# The Dreaded Holiday :)



## aaron.c (1 Jun 2015)

Hey All

I know there has been a lot of these posts in the past and I have read lots of them.

I wanted to run my plan past you as a sense check more than anything really.

We are going away for 8 days in a few weeks, and then for 15 days in August.

My tank is pretty well planted at the moment as per below (taken after a recent rescape so plants still bedding in)



 

My plan for the 8 day holiday is as follows;

*EI -* Dosing via Jebao DP-4.  I have this setup and have been dosing into glasses to check that doses are working as expected. Plan to halve dosage. 
*Liquid CO2 *- Added by the Jebao at 7ml a day, slowly increasing this.
*Light* - 2 x Grobeam 600 at 60% for 5 hours currently - plan to reduce photo period by 2 hours.
*CO2* (via upline and through spray bars) - Injected 2 hours before lights come on, and goes off at 20.30 (2.5 hours before lights go out, but drop checkers are yellow by 20.30 and fish can gasp a bit if I push it any further).  So will keep on time, but bring forward off time by 2 hours, as per shorter photo period.
*Top Up *- Being an open top tank, I lose a fair bit of water.  This bothers me, as CO2 regimen requires a decent surface ripple to keep fish happy.  On the flip side, if it drops too much, spray will break water surface and drive off too much CO2.  To combat this I have a TMC Auto Top up and 10litre RO jerry can.  I have been testing this auto topup and it seems to keep levels fairly consistent.
*Feeding* - For the 8 day break I am considering not feeding at all.  However, potentially I could get someone in one or twice.

*So, I have some questions...*

1. Do you think lighting, EI and CO2 reduction for a 1 week holiday are actually necesary?  My thinking was to reduce everything to slow the tank down.

2. Any thoughts on the autotup? The pump does 200l/hr so I am slighlty nervous of something going wrong and flooding the tank.  I was wondering about a timer.  Or perhaps monitoring evaoparation and only providing about as much RO as the tank will need.  Not sure how much extra water the tank can take before an overflow issue. Guess I could add a known amount of RO and measure the increase in water level height and divde the headroom by this figure.

We have a dog walker that actually offers to look after other pets.  So I am wondering if it might be worth getting them in once or twice to feed and check things over.  I.e make sure the tank is not too high, and check there is RO water in the jerry can (I will provide an extra jerry can of it.).

Any thoughts would be great


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## alto (1 Jun 2015)

Why not do a trial run beginning as soon as possible - hopefully you can run through the scheme a few times before you actually depart.

I'd likely lower light intensity but not decrease photoperiod to less than 4 hours
 - if you were to just run with no lights & ambient lighting, you'd likely see some reduction in plant energy but at least you'd be unlikely to come home to an algae takeover (leave some CO2 running but not anywhere near the present level where fish can be gasping if you're not careful, eg, you can run the tank with reduced CO2 24/7 so plants always have _some_ CO2 available as ambient light will obviously be present over a much longer time ... again test this out while you're home ... after unlucky timer experiences (unexpected power outages) I find this is the most conservative option for my situation.
If you have someone coming in that can check on the tank AND take appropriate action, more options present  - check with your local shops for someone that offers this sort of service.

With anyone that is NOT fish experienced - HIDE the fish food ...
though nothing is foolproof - even if you have pre-done meals ready to add to the tank, well meaning individuals will actually go to the local shop & buy your poor starving fish more food as you obviously meant to leave more ...
I now leave a step by step note taped (in a water resistant sleeve) to the tank/cabinet & my contact details & local shop that will respond in case of emergency. 

As you may imagine, I'd not run the auto-top up, but have someone just add prepared water (jars stored close to tank, all labelled etc) or use a partial lid to limit evaporation.

As you have a dog walker, & a few weeks, I'd go through basic tank care/emergency response training with this person & just have the tank checked daily or occasionally (use the 1 week holiday as training for the 2 week holiday).

As you surmise a "slow running" tank won't change much over a week or 2, a high energy tank will be rather more affected by unexpected events.


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## Iain Sutherland (1 Jun 2015)

as the tank is set up on dosing pumps, why change anything?  If anything just knock the intensity down a by 15%.  Do so before you go so you can check it doesnt cause a co2 build up from less demand.
Get the dog walker to feed a couple of time with food portioned in a medicine box so they cant over feed.

When i ran V2 auto top ups they got stuck off not on both times which is a little reassuring, however i would suggest only having enough water in the jerry can that the tank can hold just to be safe, no one likes a wet floor.

Dont forget to check your co2 bottle before you go.


