Mighty sand of Frustration!!!

[blueberlin]

@Stone: You can use a golf ball or pingpong ball as a guide - that big or larger and you'll be fine.

-Eva

 

[Samyueruchan]

I've just set up my tank in anticipation for my first axolotl and I'm having the same problem as you. As this is my first experience with anything aquatic I, rather stupidly, rinsed the rocks but forgot to rinse the sand and now my tank is really murky. It was starting to clear but I stirred it up again in order to see if it would settle quickly or not. It didn't. Would it be a good idea to remove some or all of the water and put new water in it, or should I just wait for it to settle?

 

[AllyTK]

I had no fun whatsoever with the sand in my tank. it seemed to just kick up and make the water all murky and take a long while to settle (Sand was rinsed about 5 times before it went in . maybe should have given it more ) so I followed advice on here and put a slate bottom in so much easier to clean and i think it looks nice. Putting new water in might help the cloudiness but it could also just stir it up more as the water is added.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I vote for a tank with no substrate for axolotls every time. This does not bother the axolotls at all and makes for easy cleaning. It also helps to keep your water chemistry more stable.