# Long holiday - how to manage tank?



## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

In the summer we're going to be away for a month and we're going to rent out the house on airbnb.

I've three tanks, 15l, 20l, 200l. I'm probably going to break down the 15l and move the 20l to my parents. That leaves the 200l.

It has a sump with top up reservoir, so i can add an ATU, but that will still need refill probably once a week.

I've also got an auto feeder that i need to experiment with.

I currently dose tnc complete and LC daily. I do not have an autodoser, yet.

Anyone got any top tips or experiences to share to avoid disaster?

Thanks


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## ian_m (4 Feb 2018)

I built this for when I went away for over three weeks in 2012, which in reality is probably 5 weeks between tank maintenance.

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/diy-dual-peristaltic-dosing-pump-with-alternate-switching.22332/

Along with fish feeder, turned down lighting & CO2 period as well, the tank survived acceptably well.

When the same was repeated in 2017 I was using this to control my tank. This has a holiday mode so no fiddling with multiple timers to reduce lighting & CO2 periods.

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-to-use-a-plc-to-control-your-fish-tank-part-1.42993/

Basically if you want to leave tank unattended you need to slow it down, so it can survive longer between maintenance.

You don't have to do automatically, you could put food and ferts in measured labelled bottles and get a friend/neighbour to dose every day/frequently.

As for topping sump up, I have seen someone who clamped and inverted plastic bottle full of water in his sump water storage compartment and if and when water level dropped, some water emptied out of the bottled keeping the sump topped up.


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

Thanks, sump idea sounds interesting. The DIY dosing is a bit beyond my skill/patience...


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## steveno (4 Feb 2018)

Perhaps consider picking up some of these:






I'm away for a number of weeks later this year and will be using one of these while i'm away, thou i will also reducing light during this time.


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## tam (4 Feb 2018)

Might be worth seeing if you can find a local tank maintenance company and get them to pop in once or twice just to check it/top up/water change as you are gone for a whole month. Particularly with renters in who you probably don't want to trust to do anything or notice problems.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

Start the slow down process as early as possible would be my suggestion, the dosater shown above can be set for 30 days so its a case of working out how much ferts you are going to need, if you've slowed down the tank enough you can obviously have less salts in the mix. The dosater only holds so much and comes through a semi permeable membrane so maybe have a trial run the month before you go and make sure the its working rather than finding out it hasn't when you get back. just use it for macros and get some tablets for your substrate. I personally use Tetra Crypto which only contain Iron and traces and supposedly last 30 days slow release. I suppose you could look for similar that contain NPK as well.

Maybe try a dog walking company and make sure they are CRB checked. If only thing you want them to do is check and topup some water I don't suppose they care whether they're walking a dog or putting some pre prepared water in a tank. Maybe even a baby sitter if you have no family or friends who can pop in. I suppose just checking your water and maybe adding some will be an easy number and cash is cash.


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

Cheers, all good suggestions!


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

@steveno do you know what the volume of the reservoir is on the dosator? Can't see it on the spec.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

Rather than mix your own and take a gamble you could just use Dennerle V30


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

I think the issue is going to be if this thing doesn't hold a lot of water maybe 10ml will be getting a months worth of the salts to dissolve into such a small amount of water. According to the bumpf their V30 is 30x more concentrated than normal ferts.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

Having said that, I don't think the V30 contains N and P, just been looking there out of curiosity as I am away a lot so would be a handy device. However, in the case of kno3 the solubility you can only dissolve 3.6 gram in 10ml of water and that would only give you 0.36ppm per day for 30 days in a 200 ltr tank and that's without any P.

Maybe the dosator can hold more ferts though. Looking at the length of the main body of it it's hard to gauge how much fert it can hold. Ideally though if it could hold 25ml or upwards you could probably get it to dose 1ppm per day for a month which should be adequate if the lighting is turned down or use multiple ones.


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

Is it not that you put 'undilute' fertiliser in it, and as water moves in it forces the ferts out the top? 

