Question: Removing sand

[Ceon]

So this tank has been running from 5 months ago and added this little guy just two months ago, at first I want to make it bare bottom but ppl says they need to have something to grip on otherwise it can stress them so I added sand on his tank. Overtime its been really hard to maintain and clean his poop or leftover food, every day it get worse as his poop is pretty big and sometimes the sand is turning black.

Now the question is, is it ok if I remove the sand from his tank? Will it crash my cycle? Because I really don't want to start over

 

[wolfen]

by removing the sand you will be removing some of the bacterial filtration, so if it is being removed do so over a period of weeks to allow the air sponge and hob to take up the slack.

 

[Ceon]

by removing the sand you will be removing some of the bacterial filtration, so if it is being removed do so over a period of weeks to allow the air sponge and hob to take up the slack.

So I can't take t he sand all at once? Also Do I need to tub my lotl?

 

[Keefe]

So this tank has been running from 5 months ago and added this little guy just two months ago, at first I want to make it bare bottom but ppl says they need to have something to grip on otherwise it can stress them so I added sand on his tank. Overtime its been really hard to maintain and clean his poop or leftover food, every day it get worse as his poop is pretty big and sometimes the sand is turning black.

Now the question is, is it ok if I remove the sand from his tank? Will it crash my cycle? Because I really don't want to start over
View attachment 93391

I do not use sand or any substrate in my axie aquarium and he has always got around ok ? I can hoover his droppings every day and change 10% water weekly.There is a lot of mis information on axolotyl,s regarding care items.Please look at the body and how it's evolved the tail is just like a crocodiles very long and powerful the legs are feeble and do not benefit from exercise they are like a crocs small and skinny with claws both use their tails even for slow movement .I have some rock he can climb on or dance on top of the cave.as I have kept tropical fish for fifty years and always carry out water tests on a regular basis.i would argue that any substrate can harbour bad bacteria and cause lots of water problems .also I have two filters and rotate cleaning just clean one at a time monthly and this maintains good bacteria ?

 

[wolfen]

So I can't take t he sand all at once? Also Do I need to tub my lotl?

unless he displays symptoms of being unwell then there is no need to tub, sand can easily be removed gradually by siphoning it when a water change is done, also whilst you have sand regularly turn it over using a fork.

 

[AMurry24537]

I also wanted to weigh in on the "grip" issue, though I'm by no means an expert, but I can speak from my own experience. When I got my first axolotl 3 years ago or so, I put in some ceramic tiles and used silicone to keep them in place so they wouldn't slide together and pinch fingers/toes. Unfortunately, I noticed after 9 months or so that I was starting to get mildew underneath the tiles, so ended up getting a new tank (though I did later actually ttake out the tiles on the original without too much hassle). The difference between tile and barebottom was basically nonexistent. I've never used sand myself, but my axolotls have never seemed to have any problem with the glass whatsoever. The one who almost seems to forget that he can actually swim has 0 problems scooting across the glass constantly, lol. I do think that it could be a different issue if I had a more powerful current, but I just use sponge filters, and relatively powerful ones at that.