No Filter, No Cycle?

[Turbo]

Hi,
I am an eager future to be AXOLOTL owner. I have done some research about cycling, and I don't really want to buy the products.
Do you have to cycle, if you clean the tank on a scheduled basis without a filter and if so, how long should the scheduled basis be? (eg. once a week or everyday?)
All I want in my tank are just the decorations. I don't want to cycle it and I don't want any filters. Would my axolotl still die or become sick if I just replace the old water with new water on a scheduled basis?

Thanks,
I would like to hear in someone's earliest convenience
Alex

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Anything that breaks down in water (be it fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants) will produce ammonia that will burn fish and axolotl's gills and bodies. An established biological filter will remove ammonia and convert it into nitrite and then nitrate and keep the water free of this harmful substance. Without an established filter on the tank the fish or axolotl will die within a short period of time.

Doing big water changes (75%) every day can help dilute the ammonia in the water. However, any trace of ammonia can do damage to fish or axolotls. And since axolotls do not have scales to protect their skin, they are even more sensitive to chemicals in the water.

The only real way to keep fish or axolotls in an unfiltered aquarium is to have a very large volume of water (at least 200 litres per axolotl) and lots of aquatic plants growing in the tank that can use up the ammonia that will be produced by the axolotl. Even then you will need to test the water (for ammonia) daily or every couple of days and do big (75%) water changes to dilute any ammonia that appears when the water is tested.

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Why don't you want a filter on the tank?
If you don't want a noisy air pump you can get hang on back (HOB) style filters and put a sponge over the intake tube. HOB filters are very quiet and do a good job at keeping water clean. Aquaclear HOB filters are in my opinion the best but there are other brands too.

 

[Turbo]

Hi and welcome to the forum

Anything that breaks down in water (be it fish food, fish waste, dead fish, dead plants) will produce ammonia that will burn fish and axolotl's gills and bodies. An established biological filter will remove ammonia and convert it into nitrite and then nitrate and keep the water free of this harmful substance. Without an established filter on the tank the fish or axolotl will die within a short period of time.

Doing big water changes (75%) every day can help dilute the ammonia in the water. However, any trace of ammonia can do damage to fish or axolotls. And since axolotls do not have scales to protect their skin, they are even more sensitive to chemicals in the water.

The only real way to keep fish or axolotls in an unfiltered aquarium is to have a very large volume of water (at least 200 litres per axolotl) and lots of aquatic plants growing in the tank that can use up the ammonia that will be produced by the axolotl. Even then you will need to test the water (for ammonia) daily or every couple of days and do big (75%) water changes to dilute any ammonia that appears when the water is tested.

-----------------------
Why don't you want a filter on the tank?
If you don't want a noisy air pump you can get hang on back (HOB) style filters and put a sponge over the intake tube. HOB filters are very quiet and do a good job at keeping water clean. Aquaclear HOB filters are in my opinion the best but there are other brands too.

Hi,
Does that mean with a filter, I could still do scheduled water changes and my axolotl won't die?
Thanks for the reply by the way

 

[Colin_T]

If you have an established filter on the tank, it will have colonies of beneficial bacteria that eat ammonia and convert it into nitrite, and more bacteria that eat nitrite and convert it into nitrate. When there is enough of these beneficial filter bacteria, they will keep the ammonia and nitrite at 0 and you then do a water change each week to dilute nitrates and to remove the gunk from the substrate (using a gravel cleaner like the one in the following link).
http://www.about-goldfish.com/aquarium-cleaning.html

With an established biological filter on the tank, the water should stay clean and free of ammonia & nitrite, and the axolotls will not die from ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

 

[Liz L]

Hi Alex,
I put pothos plants in my aquarium, only the roots are submerged in the water. The plsnts absorbs the fish waste as food, and it helps reduce waste and looks pretty hanging over the fish tank.
Liz