Tank without filter?

[sarah]

is it possible to put the axie in a tank without a filter? Im having major problems with my filter since january so im thinking about taking out the filter, the river stones and leaving in the fake plants and hiding caves and just do a 50% water change once a week. ill add ammolock and stresscoat with every water change.

 

[alex]

yes its fine to have an axie without a filter but you will need to do extra clean ups of the tank. i dont think its nesasary to have ammolock or stresscoat in the tank. 50 % might be a bit to much. you may want to put an airstone in there to make up for the oxygen you will loose by not having a filter, but yes its fine to have a tank without a filter.

 

[sarah]

!sweeeeeeeet!

 

[michael]

It sounds like a bad idea to me. Stresscoat will add to the bioload. How about a simpler filter. At minimum I'd want a sponge filter. No filter in a tank can be done but I think in the long run you will have problems with the axolotl.

 

[kapo]

we use stress coat to dechorinate our water each waterchange. So, if that is your water conditioner just continue using it .

We now have 3 tanks without filters (also from filter probs). Waterchanges r done once a week. But we test the water every 2 days just to make sure the water parameters are ok and if need be do an extra waterchange. No airstones - when we did put them in the axies got skittish with the bubbles/waterflow, our pumps are too strong.

Are you changing your substrate, just that taking all your river rocks as well as filter may alter your water parameters quite alot, as some of the beneficial bacteria will be on the river rocks and filter media. Do you intend keeping your tank bare, or replacing with sand?

If replacing with sand, you cud do this by removing a section of river rock every few days and replace it with sand.

 

[kapo]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting Michael Shrom on Saturday 20 May 2006 - 13:34 (#POST96065):</font>

It sounds like a bad idea to me. Stresscoat will add to the bioload<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>
Michael - As this is a waterconditioner we use it to dechlorinate our water for our waterchanges on our tanks and have done so for the past 8 months. So how does it add to the bioload?

Therefore wud that mean all water conditioners add to the bioload, and if that's the case what one wud u suggest we use?

Sorry, just perplexed by your remark, or are you thinking of the other one - called stress zyme (which i've seen in the shop)?

 

[sarah]

i will only be having a bare floor, but my creative mind kicked in and with the river rocks i will be making a tunnel/cave with em.
I didnt think the airstone would be a problem. but i have airstone pump connections, with an air adjuster which allows u to adjust the speed of the air. they should come with the spare tubing u can buy at the shop.

 

[edward]

snip "Michael - As this is a waterconditioner we use it to dechlorinate our water for our waterchanges on our tanks and have done so for the past 8 months. So how does it add to the bioload?

Therefore wud that mean all water conditioners add to the bioload, and if that's the case what one wud u suggest we use" endsnip

No it doesn't mean that all conditioners add to the bioload. Only the ones that contain products such as aloe in the conditioner. The aloe in the conditioners is/are broken down by the bacteria in the aquarium to ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which is how it adds to the bioload.

Ed

 

[kapo]

My sister gave us a 4 outlet pump for 4 tanks, and we do have an air adjuster but the flow on it even adjusted is quite strong, makes a strong wee bubbly current.

 

[jennifer]

There are many ways to adjust the flow of air, and it should be possible to adjust it down to a trickle. The crudest method is to pinch the tubing with a strong clip. Better methods involve the use of small valves, which you should be able to buy cheaply at a pet shop, or online. If the flow is way too strong, you should always allow the extra air to be shunted into a side-outlet - holding back the air too much will create back-pressure to the pump, and cause the pump to wear out prematurely.

Here is an example of flow regulation from an air pump. The air flow is split by a T-valve, and one branch of the split has a small valve to regulate the flow between the two branches. The valve can be placed on either the "used" or "overflow" branch. Allowing the air a side-outlet like this prevents back-pressure to the pump and allows a very wide range of possible air flow to the "used" side of the split.

 

[sarah]

yep thats what i got jen

my actual pump also has a high/low setting aswell.

 

[michael]

Kapo,
You can get dechlorinators without the extra stuff in it. The stress coat or aloe adds more stuff to your water to be cycled. It's tough enough to cycle a tank without a filter. If you do water changes with this additive as your answer to filtration you are adding more stuff to contribute to the ammonia/ nitrate cycle, It might be helpfull in that you are removing some of the load in the water change but their is no use in adding stuff you don't have to.

 

[sarah]

ok i have my axies in the tank with just a glass bottom floor and no filter. all they have is their caves, floating plants and a airstone. they r quite happy with just that