Rehousing four juveniles?

[tyl3r]

Great news that your ammonia has reached zero. Your persistence will pay off.

To answer your unanswered question about water depth - there's no reason why you can't double the depth. It'd give you a more stable cycling (ie fluctuations not as violent) and reduce the %age flow (though, of course, not the actual rate) and in the short term immediately halve your nitrite reading which is higher than I would accept personally.

As for the amount to change, 20% is the generally accepted figure. However, the bacteria that you're trying to cultivate generally live on the surfaces so doing a higher %age when you've got such high nitrite (and nitrate) readings might be better. It's a balancing act and not everyone will agree on the exact percentages.

I think the reason your cycling is taking so long is possibly down to the low pH. Generally I, and most people, would advise against adding anything to the water to increase the pH. However, some natural items can be used safely to increase the pH to between, say, 7.0 and 7.5. If you pH was higher then this would allow the cycle to run faster. These same items might also increase the hardness of your water which seems a little soft at the moment.

Don't get too disheartened if this seems like you're getting bad feedback. You're doing the right thing... it just might be made a bit easier on you (and the axy) if the water volume was increased, the change %age increased slightly and pH increased.

 

[Kal El]

Gershco,

I made a post about how to 'speed up' the nitrification process just yesterday (Australian time ), and I'm sure it'll explain a fair few of your questions regarding 'cycling':

http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53666

On another note, your water is too soft. It is always better to keep axolotls in hard water and generally speaking, pH will increase as GH increases, thus if you increase your GH this will solve your low pH (which might I add, borderline acidic) issues. A widely accepted method for increasing GH is to use the Holtfreter's solution which is made up of*:

- KCl (potassium chloride): 1 teaspoon
- CaCl2 (calcium chloride): 2.5 teaspoons
- MgSO4.7H2O (magnesium sulphate- don't worry too much about the H20- this just means that the magenesium sulphate is chemically bonded to 7 water molecules) : 2 tablespoons
- NaCl (sodium chloride): 240 ml (dry but measured in a liquid beaker)

*Referenced from http://www.ambystoma.org/AGSC/guide.htm

If you want a more detailed description on how to 'speed up' the nitrification process, I'm more than willing to shed some light on this topic

Jay.

 

[oceanblue]

The above recipe is fine but is for 44 American gallons at 40% strength. I've posted a grocery store UK version in another thread http://www.caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53397&page=2 and am trying to tidy up notes on salt supplements and the rationale behind them.

Basically if salts needed for the axolotls blood and cellular chemistry are present in the surrounding water at lower levels the energy needed to maintain body chemistry is much reduced.

 

[gershco]

Thanks for all your replies. Strangely, I didn't receive email notification about them and I've only now had time to visit the forum.

I'm going to increase the water level and make up Oceanblue's salt solution - I assume I make it up using treated tap water?

 

[oceanblue]

Treated Manchester tap water will probably be fine. I often use water from a dehumidifier or rain water or the untreated cold tap water from the long hot water pipe run in the morning. I do daily 1-2% water changes, one jug out, one jug in. This way there is very little change in chemistry or need to worry about residual chlorine.

Exceptions are after a few days away (such as the last week hence the slow post). The dehumidifier water output is essentially distilled water. If I need to change a large volume of water I use conditioner but generally I just take a jugful out and throw it on the lawn add 25ml mix to a litre of water from any of the above sources and pour it in. I prefer quick daily changes over larger weekly ones.

 

[gershco]

I've been using Oceanblue's recipe for around a month now and these are most recent readings.

All four juveniles are now in the tank and they appear OK.

There is however a build-up of mould above the level where the water from the spray-bar hits the side of the tank. I clean it away but would obviously prefer if it wasn't there in the first place. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[gershco]

Been a while since I last visited. Obviously the water is fine and the axies are doing well.

The tank is still fairly minimalist: no substrate (good for seeing and removing waste), with a hiding cave, a rock and a plastic plant. I'm thinking about finding a low power UV light which I could clip on to the side of the tank. I'd then add some water cress to provide extra cover.