.

 

[axolotl nerd]

Yes she is tubbed don't worry, I wouldn't put her in water that isn't safe for her. While she is tubbed she is receiving 100% water changes daily. She is actually in a plastic drawer from a set of plastic storage drawers, I get into all the corners and hard to reach places with pipe cleaners and a designated toothbrush just for cleaning her out with, and even pour boiling water into those corners, so any bacteria accumulating in those corners die and get rinsed out, I have a tiny sponge filter in their with her, mainly for surface agitation, but also I think she really enjoys the bubbles.
We're using Seachem Prime water conditioner every time her water is changed.

fantastic, everything sounds perfect there