Substrate ideas

[larn]

Hi

I know this has been discussed before many times, but i would like some feeback about an idea.

My first idea was to use large pebbles, so went to B&Q and bought a large bag of discounted pebbles for 0.50p but now after hearing about the hassel of cleaning out the stones i thought i would not bother. then i thought about sand and i had the some feeling about that.

Then i read an interesting post somewhere, someone had used tiles, i have a tile cutter so i could do this but it would be exspensive and take me a long while to do.

My idea was to use vinyl sheet flooring, or vinyl tiles, all i would need to do is cut them with scissors and stick them down. there are different types of vinyl flooring with enough friction surface for the axolotls to get a footing, it would not take me very long to achieve and would be %75 cheaper

Any thoughts on this? my first concern is the glue could it release toxins into the water?, and if the glue would even be strong enough to stay in place.

thanks

 

[alexx]

You're right in identifying the risk of toxins, would it be viable to use an aquatic safe silicone to glue them down? The type that holds tank corners together. You could make crazy paving with lots of different shapes and colours of tile

On the other hand, sand is not very hard to clean. When I siphon water changes (weekly ~30%) I just use the tube to suck up all the poop etc and it works great, you may lose a small amount of sand each time if you're cleaning really thoroughly but it's never a noticeable amount and you can always top it up.

 

[larn]

hey, I think sand looks really good, but it's expensive where i live, i was looking at white aquarium sand and it was about £10 for 4.5kg but i would need about 18kg to cover the tank floor

anyway i went with the tiles idea, i bought 6 ceramic tiles and i have already cut them, now i am leaving them to soak in water. the amount of surface friction is just about right and they look like a natural stone colour. once i have the tank ready i will post some pics

 

[alexx]

Children's play sand is just as good as aquarium sand really. It's really cheap, £3 for 10kg.

 

[iChris]

play sand is the go, I got a 40kg sack for $4.50AUD.

 

[larn]

40kg for $4.50! that's a good deal, but it's a bit more costly in the UK, i have found play sand on ebay 25kg for £15 inc post but i wanted white sand, and that is very expensive. The tiles only cost me £3.80 for 6 and about 1 hour of my time cutting them

I have put the tiles in now, a few of the rocks i had bought are in the corner and a really huge pebble in the centre . Now i am ready to get the tank started, i just need some hiding areas and plants.

the only problem i have now is keeping the plants fixed down, i can use some pebbles i think. or maybe i can get floating plants.

i have a photo, but i can't seem to post the link on here

 

[Shizeric]

Do not put pebbles in your tank. You can tie the plants to rocks or driftwood until they take root, or there are aquarium safe weights you can buy.

 

[larn]

the pebbles are large ones, are they no good for axolotls? i only put a small amount of them in one corner

also the tiles are not fixed down with anything, i was going to use silicone but not sure because i might not be able to remove them later. maybe instead of grout i can use sand? just to fill the gaps

 

[memojo1979]

the pebbles are large ones, are they no good for axolotls?

It depends on your definition of the word pebbles - to me, that's a smooth, fairly round stone that can be tiny, or hand sized (more about shape rather than size), but here in Stoke, even small, natural stones get called bricks!!! (+ bricks are called housebricks, LoL!)

 

[Shizeric]

maybe instead of grout i can use sand? just to fill the gaps

That's actually exactly how I had my tank setup initially. I used large square foot flooring tiles cut to the correct width of my tank and just put some sand in the cracks. However, when I did eventually remove the tiles and switched to sand, I was amazed how much gunk managed to get below the tiles. Between water changes and the Axolotls just swimming around, a lot of the sand was moved around and out from between the cracks...which allowed waste to slip right under.

 

[AlissaMae]

What do you guys mean by Children's Sand? Like.. .stuff I can go pick up from Wal-Mart or what?

lol.. Sorry.

 

[Pariah]

Yes that should be fine, they call it children's sand becasue it is usually used for sandboxes for kids. The brand I bought is just called "Play Sand", just make sure you wash it REALLY GOOD, because I don't think I washed out mine enough for the tank I'm setting up and it still is really murky.......

But don't worry about it I'm still pretty new to this stuff as well (infact it was just the other day I was researching to make sure that is what children's sand is referring too as well ).