Holiday routine

[copperband]

Does anyone have any sort of holiday routine, i.e. something you change about your set up when you go away?
I will do my weekly 50% water change the day before I leave.
I have a neighbour who will feed the fish each day and will top up the evaporated water when necessary, but that's the extent of things.
I was thinking to potentially drop the lighting level (intensity) by perhaps 25% and not add ferts for a week? I know that's not ideal, but I figure that in nature, plants (and fish) would have periods of overcast and lower light levels and with those lower light levels would be a lesser requirement for ferts.
The whole purpose would be to allow for potential accidental overfeeding and sudden Algae outbreaks?
I'm only away for a week so the other option is to leave everything as it is and manage any issues on my return?

 

[mlgt]

I am also going away for a week and I will do a similar water change in my 350l tank and smaller tanks and do a big feed before hand.
I intend to not turning on the lights in the tanks and will have someone coming in every 2 days to feed the fish. If you are planning to drop the lighting will be fine I am sure. Think the main thing is if you use co2 etc.
Enjoy your break and dont stress

 

[copperband]

I am also going away for a week and I will do a similar water change in my 350l tank and smaller tanks and do a big feed before hand.
I intend to not turning on the lights in the tanks and will have someone coming in every 2 days to feed the fish. If you are planning to drop the lighting will be fine I am sure. Think the main thing is if you use co2 etc.
Enjoy your break and dont stress

Yes, sorry should have said. I use CO2 and planned to leave that all running with a slightly reduced bubble count?

 

[mlgt]

Then for co2, if you are worried why not turn it off for the week? I am sure a week without co2 wont be a problem where your tank will crash!
I haven't used co2 for many years and plants will adjust either way.
I dont see a problem either way. reducing light and co2 vs not having any in the first instance wont cause harm in any way, given that plants may not naturally have co2 injection in their habitats

 

[Wookii]

I wouldn't bother changing anything when going away for just a week of two, just leave the tank running as is. Do a big water change and maintenance - including trimming a weeks worth of growth off any fast growing plants - close to leaving, and front load some ferts. Rather than messing with the CO2 injection rate, just make sure there is enough CO2 left in the tank so it doesn't run out.

What I would suggest doing is either using an auto-feeder, or portioning any food into pots and labelling them up with the appropriate day/date so your neighbour doesn't dump a tub full in. I'd also fill a container with some treated fresh water for your neighbour to top up with. Just make it as simple for them as possible so they don't have to 'improvise' - that's when things go wrong!

 

[Kalum]

Exactly as @Wookii has said, change as little as possible. If your tank is running well, then any changes will mess about with what your tank is used to and that is when there's more chance of algae. Stability is key.

Personally i'd feed less than usual during this time as well

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I'm only away for a week so the other option is to leave everything as it is and manage any issues on my return?

What @Wookii and @Kalum say. I'm away quite a bit and I'm quite happy to just leave the tank for a week.

I have a neighbour who will feed the fish each day

Unless they are a fish keeper? Put weighed out portions for each feed, with a day date on them. I wouldn't feed the fish every day, I'd feed the normal amount but twice in the week, the fish are fine like that.

I intend to not turning on the lights in the tanks

I was thinking to potentially drop the lighting level (intensity) by perhaps 25%

I'd definitely leave the lights on, the <"plants are your belt and braces"> in terms of nitrification, particularly if you <"have a dead fish"> etc.

You need to ensure the plants have a enough light to reach <"light compensation point">, if you are sure that lower light will accomplish this? Lower the light intensity, if you aren't? Don't.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ehcosbie]

I keep the 1-2 grow pots after planting especially for setting out food portions while I am away, so my non fishy neighbor just needs to pop round and drop a pot in. K.I.S.S.

I have recently set up an auto doser on my tank and that has made fertilising easier too.

