Cycling with fish is a cruel and ancient method that should be avoided at all costs.
You're basically harming one species, to make it suitable for another.
Fishless cycling is the best, and really, only way of cycling nowadays, there is no excuse not to.
This way, it allows the filter to build up the bacteria needed to process the ammonia produced by the fish, or in this case, axolotls, so that when you do add them the filter is suitably established to deal with the harmful chemicals that would otherwise shorten the lifespan and reduce the overall happiness of your new much loved pet!
1.Set up your tank, exactly how you want it, with the sand (allow to settle for a few days), decorations, hides, fill with water (dechlorinated with something like TapSafe) and fit the filter and get it running.
2. You can add "bacterlife" or other such products, but really, any bacteria that was once there will have perished long before you bought it. The best way is to use bottled ammonia from a hardware store, or feed the tank each day with fish flake as a way to provide a source of ammonia which can start the cycle and keep it going.
3. Leave the tank for at least two weeks before testing with chemical (rather than paper) water quality tests. Such as an API Master Test Kit, a very good investment.
4. In the mean time, do NO water changes.
5. Throughout the cycle, there will be peaks of Ammonia, NitrIte and NitrAte. So, when you think the water is perfect, i.e. Nil Ammonia, Nil NitrIte and a low reading of NitrAte (around 10ppm), leave it at least a week before adding any livestock.
When you think it's perfect, go ahead and do a water change of around 75% (there is very little bacteria in the actual water) and add your livestock, if it is just for axies, and your filter is suitable for your tank, then you can add the right amount of axies, i.e. 2-3. If it were for fish, then you should add them slowly, depending on size of fish in relation to tank, etc.
Also, whenever you clean out your filter (around once a month) just squeeze the media in tank water, not dechlorinated fresh water, and never just tap water as this will kill the majority of your bacteria, and will mean cycling again.
There are a few ways to speed up the process:
- If you want a planted tank, then have them all planted before you start to cycle your tank, as they will use the ammonia as a source of food.
- Use a tank heater at around 28C as this will give a warmer, and therefore better, environment for your bacteria to grow.
Here is a great article that may help also:
Introducing Fishless Cycling
Depending on the size of the tank, how warm it is, what you use as an ammonia source, will determine how long it will take to cycle the tank, though there is no definite time. As a guide, most tanks will take around 6 weeks to fully cycle.
However, a 17L tank of mine took 4 weeks, and my 125L took the same!
Hope this helped anyway, any questions feel free to ask here or just PM me
