Question: Is this setup safe ?

[squishyjaws12]

On a drastic change of direction. I decided to get rid of all of my tropical fish tonight except my bettas, so that left me with a beautiful 55 gallon bowfront aquarium. I pulled the heater and drained the fish water and removed all of the gravel and put in 65 Lbs of blue and white sand, some hornwort and elodea but all I have for filtration is a hob style filter I believe its a tetra whisper 70 will it be adequate? And I also plan on adding a few more log hides and such but would this size setup comfortably house 4 or more adult size lotls? And comments tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated

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[iChris]

you need (in ideal conditions) about 10 gallons per adult axie.

seeing as you're just starting out, I'd go with 2 max. younger axies can be canabalistic too so it's best not to crowd them.

they also don't do too well with water movement to try to break the flow of the filter if possible.

 

[tusken raider]

Your bamboo will rot eventually if it is fully submerged, keeping the leaves above the surface of the water will prevent this.

 

[squishyjaws12]

Thanks for the tip on the bamboo, I was not planning in putting juvies in the tank more like two full grown adults and a slightly younger male. How can I break the flow of the filter?

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[markrimn]

Thanks for the tip on the bamboo, I was not planning in putting juvies in the tank more like two full grown adults and a slightly younger male. How can I break the flow of the filter?

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I use aquaclear filter on my fish tanks, and it has adjustable flow rate. I replaced my tetra's with them and have a lot cleaner tank. If you set the flow lower, you just get better filtration. I like to go with a filter rated higher than my tank also. So I have a 30 on my 15 gallon tanks.

A 70 should be good for your 55, though do make a 55, but the difference is like $5 and replacing the filter media isn't that much different.

http://www.amazon.com/AquaClear-50-...d=1340866244&sr=8-1&keywords=aquaclear+filter

 

[Mr Poseidon]

You can always just a sponge filter as well, they are cheap ( i bought 3 of them and with shipping it was like 10 bucks) you appear to have a air pump of some sort so you wouldnt have to buy that.

other than your filter theres only one other thing that sticks out in my head: Sand.
im glad you dumped the gravel for the sand, and i love the blue and white! but remember that more than an inch of sand will trap gas's and potentially become dangerous.

and are thos poker chips??

 

[totallyrad]

As tusken raider said, the bamboo is not really an aquatic plant and will eventually rot.
I have found that if you fasten the plant to a suction cup you can suspend the roots in water with the top emerged. Worth a shot

Also, I think the tank looks good, I would probably build a hide out of rocks or just go with a store bought cave of some sort. Just in case the axolotls get tired of the light they have a place to lurk in the shadows to plan their next attack! Other than that, Make sure your water temp is never above 70 degrees. Which will require some effort since you're used to keeping tropical fish. A fan blowing on the water surface will help drop a couple degrees and also alternate frozen water bottles.

GL!

 

[squishyjaws12]

Yes they are poker chips lol and I was planning on heavily planting the aquarium this week with more hornwort and elodea and I also picked up a fake log from Walmart and ditched the silk plants on it and I'm gonna cover it with some java moss and more elodea. As for my sand substrate choice what is the concern for having over an inch of substrate with a gas build up ? I had over 2 inches of gravel in my tank and I never had a problem as far as I knew.

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[Mr Poseidon]

Yeah, you dont have to worry about it with gravel beacuse gravel creates air pockets in between the rocks allowing the gas to escape while sand packs together much better keeping the air below the surface (of the sand lol)

 

[squishyjaws12]

Time for an update. Well after working a 10 hour night shift I couldn't sleep so off to Walmart I went this morning......20.00 later and an hour spent ripping off fake crappy silk plants and putting living ones in their place, I give you axolotl shang gri la......... My 55 bowfront is now home to a adult white albino female, a adult golden albino female and pinky (golden albino juvenile) and the brain (wild type juvenile) and I am thinking of putting squishy my slightly younger wildtype in with them, any thoughts anyone ?

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[melr70]

Tank looks fab! I would be wary of putting the younger guy in as well. Floor space is more important for axies than volume, since they spend most of their time on the bottom. I have an adult in with four sub-adults (only an inch or so in difference) but the tank I have is 6ftx2ftx2ft so they have plenty of room to get away from each other when they run into each other and go ballistic, which is a lot