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## aaron.c (1 Jun 2015)

Thanks for the great advice

Currently testing the auto top up with 10 litres of RO to see how much it uses in a week. 

I will drop the lights to 45% for a week and monitor Co2. Might make sense to shut it off a touch earlier.

Co2 is pretty full. Will weigh it vs my full one to check (same f.e)


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## ian_m (1 Jun 2015)

When I first went hi tech and went away for 7 days, I just turned CO2 & lights down (CO2 4 hours, lights 3 hours) a week or two before going away. EI dosed 1/3 levels manually right up to leaving day. I also had a fish feeder, which I used to ensure fish were OK.

Came back all OK, all fish alive, plants happy everyone all OK. Then slowly ramped up CO2 and light period over next week or two to full 6 hours.

Been away for 4 days as well with no change of light, CO2, no EI and no fish feeder again all OK.

When I went away for 3 1/3 weeks, reduced CO2 & light period, built dosing pumps and used fish feeder. Came back fish all OK, plants not as green as I would have desired but all recovered OK once full CO2, light and EI started again.


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## NC10 (1 Jun 2015)

re the feeding, I wouldn't let anyone else feed them, that's where all the horror stories start 

Like Ian did, just get a fish feeder


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## ian_m (1 Jun 2015)

NC10 said:


> re the feeding, I wouldn't let anyone else feed them, that's where all the horror stories start


My mate even had issues when he labelled 7 pots up, Mon, Tue, Wed etc each with a tiny amount of feed in for the required day and his visiting feeder managed to kill some of his fish..."Oh they looked hungry after eating all the food from your pots so I found your big pots of food and gave them some more...".


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## aaron.c (1 Jun 2015)

alto said:


> Why not do a trial run beginning as soon as possible - hopefully you can run through the scheme a few times before you actually depart.



Trying that now  Just dropped the lights by 15%. So they are running at 45% now.  I have some glosso going in tomorrow then tank is on lock down.


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## aaron.c (29 Jun 2015)

Hey All

I thought it would be useful to come back and tell you how it went.

So, as planned, the lights were dropped to 45% while we were away.  I dosed EI at full dose with the Dosing pump as we were only away for a week.

I dropped the C02 a touch so as not to gas the fish.

The TMC auto topup kept the topped up perfectly.

Tank was fine when we came back so have been slowly increasing everything back to normal levels.

Aaron


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## Wisey (29 Jun 2015)

Good to hear it all went well! What did you do about feeding in the end? Did you trust the dog walker, or did you buy an automated feeder? I would be interested in auto feeder recommendations if anyone has any?


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## aaron.c (29 Jun 2015)

I just left a few pre-prepared pots of food out and asked the dog walker to drop one in every few days


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## parotet (29 Jun 2015)

Hi all

I have left my tanks up to 10 days without any severe problem (a bit overgrown, some algae here and there but nothing serious). My only problem is evaporation, very significant in Spain in summer. I just ask someone from the family to come home on day 4 and 5 and top the tank until a line marked with a waterproof pen. BUT it is completely forbidden to feed fish or adjust anything. I just skip ferts and fish feeding (I always use enriched substrates).

I think I have sometimes decreased lights sometimes but make sure you try the adjustments long before you leave. For this summer I have added an air pump on a timer to improve night aeration. I've trying it for a month now and I won't leave in quite a few weeks... Everything must be perfectly tuned. 

Jordi


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## tigertim (29 Jun 2015)

if your growing any Crypts i wouldnt change any of the parameters while your away as this could induce Crptocoryne rot imho.


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## Wisey (29 Jun 2015)

ian_m said:


> When I went away for 3 1/3 weeks, reduced CO2 & light period, built dosing pumps and used fish feeder. Came back fish all OK, plants not as green as I would have desired but all recovered OK once full CO2, light and EI started again.



Which automatic fish feeder do you use Ian?


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## ian_m (30 Jun 2015)

Mine is a Hydor fish feeder dropping food via hole in the hood. Has an air line connection to keep food dry which works well as if not used food tends to pick up moisture and go mouldy. Air pump is on 10:45 to 3am to degas CO2 so don't need air on 24/7 to keep food dry.


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## Wisey (30 Jun 2015)

ian_m said:


> Mine is a Hydor fish feeder dropping food via hole in the hood. Has an air line connection to keep food dry which works well as if not used food tends to pick up moisture and go mouldy. Air pump is on 10:45 to 3am to degas CO2 so don't need air on 24/7 to keep food dry.



Thanks, have had a look, not sure how I would go about mounting that one on a tank without a hood, but it looks good. I like the air connection for keeping things fresh.


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