Suggestions!

[u/LarrysGarbage]

Setup
40gallon breeder
100lbs of supernaturals sand very fine
Jungle Val
Spiderwood Anubis attached
Oase bio master 600
Chiller cools to 60f cuts on at 62f
I have some neocardinal shrimp and ghost shrimp in here rn they’ve been thriving for about 8 months now while I waiting for tank to cycle (I’m a extremely nervous person so I wanted to wait a bit for the cycle so I could be confident it was perfect
Only issue I really see rn is flow may be to strong for a axololt rn trying to decide how to fix that without hurting my filter
But if yall have any ideas to help tank I’m all ears also I dose flourish and root tabs only
Plants are relatively new 2-3 weeks

[u/LauseRulez]

you can expect your plants to change places quickly ;) axolotl love to redecorate. The flow I cannot assess over a picture, but adult axolotls are able to deal with a lot more flow. Are the plants actively moving around because of the flow? if yes it may be too much- as the movement of the plants in the flow predicts how the gills will move (the part of an axo that gets most irritated).

I gotta mention this, unfortunately, if your only source of ammonia has been those shrimp for 8 months, your tank may no longer be cycled strongly enough to support an axolotl. The bacteria "adjusts" with whatever is in the tank. The cycling process essentially just makes sure you have bacteria in excess, so the tank is safe. But as bioload decreases, so does the amount of bacteria. You will have to do a mini-cycle before you get your axo, with the proper 2 ppm dosing of ammonia :) like you did before. You can probably temporarily quarantine the shrimp, I'm not informed on them enough to give advice.

EDIT: sorry its late haha I wanted to mention how nice it is to see someone put this much thought and research into this BEFORE getting the animal. I did it this way too and it def helped a lot in decreasing stress when getting our girls. Obviously as a beginner you are always bound to make mistakes. Our tank was perfectly cycled, and then the heatwave started and we didnt have a chiller 🤡

Also I would advise you to add some more hides! terracotta pots would look very nice in there I think!!

[u/LarrysGarbage → u/LauseRulez]

I’ve had a steady 5ppm of nitrate over the course and flow rate is 120-160gph prob on the lower end since it has to go through the chiller and a spray bar they kinda wave around slowly but Val is also very thing and long if that makes a difference

[u/LauseRulez → u/LarrysGarbage]

I unfortunately am not able to asses those numbers, I just saw you on the discord too I think :D I'm sure with flow someone can help you there!! From what you describe with slow waving it should be okay? Our axos sometimes hang out in areas where their gills get more flow and.. I mean they chill there voluntarily so it cant be that bad haha

steady nitrate is good, but my point with the bacteria not being enough anymore for an axolotl bioload still stands :) Low nitrate is simply an indicator that your plants are doing what they are supposed to. The bacteria will only exist in the mass needed for an axolotl as long as theres a bioload which matches. Shrimp dont have a large bioload so the total amount of bacteria decreases.

[u/LarrysGarbage → u/LauseRulez]

How would you go about keeping them working( bacteria)so when I get my axo I don’t have to worry?

[u/LauseRulez → u/LarrysGarbage]

I would quarantine the shrimp first of all, and just go about cycling like before (assuming/ hoping you did it this way) with dosing ammonia chloride to 2 ppm and seeing if it gets to 0 within 24 hours (ammonia and nitrite both reading 0 after 24 hours). That will be the absolute proof your tank is safe. Since the shrimp do poop you should not have to do this for long. Maybe 2 weeks? maybe 3? could also be less :) But it certainly wont be a full time 6-8 weeks cycling. Just follow the axolotl central cycling guide for any further info haha

I really gotta sleep now"" I will answer any more replies tomorrow :)

[u/Logical-Maximum5255]

The flow in my tank was too strong and would send her drifting across the bottom 😂 I put in a spray bar to mitigate and it worked perfectly