# Best Lighting/CO2Strategy for 20 day Vacation



## niru (23 May 2011)

Hello Everybody!

Background Info: 

my 180 litre planted tank currently runs with EI, high light (90 HOT5 Watts), 4 bps CO2. Both lights and CO2 for 7.5 hrs, CO2 coming 2.5 hrs before the lights. EI is automated and I do a 50-60% WC each week. EasyCarbo also goes in at recommended rate.
With the above settings, my CO2 bottle (2 kg) runs about 2+ but less than 3 months.

Problem:

I am off for vacation end of June for about 20 days. This slot falls in when my CO2 cylinder could go empty. What would be the best strategy to avoid catastrophy?

I am planning to gradually reduce the light & CO2 timing (keeping the same bps) over the next month. Perhaps later I could also reduce the light intensity (by removing the reflectors only, since the Juwel tank ballasts cant be dimmed). I am sure lots of you guys have had similar situations. What would be your advice?

Thanks as always!!

-niru


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## Piece-of-fish (23 May 2011)

Hi, I would reduce the lighting time to maybe 5 hours and yes take out the reflectors before you go. 90w is not that high on your tank so you should be quite safe. With co2 replace the bottle if you can. If someone could do a water change in between it would be perfect.


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## niru (23 May 2011)

Thanks Piece of Fish... (why only a piece??  )

Theres no one around reliable to make WC. I was thinking of diluting/reducing the EI a bit .. Also doing a few WCs before vacation so that the entire water column has been replaced.

Re the CO2 replacement, I could try that, removing the existing one & putting in a new one just 2 days before.. But then can I re-use the old one later?? meaning wont the pressure inside the old bottle drop (perhaps a silly question, but.. so what!  )?


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## Fred Dulley (23 May 2011)

If no one can perform a water change then you'll have to stop CO2 injecting. As a result, you have to turn down the light intensity and dose only a tiny bit of nutrients before you leave.
What I've done and it's worked well.

Reduce lighting to one or two bulbs.
Turn off CO2.
After the day's photoperiod, perform a 50% water change.
Dose a bit of nutrients.

Go on Holiday.

Come back.
50% water change
Leave the lights as they are but turn on the CO2 again and dose normally.

Week later, another water change and increase light intensity to what they originally were. (obviously keep up with the nutrients and CO2).


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## niru (23 May 2011)

Thanks Fred!

Why do you go for a almost total halt? I have been to 7 day vacations before & I never altered the schedule. This time its a longer span, and I fear CO2 emptying out. Since I cant do a WC for about 2 weeks, theres a possibility of nutrient builtup (but guess that should be OK with EI style dosing since I planned to keep the lights & CO2 ON, though reduce their timings), and toxicity bulitup from fish & plant waste. To get around I was planning of reducing the EI dosage to half (say) but still maintaining it.

Your suggestion of removing a bulb sounds great (never thought of that  )! I will surely do so. But do I really shut CO2 off? I am a bit scared of the algae taking over, even in the reduced lights you suggest.

-niru


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## Fred Dulley (23 May 2011)

It's not the nutrient build up that's the problem. If you are injecting CO2 then plant growth is faster. As a result, the rate at which metabollic waste is produced also increases. This can buld up if a water change is not performed weekly.
Clive explains why not doing water changes in CO2 tanks is bad. Here
viewtopic.php?p=149107#p149107

Trying to counter this waste build up by limiting nutrients isn't the way to go. Its risky and you run the risk of plant deficiencies which could cause more problems.

If you take down your lights to one bulb then you shouldn't get over run with algae.


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## niru (23 May 2011)

Thanks mate! Appreciated! I will read the Clive-speak a few times now...


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## niru (23 May 2011)

Hi Fred!

I re-read the Clive explaination. I am already a faithful convert to his Matrix gospels and in line with that, I was planning to:

1st reduce light timing & intensity (both gradually).
2nd reduce the CO2 timing-ONLY initially, and then once light has been reduced & its all stable, then perhaps reduce the bps a bit, still maintaining enough CO2 for the given light so as to get away with any algae issues.
3rd dilute or reduce the frequency of EI dosing..

