50 gallon tank build!

JessKB

JessKB

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Jess
Hey everyone! I'm expecting two baby axolotls (one wild type and one leucistic about 2.5 inches) sometime next week. I currently have a ten gallon that is cycled and ready to go, and I was thinking about leaving them in there until they grow a little bit, but now that I'm more than halfway through my 50 gallon, I am reconsidering that. :D


Here's the 10 gallon that I have completely set up. All the stuff in here will eventually be transferred over to the 50.
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And now on to the 50 gallon!!

Here's the pitiful tank I dug out of my mom's basement. Who knows what was in here last when my brother and I were kids.....

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Here's the pitiful tank after half an hour of scrubbing:

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Finally scrubbed pretty clean:
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Some of my supplies. Note that although the sand says it's "reef" sand, it's not made just for marine tanks, and has no additives.

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And this is the end result so far!
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I have a HOB filter right now, but am considering buying a canister to replace it.
Tell me what you guys think! I'll have six hides when I combine the tank, so I'm hoping they'll love it. Would it be possible to put the juveniles into the 50 gallon starting off? I know they can be stressed out by deep water, but would all the plants and resting places make up for that?

thanks in advance!
Jess
 
Nice set up Jess what lucky axies :)
 
That's going to be an awesome tank for your axies, I am jealous! I only have my 4 20g tanks setup right now, I want to go a large 50g setup.
 
I think it depends on the size of your juvies. I ended up putting my 3 inch juvie in a 40 breeder 2 weeks after I got him and he was just fine. He seemed to struggle to swim to the top of the tank and first, but I just lowered the water level, and hand fed him and he seems to love the amount of room
 
Thanks for the kind words guys! I think I'll put them in the 50g and see how it goes. Like you said Carson, I can always lower the water level.
 
did you use 2 5lb bags of sand?! I was looking into that sand and it doesn't seem like 10lbs would fill a 50 gallon. I have a 40 gallon.
 
It looks wonderful JessKB! They will be so happy in that - it looks like axie haven!

Good job cleaning the tank, my second hand 200L (106 Gallon) axie tank was like that (worse I think actually). Gee the white stuff is hard to get off isn't it?
 
Laaine: Yeah two bags was plenty enough sand. Remember you don't want it very deep at all to avoid gas pockets forming. I would recommend this sand if you're looking at it, it isn't dusty at all and looks pretty nice. Plus it was cheap where I got it.

Banana: Thanks! It was pretty nasty and it was a workout just to get it ready. The white stuff is really hard to get off, but if it's on the inside you can't really see it when it's wet ;) My only problem now is that the axies are definitely waaay to small to put in there. I was going to use filter media from my other numerous tanks to instant cycle it, but now that I have the time it looks like I might as well just do a normal cycle. It's just a bummer to have a nice looking tank in the living room with nothing in it :rolleyes:
 
Sorry Laaine! I actually used four bags. Not sure what I was thinking when I replied to that. There's only two shown in the picture, but four made a great substrate depth.
 
wow! what are the dimensions of that tank?
 
JessKB said:
Sorry Laaine! I actually used four bags. Not sure what I was thinking when I replied to that. There's only two shown in the picture, but four made a great substrate depth.
Click to expand...

that sounds better haha !! i am going to order this sand on J & L Aquatics online.. it is very cheap !! I am going to go with 3 bags, I think that should be enough for a 40 gallon. thanks for your help !! :D
 
Hi, what is the length of your tank?　and width and high?
 
Wow,

Sick looking tank, I am jealous! I want my new 40 gal setup to look a lot like that, also getting the marine sand
 
@loveaxolotl- I believe my tank is [FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]48 1/4 x 12 3/4 x 21 inches

@[/FONT]RupertxGiles - Thanks! The marine sand is really nice. Don't get the white though, it turns brown eventually and shows up any dirt.
 
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