New tank... any suggestions welcome

Welcome to the forum, Pepper,

I'm putting my axolotl, Stella in there - Is that what you were asking? There's a picture of her on my avatar - where my name is.

I noticed your username is tropical_fish - Do you know anything about marine fish? I'm having trouble with some at the moment.
 
Thanks for your comments everyone, I think I might get some PVC pipes for her - just so she has a bit of variety in hiding spots - I would love to cover it so it looks nice - I can't remember who did that to their PVC pipe - was it Rheann? I just don't think I could be bothered, after how long she said it took.
 
Check out my new additions!

I think I've finished decorating, now. The PVC pipes were expensive here! they were $6.85 each from Bunnings (major hardware store).

The plants in front of the pipes are real ones! Is there anything in particular you have to do to keep live plants in an aquarium? I've never had real ones before!

What do you think?

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Wow thats a pretty sweet set-up you have there Casey. what types of plants are they? I haven't had plants either but that might be important.
 
Hey Casey, I would take out the rocks, they look like they contain Iron in them, which would be why they are red in color.

it could change the water quality or make your Axies sick.

They sell similar looking rocks at pet stores, so it wouldn't be a total loss if you could find some that looked like those but didn't have the iron in them
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Other than that your tank looks great! I love the plants and the decorations, very cute
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.
 
Rheann, thanks for the advice, but I don't think it's iron, i think it's red ochre - they are from Central Australia.

The pet-shop advised against getting other rocks, but said these would be okay, because they're natural.

Will I be able to notice a difference if they change the water quality? So far all of my readings have been spot on, just a bit slow in the cycling process, but I've taken the live plants out now, so hopefully it will speed up.

If you still think it's a problem, I'll consider taking them out. I don't want to if I don't have to because it will upset my parents because they sought through all the rocks at the pet-shop to find two with "character", I do appreciate the advice, though.
 
Red Ochre I don't think is a problem
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if all of your readings are normal, then I think keeping the rocks in the tank will be just fine
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, besides, they look so lovely in there!
 
Hey Casey, what day are you on your cycling and what are your readings? because im on day 21 and my readings aren't going very smoothly.
 
Jordan, I'm on day 12 and my readings are:

PH - 7.2
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0.25
Nitrate - 5.0

This is the first time I've had a nitrite reading. I got some gravel from my local aquarium's fish tank and put it in my feeding bowl in my tank, it seems to have helped - so this might be a good idea for you. So far I've used 3 cubes of frozen brine shrimp as my ammonia source, and next time my axies have a toilet break I'm going to use their droppings in the tank.

I thought mine wasn't working, but it seems to be doing okay, now - what does everyone else think?

What is a good PH level for axies?

Rheann, I think red ochre becomes useful when you ground the rock - so I doubt that it will make the water red by simply being there - unless of course my axies decide to do some face painting and get out their picks and mortar and pestal!
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I really like them, I think they add nice colour to my tank and they provide a bit of a hide too - might not look like it in the pic, but there is quite a bit of room underneath there which is shadowed, too.

(Message edited by caseyb on October 24, 2005)
 
yea your cycle seems to be doing fine seeing as im on day 21 and my ammonia is still at 3 and i have no nitrite or nitrate. From www.axolotl.org :For axolotls, a pH of 6.5 to around 8.0 is acceptable, but 7.4 to 7.6 is probably ideal. Yes i will check to see if i can get any gravel from the local fish shop. I'm using fish to cycle my tank so that may also be a factor.
 
Thanks for the info Jordan.

I'm not using fish to cycle, so that may be why our readings are different. I get very upset when fish die and I don't want to risk it - I just saw my dad use two clownfish to cycle his marine tank and one died b/c he overfed and there was too much ammonia - I got so angry with him.

I have also used some "active bacteria" and "cycle", but I don't think they've done anything as the bacteria in them probably would have died before I was given it.

My temperature is also very high - about 82f, so this might be speeding up the process a bit.
 
Yes Cynthia told me i think, that at higher temperatures the bacteria might form quicker. Im not doing too bad anymore, my readings today were 4 ammonia (weird), 1.5 nitrite, 5 nitrate. So it was good to see nitrite at a pretty fair level.
 
Hey, Jordan, I went back to the pet-shop and I think my plants in there are "ruffled amazon" or something, not sure, though.

I also got some lace fern to put in Stella's bucket whilst my tank finishes cycling.

Are these plants ok for axies?
 
Ruffled Amazon, i might have to get some. I have no idea about the fern or ruffled amazon in your tank, but if they aren't sharp(as sharp as plants get
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) they should be fine. O wait also if they require too much light that would be a big issue.
 
Jordan, I have the lace fern in a bucket at the moment and it's creating a bit of mess, so I wouldn't reccommend getting it, it also doesn't look that stable - I think axies would very easily uproot a lace fern!

Did this post get off topic? I was asking for suggestions for my tank... plants are included in that aren't they? If anyone could suggest good plants to have in axie tanks, it would be much appreciated!
 
amazon swords are good but they could get ripped up, java moss or fern would be good, Anubias is good.
 
Thanks Jordan! I'll have to look into getting some of those - hopefully Oz Aquariums will have some!
 
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