As I understood, this will reduce the growth drive in plants in a (correct) systematic manner without causing algal blooms, thereby reducing the DOC and organic waste production via plants. Since I also have fairly moderately stocked fish load, their waste will still be the same as before but could be reduced by (say) reducing their food rations a bit. This way the fish waste will still contribute to plant-food and though EI is not running full throttle, there will still be organic waste buildup over time (though at a reduced rate than normal). I am not worried so much about nutrient buildup as we all know that thats never the issue (within reasonable limits). This way I can hopefully get around with no water changes for about 3 weeks, and at the same time wont run out of my CO2 bottle..

Correct my if I got wrong somewhere.. 

My question now is, would more frequent water changes in the weeks before assist the vacation-time situation, or otherwise, or it makes no difference? Guess it would make a +ve difference since the existing organic waste in the tank would be to its bare minimum by the time I go for vacation. So that would be a good start. But I havent thought into much more detail repurcussions of this..


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## Piece-of-fish (23 May 2011)

I would leave the co2 on especially if you leave just one bulb. I think you can do that, your ballast should be electronic and allow to run just one bulb. I might be wrong though.
Are you able to automatically dose ferts?


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## niru (23 May 2011)

Hi P-O-F,

I can dose the ferts using a DIY doser for macro & micro. Will have to refill the containers though, but thats no issue.

I will remove 1 bulb from the Juwel lighting, but this only at a later stage.. 1st reduce time...2nd remove reflectors...3rd remove 1 bulb... progressively over the next few weeks..

-niru


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## bigmatt (23 May 2011)

Take tank with you? 
M


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## niru (23 May 2011)

The airlines wont agree to the water in it. I drank a cup in front of them, but to no avail 

any suggestions on this, or has anyone being doing this? also googled for some such adventurous enterpreneurs, didnt find any


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## a1Matt (23 May 2011)

There are a few of us on here who have taken tanks abroad! We did it for the vivarium trip.  Without water or fauna though.

Anyway...

+1 vote for turning off your co2 while away.
If it was 1 or 2 weeks I would wing it and leave the co2 on.
More than that and you want to turn off co2 and lower lights so that you slow down the speed of the tank as much as possible.


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## bigmatt (23 May 2011)

i'd second that - cut everything right back. If plants suffer a little it'll be much easier than trying to sort out massive algae problems! M


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## faizal (26 May 2011)

Fred Dulley said:
			
		

> If no one can perform a water change then you'll have to stop CO2 injecting. As a result, you have to turn down the light intensity and dose only a tiny bit of nutrients before you leave.
> What I've done and it's worked well.
> 
> Reduce lighting to one or two bulbs.
> ...



Fred,...if I may ,...by drastically turning off the co2 wouldn't we sort of shock the plants even with the  low lighting levels? Would  it be a better idea if we turn down the lights overnight immediately as you suggest but then slowly tweak down the bps over a 1 week period & then completely switch it off overnight by the end of Day 7 so as to ease the plants transition into the low tech mode ? This is just my doubt. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Faizal


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## niru (26 May 2011)

I was also thinking the same! Also, instead of switching CO2 off totally, shouldnt it run at bare minimum to sustain the plants? Particularly if plants are sensitive to it? Else plant decay sets in leading to higher organic waste. 

Guess one doesn't want too much growth and also too little since both will induce too much waste leading to ammonia issues. I havent been able to deduce optimal strategy to go about this. Any suggestions are welcome.

Niru


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## faizal (26 May 2011)

Yes,...but don't you think that the problem here is that if we do continue with co2 injection,...even if it is at a bare minimum (which i imagine would be quite hard to determine as to what level that level is for a particular tank),.. it is still considered to be co2 enriched during those 20 days which you would be away & that would still mean back to water changes & EI fert levels for a high tech tank. Low light but high tech nevertheless= lots of metabolic wastes to get rid of = water changes 3 times a week. 

So,...it finally comes back to that option of turning it off while you are away to keep the metabolic rates down.


