Tank cooling

[Morathi]

I am new to this but I just wanted to say hello to everybody and also let you know I love this web site. I don't know if this is the right place to say this but here it goes anyway.
I live in Australia and it can get pretty hot in summer, my solution to keep the tank cool for Alecia Moore (my PINK axie) is as follows.

Instead of constantly swapping frozen bottles of water in the tank and having big fluctuations in the water temperature I have added three straps to the lid of my axie tank, I slide a bottle of frozen water into the straps and close the lid. I turn on the filter with the water gently spraying up against the frozen bottle, this chills the water and the chilled water then runs off the bottle into the tank. This will keep the tank at a constant temp and as it is gradual it seems to be less stressful for Alecia.

I did try the swapping of frozen bottles in the tank but she got stressed and started to shed white fluffy stuff. The new system works for me. Just thought I might share this, hope it helps. :smile:
Regards
Morathi

 

[Bellabelloo]

Welcome to the forum.

Firstly I would like to ask what species is Alecia Moore ( love the name) as I would like to move this to the relevant section,( newt/ salamander / axolotl ) the advice you give regarding cooling water sounds very good and I will try it when and if we get a summer!!

 

[Morathi]

Hi sorry I should have told you, Alecia Moore (named after Pink as that is her real name) is a beautiful little pink Axolotl with little black eyes. Though much to my distress I think she may be morphing as her gills are very small and it seems to me that they are shrinking. If she does morph I will need to do a bit of research and work out what to feed her etc. Fingers crossed hope she stays a cute little axolotl.

 

[kapo]

Have you tested your tankwater for ammonia/nitrites and nitrates? How big is your axolotl and how long have you had her?

 

[Morathi]

Alecia is about 19cm long so she is still very young and we (she actually belongs to my daughter) have had her for about two months. I know you are going to say wow how gullible are you Morathi but the guy at the pet shop where we bought her said we only need to check the PH (which is neutral by the way) as the filter that I have should take care of everything else. Having never owned water dwelling beings before I did not know any better till I discovered this web site. So I will be going out to buy a testing kit for the ammonia etc. very soon. Question, can cooling the tank with the water bottle change the nitrates and nitrites?? I am not sure what they are. I know what ammonia is just not the other.

 

[kapo]

Morathi, what is the saying "let he who is without sin cast the first stone", or words to that effect! No you are not gullible.

Well, there have been many visitors and members who have joined this forum because they have been given poor or uninformed advice by a petshop assistant.

Axies can live in pH levels between 6.4-8.0 If there happens to be any ammonia levels above 0 in the tank and your pH level is 8.0 or higher than the ammonia does become far more toxic. In cases like this rather than use a pH up or down (which can cause fluctuations as it never really fixes the problem) you can use something like peatmoss to bring it down. In the cases of lower pH you use shell grit placed in a stocking and placed in the tank.

Cooling the tank with a water bottle change doesn't change the nitrates/nitrites.

The following was taken from the cycling caudata article, which might help explain it: "Many aquatic animals secrete nitrogenous waste products in the form of ammonia. Bacteria then feed upon the ammonia and turn it into nitrite (actually HNO2, nitrous acid). Then a second group of bacteria turns the nitrite to nitrate (actually HNO3, nitric acid). Ammonia and nitrite are toxic to aquatic animals, and this is where the main problems with new aquariums occur."

Here's the cycling article, http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml, and water quality article, http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/waterquality.shtml, which might help.

 

[Morathi]

Kapo,

Thank you so much for your help and for the links, I will read through them. It is very sad though that pet shops are able to sell such beautiful little animals and not know anything about them, the customer can walk away thinking they are doing the right thing and end up with a dead pet.

Thank you
Morathi

 

[DantezGirl]

I agree with morathi about the pet shops and bad advice