Progress with cycling? Substrate advice?

[giventofly]

Hello!

I am new to axolotls and am currently in the process of cycling my tank in order to get my first axies. I just tested the water today and here are the readings:

• pH: 6.5
• Nitrite: 0ppm
• Nitrate: 40ppm
• Ammonia: a little over 0 - not quite the bright yellow in the chart but not nearly green enough to be .25

Does this mean that I'm on the right track for cycling? Also, I'm thinking about adding sand as my substrate. I've heard other people say that I should just have a bare floor for axolotls. If you think I should get sand, what kind should I get and how do I wash it without a hose (since my apartment doesn't have one)?

Thanks for all the help! I'm excited to be on the track to get my axies!

 

[bugdozer]

Sounds like your tank is cycled. That's roughly the readings I get on my main fish tank.
BTW are you using the API liquid test kit? If so, don't believe the ammonia readings as being not zero - following a long period in which I just couldn't keep my ammonia level down, I discovered that even plain distilled water gave a colour that was greener than the yellow of zero on the test chart. Your ammonia may well be zero.
I washed my sand substrate without a hose by putting it in a bucket, putting the bucket in the bath, and running water into the bucket, swishing the sand about and tipping the water out. Then repeated that 10000000 times until the water looked clear!

 

[Kaini]

Sounds like your tank is cycled! A cycled tank will have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and a nitrate reading. A water change to lower the nitrates and it should be ready for animals.

What age/size Axies are you getting? Juvies can still get impacted from sand, it's better to wait until they're older.

 

[Bdyoung]

Before hastily coming to the assumption that it is indeed cycled. Increase your ammonia to 4ppm and let it sit about a day. If you come back and your readings have no traces of ammonia and nitrite then I would say it is cycled.

 

[soberish]

I will be using aquarium artificial grass for my tank, when it finally arrives, as have heard of problems with sand clogging filters, clouding the water, etc.

I know not everyone has had this problem but from a maintenance side the artificial grass is easier to clean.

Just a thought.

 

[giventofly]

Thank you for all of the advice! Sorry I am just now getting to responding. I think I'm going to be getting adult Axies. I just got some white sand from a local pet store and it said it was safe to use with rays and bottom feeders since the sand is very fine/soft, so I figured it would be okay for Axies. I thoroughly rinsed it and put it in the tank today.

The water is still cloudy from the sand even though I rinsed it. Any suggestions on how to make the water less cloudy?

Also, how low should the nitrate levels be before I add Axies?

Thanks again!!

 

[Kaini]

It will take around 24 hours for the cloudiness from the sand to go down, or at least it did in my tank when I added sand x3

Nitrate under 40 ppm is usually considered fine in freshwater aquariums but my advice would do a water change and it have it around 10 ppm when you add your axies