TANK MAINTENANCE

Tank and water maintenance is extremely important to your axolotl’s overall quality of life as well as their health.  You should be prepare for weekly maintenance with an axolotl in addition to daily feeding.

• Water Changes:

   You will need to check your water parameters weekly to determine how much water will need to be changed to keep your ammonia from spiking. Evaporation will naturally occur, keep in mind that topping off your tank with freshwater is not the same as a water change.  It is important to remove existing water to remove ammonia and nitrites or they will remain in the water if you only top off.  Water change amounts will be determined by the results of your parameters. As a rule of thumb we usually do a 25% water change weekly to maintain adequate ammonia levels. We also suggest adding Seachem Prestine after completing a water change. Follow the directions on the bottle to add bacteria back into your water that was removed during the water change process. Remember is it NECESSARY to add Seachem Prime to any new water that you add to the tank! This will remove any chlorine present in your tap water that could potentially cause burns/injuries to your axolotl or worse even death.

 TIP: Investing in a water syphon helps save time and helps avoid lifting injuries to you back from lifting water buckets. Remember to remove all axolotls from the tank before using a syphon to avoid any risk of sucking your lolt into the syphon tube.

• Spot cleaning:  

  A turkey baster is perfect for daily cleanup. Remember to remove any uneaten food or waste left behind by your axolotl.  This step is repetitive but will save time later by reducing water changes by helping to keep your parameters at low numbers and in the safe zone.

• Filter media:  

  Filter media should no be cleaned regularly. Doing so will remove the beneficial bacteria and cause the cycle to crash.  We recommend to shake and rinse the sponges or media in the water bucket during a water change if you need to remove debris or gently rinsing under cold tap water.  Filters with removable media will need to be changed when needed. Before doing so, remember to add the new media in with the old for approximately a month or remove parts of the media if you have breakdown of the sponges and add them with the new. This will help protect your cycle from crashing by maintaining the beneficial bacteria. Once you have allowed this time you can then discard the old media. We have found that you can usually rinse your media out a couple times before having to dispose of it.  NEVER use warm or hot water when rinsing your filter media, the heat will kill any beneficial bacteria that may be in it.  

• Décor & Glass:  

  It is normal to have algae build up over time. You will want to remove this with a scrubber or magnetic glass cleaner from the glass of your tank. The décor may also need to be removed and cleaned off to remove algae build up occasionally.  We typically clean glass during weekly water changes and décor once a month or as needed.  This will ensure that algae blooms do not take over the tank.

• Deep cleaning:  

  Deep cleaning will need to be done at times as well. You will know when a deep clean is needed. A deep clean will consist of removing more water, syphoning of sand, substrates, etc.  It is not recommended to clean the filter media at the same time as a deep clean. This will avoid removing large amounts of the beneficial bacteria. Cleaning the filter media at the same time may remove too much beneficial bacteria. If that happens it can throw off your cycle or even crash it. We recommend rotating your cleaning weeks to ensure you are not risking the cycle crashing.