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Dosing free week

CeeBee

Member
Joined
15 Feb 2009
Messages
170
Hello

I'm due to go on holiday in a few weeks and will be unable to dose the tank for 8 days. Am I likely to come back to problems? Is there anything I can do to mitigate the risks?

Should I cut down on C02 and lighting, or is that likely to cause problems in itself?

I really don't want to ask anyone to do it for me if at all possible.

This is the first time I'll have left it and as I'm already worrying about it, I know that it'll be on my mind whilst I'm away.

Thank you.
 
Hi ceebee,
I would definitely turn down the CO2 and lighting, that's without question. Not really being intimate with your particular tank it's hard to predict results. If the plants are healthy and have been fattened up on EI or PMDD type dosing they will have plenty of reserves so cutting the light by 50% or so and cutting the CO2 by a similar margin would be a good idea. Hardy slow growing plants like ferns, anubias will be fine. Less hardy species such as carpet plants may suffer a bit but once you return and start dosing again they will recover. We know what causes algae and we know how to suppress their growth so this shouldn't be a cause for stress. Whatever algae develops, if any, will tell you what nutrient went low so it'll be pain free to resume dosing and after a few weeks things should be back to normal.

Cheers,
 
Thanks for the advice - I'll re-set all the timers before I go and see how I get on.

I use EI dosing, so hopefully the plants will coast on that for couple of days.

Thanks again for responding.
 
Before I go on holiday for two weeks (if I get to Mexico!), I plan to do a week or so before of what I plan on doing for those two weeks.

I'm lucky that I've got an automatic liquid doser setup so that's sorted, so I'll turn down the photoperiod to at least 50% of the current levels and keep the dosing and reduce the co2 down.

I've got my girlfriend's sister down to come and feed the fish every other day but don't want her to do anything other than that.

If your worried about dosing maybe you could add a few of the tropica substrate capsules to boost the stock of ferts in the substrate?
 
Thanks for the info, Superman. It's the plants rather than the fish that I'm worrying about (that's a terrible thing to say). It's just that I've left the fish before (when I only had a very low tech tank with a few sorry looking plants), so I know they'll be OK. After the roller-coaster ride I've had with stabilizing this planted tank, I've been waking up in a cold sweat, wondering what I'll be coming home to.

I worry way too much about it - I'm hoping that I'll relax a bit more as I get more experienced!

I'm off to read about automatic liquid dosers now. (Mind you, if I spend much more on the tank, my partner is likely to leave me at home with it :D )
 
I always go away for 2 weeks + in the summer and I turn off the CO2, no dosing and set the lighting at the bare minimum for the duration.

I normally come back to an overgrown tank :)

Oh and I get my Dad to feed the fish twice each week. ;)

AC
 
In order to enjoy your holiday you need to be relaxed and reassured about the tank.

The 6 p rule applies: Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

I had a golfing weekend away with "the boys" last week and although I did a 50% water change before I left I was worried about the lighting/ferts/CO2 . I had this all on my mind when I took a 6 inch put and missed!
 
I'm liking the 6P rule :lol:

Thanks for the link, Gordon. I was looking at the Eheim Liquidoser last night, so I'm considering one. I've been lucky recently and have been able to work from home a lot. It looks like I've just landed a 6 week assignment away though and this is more the norm. I'll hopefully be able to get back at weekends, but it depends where I end up. I'm pretty certain my partner would feel much happier if he didn't have to worry about dosing the tank every day (I know I would), so this might be a good work-around.

Simon - maybe its worth investing in something similar - the cost of an automatic doser versus the humiliation of missing a 6 inch put (whatever that might be) is surely worthy of consideration? ;)

AC - What do you consider to be the bare minimum for the lighting duration? I'm hanging my head in shame, your fish are very fortunate. Mine have to make do for a week. I'm hoping that starvation rations encourage my SAE to stop being such a lazy git and eat some of the BBA, it usually opts for mugging the tetra at feeding time.
 
Mine have gone 10 days before when my folks were also on holiday while I was away :) I put an auto (cheap mechanical) feeder on the top set at as low as it would go so that it wouldn't 'dump' and then got in the car for the airport. I don't trust them but it will at least work a couple of days before clogging up which buys a bit of time :) (and supplies a little dosing!!!)

By bare minimum I mean that when I used to go away I left a single tube on for 6 hours a day. So it would go from 2WPG (9hours a day) to 0.5WPG (6 hours a day)

This year now I have the LEDs I will be going from using the 5 rows to a single row for 6 hours which will mean going from 1.12WPG (<---ignore this for LEDS :lol:) to 0.22WPG

AC
 
SuperColey1 said:
Mine have gone 10 days before when my folks were also on holiday while I was away :) I put an auto (cheap mechanical) feeder on the top set at as low as it would go so that it wouldn't 'dump' and then got in the car for the airport. I don't trust them but it will at least work a couple of days before clogging up which buys a bit of time :) (and supplies a little dosing!!!)

By bare minimum I mean that when I used to go away I left a single tube on for 6 hours a day. So it would go from 2WPG (9hours a day) to 0.5WPG (6 hours a day)

This year now I have the LEDs I will be going from using the 5 rows to a single row for 6 hours which will mean going from 1.12WPG (<---ignore this for LEDS :lol:) to 0.22WPG

AC
Hmmm - maybe I'll just go for 4 hours per day on both tubes - they're T5, but only 24w each. Thanks for the info ;)
 
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