Question: Tub filtration.

[HelLoki]

I have approximately 12 permanent tubs, as well as an endless supply of isolation, or Hospital tubs. I live in Canada and Amazon and eBay don't sell bulk mini sponge filters for relatively cheap or at all.

I'm looking for somewhat of a guideline for a easy DIY Sponge Filter and everytime I ask this I get unwanted opinions about how I sell my Axolotl, and everything else.

They are long and shallow tubs and I am not by any stretch of the means and actual Axolotl breeder. I rescued 2 after researching them for a short while and becoming in love with them. I believed some information from the person that originally rescued them, who is a good person but didn't seem to actually understand how to care for them. I ended up with a clutch of babies, and ignored everybody else's suggestion to either sell or dispose of half if not more than half of the eggs.

I ended up with about 200 babies, and have approximately 120 or so left and I do not ship them as I don't have the knowledge about shipping, any of the equipment for shipping, and don't have any idea how the logistics are legalities of shipping works especially with dead on arrivals. On top of that, the idea of any of my babies arriving dead makes me physically ill so I would much rather go into debt keeping them until I can find them homes, then shipping them to some unknown stranger I have no way of actually talking to them to make sure they're in a good home. For that same reason I also do not want to give / ship to major breeders. Most of these breeders just get you to pay them and send an axolotl out and generally don't really care if they're going to tear them apart limb by limb to examine them, somebody totally inexperienced in on equipped to handle them, or some person who's just going to resell them without caring about them.

I know that was a lot of information but I'm honestly just looking for an easy DIY Sponge Filter to work in very short tubs. Anything to kind of help as I can only do one water change once a day due to my job and i spend hours upon hours making sure that they're fed properly and cared for properly and would like anything to help even just a little bit. I spend most of my money on their food, and have recently started looking into pellets and gel food to help reduce the cost of Frozen as I was spending approximately $200 a week on frozen food. I do have my own worm farms but it takes approximately two hours to chop up and for all of them and for some of them I have to sit there and help train them to eat it still as they aren't great hunters.

Also as a side note, if anybody knows a good place in Canada to buy pellets from I would appreciate it. I am about to request a refund through PayPal from Alotl Axolotls, as it has been about 3 weeks since I paid for it and I've heard nothing from them or received my 2 lb of pellets.

Either way thank you everybody and I ask again that you please and not respond with opinions on my selling practices or stuff like that as it really does nothing to help me and I'm not going to ship no matter what you say, and I'm getting to the point where I'm very frustrated asking people for help or advice due to negative / nosey Nancy's!

 

[Giuseppe]

Have you looked for aquarium filter sponge inserts like those made for a HOB? I make my own sponge filters by wrapping those around a plastic tube with holes poked at the bottom, securing with rubber band, then simply slide my airline and stone into the tube. You can get a length of plastic tubing to cut to whatever height necessary and for however many filters you'll need. Another option is to take a plastic water bottle, cut in half, poke holes all around the bottom for aeration, fill it with gravel, then stick the same plastic tubing and airline in. The gravel should provide a similar surface area to a sponge for cycled bacteria to live on. I googled "diy sponge filter" and used that to inspire a design and adapted to my own needs. They're not necessarily pretty but I hide them behind plants and they've worked great for my 3 betta.