Tank Upgrade! Needing opinions!

[Lexolotl]

I have two axies that I'm currently keeping in a 30 gallon tank. I'm going to soon upgrade my 55 gallon community tank to a 75 gallon, and move my axies into the 55 gallon.

When I move my axies into the 55 gallon tank I would love to add in some live plants. I'm still relatively new to live plants, and have some amazon sword and red amazon sword in my community tank that are doing well. So far. :crazy:

Will things like java fern, amazon swords, water sprites, etc. be ok in sand? Would axolotls be ok with a plant substrate alone? I work for a specialty fish store and we sell all kinds of live plants, and the plant substrate that we use is super fine and almost clay like. I was wondering if this would be ok, if not alone maybe under the sand.

One more thing! Their current filtration is a filter with an adjustable flow rate. Which has worked wonderfully. But when I keep them in the 55 gallon tank I plan to get a larger filtration system, and wanted to see if you guys thought that this sort of filtration system would work ok. It's a canister filter with an adjustable spray bar that is listed underneath filtration for reptiles.

I would love to hear your opinions and advice! Thanks!

 

[knyptozoologist]

I'm currently in the process of setting up plants too so I could be totally off on a lot of this, but what I've heard from poking around on the forums is that the plant-specific substrates lose a lot of their nutrients over time so it has to be replaced and isn't worth it. It's easier to just buy a liquid fertilizer that you add to the tank a few times a week.

I've also heard that plants are fine in sand, but I plan to plant mine on a piece of driftwood or attached to rocks so they're less likely to be uprooted once I get my axxie. This can be done by either buying driftwood with plants already attached or using fishing line to attach them (which is what I plan to do since it's a bit cheaper).

I've also seen photos of people that will keep their plants in jars that ARE submerged to get the flow and nutrients from the tank but keeps the substrate separate (and the jars can be removed to change the substrate if needed), which is another option if you want to do that.

As far as the filter you pictured, I've heard great things about canister filters, but the SPECIFIC on in the filter is a mini-canister and has EXTREMELY short tubing. If you can find longer tubing to replace it (not sure which store you work at but I also work at a pet supplier and we don't carry it) then it would definitely be worth it, otherwise the larger canister filters tend to be really expensive. Still very good filtration, just a ton of money.

Hopefully I was accurate/helpful, other people that have actually planted tanks and use canisters may have more specifics

 

[Lexolotl]

You've definitely helped clarify a couple of key things! I didn't know that the plant substrate would eventually need replacing, and keeping them in jars with the substrate is an awesome idea! Will that liquid "plant food" hurt my axolotls? We also sell that at my store.

One of the reasons why I loved that canister filter I found was because it was super cheap! I have three fishtanks besides my lotls and have run into some expensive canisters. When I found this one and saw that it had a spray bar instead of a power head looking output I was super excited. lol

 

[knyptozoologist]

As far as I know the liquid fertilizer is fine (I don't have any axxies yet, but just from various posts I've read it's okay), though I think I'm going to use mine just while I'm starting out and see how they do since I've heard the waste axxies put out works fairly well as fertilizer on it's own. I'm going to be using Flourish in mine (at half the recommended dose).

I had also looked at that canister filter because of the price! It just wouldn't fit my tank unless I bought a table to put directly next to the tank, which I didn't like the idea of. I'd see if you can figure out what size the tubing is and if you can buy longer tubing online or in a hardware store before deciding on that filter, otherwise I've heard good things about it.

 

[Lexolotl]

Thank you for all of your advice! I appreciate it!
Good idea on doing the half dose. I'll be getting better lighting, some T5HO's, and that will definitely help my plants. I'll just need to make sure that it won't make their water too hot. Good thing I can keep my living space as cold as I want. lol

Thank you also for telling me about the short tubing. My place of work sells tubing of all sizes and I'm sure that I can find something that will fit. I'm still going to make sure before I purchase it.

 

[Kaysie]

If you're going to replace the tubing, be sure you get food grade silicone tubing. Any other may leach chemicals into your tank.

 

[Lexolotl]

The tubing that I would be purchasing for the filter will come from the fish store that I work for. I'm sure it's fine, but I will make sure just in case.