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## niru (26 May 2011)

I agree with keeping the meta rates down. What I am worried is from the other end. I am working with an assumption that most "high tech" plants (i.e. those needing good CO2 in any light situation, since CO2 presence is more vital to their well being than having a high light per say) would, in absence of CO2 for the now-available low light conditions, would start melting or de-grading. Wont this also lead to waste buildup? Low light would slow this down for sure but I am ignorant if this slowing down does actually screw up the plant health (mal nutrition albeit introduced slowly).

Unless: theres a known observation that going THIS way generates less waste buildup than the scenario wherein the metabolic activity generates waste..

Good thing is that taking this approach of shutting down CO2 will save my gas  .... 

Inputs always welcome!

-niru


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## a1Matt (26 May 2011)

niru said:
			
		

> Unless: theres a known observation that going THIS way generates less waste buildup than the scenario wherein the metabolic activity generates waste..



I think that question gets to the nub of it.
IME having the co2 on, and with no food to the plants for 3 weeks will _weaken_ the plants considerably more than having the co2 off will.

As a rule of thumb, if it was only 2 weeks away I would stay with the co2 on.


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## niru (26 May 2011)

Hi a1Matt

thanks for sharing your experience. Also this would be good to keep algae at bay??


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## a1Matt (26 May 2011)

Yes, it would.
The main controllable factor in keeping the algae at bay is low light.

I've been away a lot, messed up a few times, got it right for a few, so happy if my experience can help others.
The biggest tip I can offer is good maintenance, slowly steadily whip the tank into as best shape as you can over a few weeks leading up to your trip.


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## faizal (26 May 2011)

So Matt if we are going away for 2 weeks,...then we could try to leave the co2 on,...NO FERTS & WCs,...with Low lights?


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## a1Matt (26 May 2011)

For 2 weeks... If I was leaving co2 on I would also leave the lights on.  This is assuming that the plants are well fed (I start overfeeding mine over a month before I go away) and the tank is in top health when you leave. 

Nothing wrong with lower lights, but I'd always lower co2 accordingly when lowering lights. and it is just easier to leave it all as is.


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## niru (21 Jun 2011)

Hey Guys

I use EasyLife Fluid Filter Medium after weekly WC and find this product quite useful. Today I just called these guys asking if it also helps reduce organic waste buildup: answer is expectedly yes. After mentioning my 3 week vacation problem, it seems I can also dilute this stuff in DI water and do a auto-dose regime so as to minimise any waste buildup problems.

So it sounds just too good, and I will surely try this one. 

Now my lights are ON for 5 hrs only, reduced CO2 quite a bit (havent stopped it though), and also the EI dosing is a bit lean. The water looks clear all through the week and things appear to be in control. I have however noticed that some of my stem plants are breaking up at the topmost 1-2 nodes. There is no leaf melts or any discoloration, algal issues.. So kind of puzzled, but overall everything looks OK. 

And BTW, I found Anubia heterophylla in my LFS and now its in my tank. Its a great plant and would love to hear from guys having this. So I have 4 Anubias; nana, petite, coffeefolia, and heterophylla! And all are doing great, really happy about these..

cheers
niru


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## niru (25 Jul 2011)

Hi All

came back from a 3 week vacation last week! I was in India, moving around the coastal Konkan area in full monsoon, so was a great fun!

To my pleasant surprise, the tank was in the most pristine conditions during all this time! Thanks to the advice of lot of you guys, I had  gradually reduced the time & intensity of the HOT5 and also that of CO2 and fert dosings.. So absolutely no algae, not even an iota!! All plants looked nice (suffered weakness though as light period was only 5 hrs). Unfortunately a few days midway, the food dispenser cranked off, so the hungry fish feasted a bit on cabomba caroliniana which got uprooted. But other than that, there was no issue.

Now I have slowly upped the CO2 and the ferts. Will wait for some time to up the lights. Over the weekend, I also rescaped adding some nice plants. Will post pics and details of this at a later time.

All in all, I can safely say that gradually lowering the light, CO2 and ferts (in that order) definitely helped me keep the water good, algae free and healthy plants. The fish also seemed to be happy with no casualty during whole 3 weeks  
And all this happened only due to the kind advice of guys here on UKAPS!! Zillion thanks for this!

-niru


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