Temperature Freak Out!

[caitesco]

Hello All,

I am fairly new to the Axie world. Wooper is my first. He is about 3 1/2 inches long.

Anyway, we have had a few warm days lately and I was super upset when I came home and found my tank to be 74 degrees!!!!!!! I saw him up by the filter and I think he was a little stressed by the heat. I checked the water parameters and they were ok. However, due to the temperature, I did an immediate water change (his water was dirty anyway). It brought down the temp to 70. Which is still a bit high but his water have been teetering on the 72 and below side. As a young baby, he was kept in a tank much too hot so I think he tolerates water that is a littler warmer. Despite this, I want to keep it as close to 66-68 as possible.

I will soon be installing a fan (DIY). Any thoughts on how to keep him stress-free?!

Also, do you think he is ready for worms?

 

[caitesco]

Also, another question. I have been thinking about substrate a lot. Eventually, I would like to move him to a 20 gallon long. I was thinking of having sand but am torn between that and a bare bottom.

Cleaning sand is hard but does it keep the water parameters more even?

 

[debadog]

回复: Temperature Freak Out!

If i'm right in thinking that 74F is equivalent to 23C, its really not that big a deal. Not a temperature you'd necessarily like him to be at forever, and probably the maximum temperature they should be in, but it won't kill him.

What WILL kill him however are sudden changes in temperature, such as you're suggesting from your water change.

I know you were just trying to help him and it seems like the logical thing to do but never ever do a water change with cold water in an attempt to lower the temperature of the tank, as the sudden temperature change can kill axolotls. You should always change the water with water the same temperature - the way I do this is to put my hand in the tank and then the bucket and I can usually guess when its about right. Temperature change needs to be gradual and constant, which is why a lot of people use fans or ice bottles. I used to be skeptical of ice bottle but as the temperature rises here i'm getting quite tempted to use them while I think of a better solution. Grab two 1.5L-2L bottles, fill them up half way with water, freeze them and pop one in the tank and at the end of the day swap for the other one. I've heard this works but I think i'd worry about the temperature fluctuating too much and i'm honestly not committed enough to change bloody bottles 6 times a day. But hey, if you find a system that works for you then i'd say go for it if it helps you through a hot spell. A fan is better for a constant temperature but it'll likely only reduce the temp by a couple of degrees at most.

If you can keep the tank at 21C (70F? I can't keep up with farenheit) then thats absolutely fine and you don't need to worry at all. In an ideal world all our tanks would be 15C but thats just not realistic for most of us without a chiller.

 

[debadog]

回复: Re: Temperature Freak Out!

Also, another question. I have been thinking about substrate a lot. Eventually, I would like to move him to a 20 gallon long. I was thinking of having sand but am torn between that and a bare bottom.

Cleaning sand is hard but does it keep the water parameters more even?

As for this question i'd highly recommend fine, pale sand - it looks great, its easier for them to walk on and its easy to spot mess to clean it up. I'm not sure where you got this idea about the water parameters being more even but sand will home some of the good bacteria that hangs out in your filter, though your tank will be fine either way.