AkemiYousei
New member
So my daughter found out about axolotls and long story short I said yes. However, the only place that sold them was about 2 hours away. My husband had to go down there for work so our "month(s) away, we can cycle a tank" plan went out the window.
Now, I stupidly said yes, we can go ahead with the tank because I can rapid cycle. I have a betta tank and just used his filter insert with the established bacteria.
Here is where it went to poop...
The filter was defective, it functioned at about half capacity at best of times. Cue bacteria bloom, which took a week to clear. So I had to take it back to the store. It crashed the newly founded cycle, my bottle bacteria I had used to kick start my betta tank was dead so I thought to just let it cycle naturally. (Momo, the axie is tubbed as soon as I caught the ammonia spike, btw) and a few days ago I got some more bottle bacteria because the ammonia was not budging for a week, WITH a seeding from my betta filter again, which likely didn't have enough anyway due to it being only two weeks in his tank before transfer.
Good news, however, is that today, with the addition of the bottle bacteria and the seeding from my betta tank, the cycle is finally processing the ammonia. I'm getting .25 ppm ammonia and .25 ppm nitrites. I already had nitrates, due to the previous cycle so those are pretty high now.
I live in Arizona, so the first two weeks was figuring out a way to keep the tank cool without frozen water bottles every hour (which I did for a week straight. Good thing I am a homemaker atm!) Then, the cycle crash. So now I have to do daily tub water changes which includes mixing my 80F degree tap water with my 40F degree refrigerated tap water.
I am so frustrated about how much fuss this has been. I hope this is the last week and that Momo can enjoy her tank.
Thanks for reading my rant. Just wanted to get it out there to people that understand why these creatures are worth the hassle.
Now, I stupidly said yes, we can go ahead with the tank because I can rapid cycle. I have a betta tank and just used his filter insert with the established bacteria.
Here is where it went to poop...
The filter was defective, it functioned at about half capacity at best of times. Cue bacteria bloom, which took a week to clear. So I had to take it back to the store. It crashed the newly founded cycle, my bottle bacteria I had used to kick start my betta tank was dead so I thought to just let it cycle naturally. (Momo, the axie is tubbed as soon as I caught the ammonia spike, btw) and a few days ago I got some more bottle bacteria because the ammonia was not budging for a week, WITH a seeding from my betta filter again, which likely didn't have enough anyway due to it being only two weeks in his tank before transfer.
Good news, however, is that today, with the addition of the bottle bacteria and the seeding from my betta tank, the cycle is finally processing the ammonia. I'm getting .25 ppm ammonia and .25 ppm nitrites. I already had nitrates, due to the previous cycle so those are pretty high now.
I live in Arizona, so the first two weeks was figuring out a way to keep the tank cool without frozen water bottles every hour (which I did for a week straight. Good thing I am a homemaker atm!) Then, the cycle crash. So now I have to do daily tub water changes which includes mixing my 80F degree tap water with my 40F degree refrigerated tap water.
I am so frustrated about how much fuss this has been. I hope this is the last week and that Momo can enjoy her tank.
Thanks for reading my rant. Just wanted to get it out there to people that understand why these creatures are worth the hassle.