 

[LadyDay]

I leave the light and CO2 on, on timers of course, and have an auto dosing pump taking care of fertilising, so things run themselves. I do a water change before leaving. I don't know about really tiny fish, but most fish in good condition are absolutely fine with a week without food! If anything it's good for them occasionally. Firstly because they're cold blooded and don't require much, secondly because there's lots of microscopic stuff to find around the tank. So mine go without, rather than risk a kind neighbour overfeeding them or otherwise messing things up. And definitely don't overfeed them before leaving, that just risks non-eaten food spoiling in the tank, just feed as normal and they'll be just fine. If you choose to have a neighbour feed the fish anyway, definitely prepare portions so the neighbour just has to dump one portion in the tank at the time, and make sure to tell them to never, ever give more than one portion per day, not even if they have to skip a day or the fish "ate it very fast and still looked hungry"!

 

[PARAGUAY]

I try not to change much if it's say a week, leave filter cleans feeding etc l am lucky in that my son ,who has kept fish, can call up if it's any longer, but with a non fishkeeper think it's normal to be convinced the fish are still hungry. I did look after a Discus fish house for two weeks a few years back ,to say l was a bit anxious is a understatement but l learned a lot about Discus and it all went well,

 

[copperband]

Thanks for the replies everyone, all very sensible suggestions.
I like the idea and will use the fertiliser in the top up water bottles, that way it avoids any risk of issues.
Food wise, I'm currently alternating dry food and frozen bloodworm. I think I'll just ask the neighbour to feed a bit of pre measured dry food every other day.
I'll leave the lights and CO2 as normal. Compared to my old 4800L reef tank, this is all pretty straightforward

 

[_Maq_]

I have a neighbour who will feed the fish each day

Many oh many disasters to tanks worldwide happened thanks to kind help of neighbours, mothers-in-law, and similar people.
Any adult fish can easily survive several weeks without feeding; their health often benefits from that, as well as the tank as a whole (reduced input of organics).

 

[John q]

Any adult fish can easily survive several weeks without feeding; their health often benefits from that, as well as the tank as a whole (

Lol agree in principle but would suggest a week without food is fine, several weeks ???obviously not a fish keeper. 😉

 

[_Maq_]

Lol agree in principle but would suggest a week without food is fine, several weeks ???obviously not a fish keeper.

Next year I'll celebrate 50 years in aquarium hobby. My focus on plants is not that old, by far. I stress the word "adult", and with that, I maintain "several weeks". Let's say, three weeks without feeding is safer than a helpful person without experience in our hobby.

 

[John q]

Let's say, three weeks without feeding is safer than a helpful person without experience in our hobby.

I will agree to this 👍

 

[copperband]

I'm back and everything appears to have survived. I have come back to a few things that I'd prefer not to have:
1. Some patches of Cyano growing over some of the moss
2. A few patches of black beard algae growing on the bog wood
3. A few threads of hair algae growing off the ends of some of the plant leaves.
4. Also for some reason my Alternanthera reineckii "mini" has started to melt?

Could all 4 be as a result of not adding daily ferts?
The only other thing I did was to remove all the floating plant while I was away. The reason for that was to avoid any potential blockages with the surface skim glassware or the "wavemaker". I figured they would be pulling less nutrients out the water and that might offset the lack of added ferts? Alternatively, the lack of them pulling out excess nutrients might have led to the algae issues?

Thoughts welcome

 

[PARAGUAY]

Just thinking about removal of floating plants ,although you had no option, maybe affected the balance of the tank a little, but a good maintenance and w/c should now help, get back again. Because you previously fertilized well l doubt the lack of daily fertilization did any harm just my opinion l might be wrong

 

[FrozenShivers]

I've only been in the hobby around a year and my longest trip away was 9 days. Both the tanks are low tech. I done a 50% water change the day before I left, added 2x - x3 times the ferts I normally would, I then used two small glass jars and put in a daily feed into each and left them next to their associated tank. I then asked the neighbours children to pop in around 4-5 days into my break and just empty 1 container into each tank (meaning the fish were fed once during the whole time I was away).

Didn't really have any problems.