Sand !

[RupertxGiles]

So we tried sand last year and it looked very pretty in the tank. Unfourtunately i came home one day to a suddenly cloudy tank and one dead axolotl ((. I am thinking it was some aort of bacteria bloom and could have possibly been from the sand. Thank God we didnt lose any more axies but they were not looking well for about 2 days after the incident. After fridging and unfourtunately a complete water change and removing all sand we havent had any problems in a year. I am not happy with the way the tank looks bare bottom but i do not want to put my axies in harms way either. I know most people use sand with no issues, is once a week enough to vaccum it ? Is there anything else one should do to clean sand regularly? I wpuld like a thin layer of black sand but im worried i will have a hard time seeing poo on it. Thanks ))

 

[Kaini]

How thick was the sand last time? Thick sand (over an inch) can cause anaerobic buildup if it isn't stirred around regularly. A thin layer of sand should be fine.

 

[Boomsloth]

How deep was the sand? If its not moved around regularly stuff can build up that will be released all at once if your axolotl suddenly disturbed the sand. I know with fish people will often get either certain fish or Malaysian trumpet snails to constantly dig up the sand bed a little. Axolotls would eat all of those so you're going to have to do it by hand.

 

[Sassafras]

Firstly, always wash your sand before you put it in the tank. It needs to be throughly dusted so it doesn't cause the cloudiness.
To do this, put your sand in a large container, preferably fairly tall so you don't lose sand in the process. Then I take mine to my bathtub and fill the container of sand with hot water. Then you just have to stir it up. Drain the cloudy water and repeat those step until the water no longer clouds.

If you're still scared of sand, you could instead use very large, flat rocks as a primary substrate and fill in between with sand. This way you don't have an overbearingly large amount of sand to worry about infecting the water, though you should still throughly clean the sand before putting it in the tank.

Occasionally I will take chunks of sand out of the tank and clean them in the same process as new sand, just to clean it up.

 

[RupertxGiles]

Thanks guys , last time it was an inch or inch and a half deep and i stirred it up once a week , perhaps not enough . I did rinse it very we first in a bucket . The sand was in there at least a few weeks before the problem. I think i will try again, with a thin layer.... petco has thier own brand of aquarium sand in lots of different colors in 5 lb bags

 

[Boomsloth]

Thanks guys , last time it was an inch or inch and a half deep and i stirred it up once a week , perhaps not enough . I did rinse it very we first in a bucket . The sand was in there at least a few weeks before the problem. I think i will try again, with a thin layer.... petco has thier own brand of aquarium sand in lots of different colors in 5 lb bags

I'm starting to think that the sand wasn't the issue and it might have just been a cycling/water parameter problem. What were your parameters then?

 

[RupertxGiles]

I'm starting to think that the sand wasn't the issue and it might have just been a cycling/water parameter problem. What were your parameters then?

Oh gosh i dont remember. The tank was clear the day before all was fine then the next day it was like almost milky!

 

[Boomsloth]

Try to use any of the sand that's been recommended on this site. I find that petco is often a rip off and there are much cheaper safe options. I wish i could recommend some but I've been going bare bottom for a while now.