I'm more thinking that over the 30 days the concentration of the fertiliser being dosed gets progressively less. But maybe I'm missing something!


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

Kezzab said:


> I'm more thinking that over the 30 days the concentration of the fertiliser being dosed gets progressively less. But maybe I'm missing something!



Yeah I think that's it. Water from the tank enters the module and the fertiliser is then pushed out of the top. No doubt if you have water and ferts in the chamber over time they will mix and the contents will be watered down a touch. I'm guessing that over a period of 30 days everything that was in there will now be in the tank but I can't see that being exact science. Don't know how "super concentrated" Dennerle's stuff is and I'm guessing they wouldn't be working to say EI values but getting to EI values in such a small volume of water would be very difficult in a tank you size, sub 100ltr you could maybe get somewhere near.

I think best option would be maybe using the unit with (if at all) combined with slow release substrate tablets. You could use Osmocote either put in gel caps or frozen in ice into the substrate which should cover you until you get back. If the tanks slowed downed enough and obviously EI is above and beyond what’s needed as long as you have some releasing in the tank it should be ok. The plants will have built up reserves and if you have plant substrate there will be some in there as well. It's a case of not pushing the plants into using all their reserves as well as adding some. If you go down the route of someone popping in to check water levels perhaps premix some salts in a container and ask them to dump it in when they are checking the water level. Make a few batches up if they are visiting maybe once a week.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

And, I've just noticed you live in Carlisle, thought I'd seen that name somewhere before. If you want me to pop in I'll give the plants a trim while I'm in haha. Only joking mate but you're not that far from me.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

If I remember right, your tank has a sump. Could you not suspend a bottle above the sump with an airline in the end and adjust the drip using one of those airline valves and try and drip feed into the sump? You have 6 months or so to get the drip rate nailed down.


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

Ha, cheers!

I'm thinking maybe ill do a diy auto top up using a 20l canister and put a calculated amount of ferts into that, so ferts are added as it tops up.
Something like this:  

i guesstimate that would last about 2 weeks before needing refilled.

ill get the bodging gloves on.


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## Kezzab (4 Feb 2018)

ah, we crossed over posting. Yours is also a good plan.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

Kezzab said:


> ah, we crossed over posting. Yours is also a good plan.


Sounds good mate, I was thinking of getting a litre bottle, drilling a hole in the lid smaller than airline, pull a bit of airline through and one of those plastic airline valves. Turn the bottle upside down and see if you can adjust the drips until it lasts a month maybe. Although at wherever rate I think you'll struggle make it last a month, maybe though. Just need to work out how much ferts to put in the bottle.

Still think root tabs are best solution though.

Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk


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## steveno (4 Feb 2018)

Kezzab said:


> @steveno do you know what the volume of the reservoir is on the dosator? Can't see it on the spec.



Looks like AverageWhiteBloke answered your question. Its meant to last 4 weeks which is adequate for me, looked like a cost effective solution, was originally looking at automated dosing system, such as one of these Jebao auto dosing pump, but came across the Dosator and seems to tick all the right boxes.







 i have yet to use myself, wont need to until April, will only be away fro 2 week each time, so will set it going a week before i'm away to ensure everything is runing well. I'll will be using my Dosator with their V30 ferts along with their iron tabs. 





The DIY auto top up looks interesting, thou the Jebao auto dosing pump could also used to top up you tank, you could pick up an 3/4 pump model, each pump can be programmed individually.

As suggested only away for 2 weeks at a time so not to worried about evaporation. 

Hope you manage to find a suitable solution, Good luck.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

steveno said:


> Looks like AverageWhiteBloke answered your question. Its meant to last 4 weeks which is adequate for me, looked like a cost effective solution, was originally looking at automated dosing system, such as one of these Jebao auto dosing pump, but came across the Dosator and seems to tick all the right boxes.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Have you got one Steve? How much ferts can you put in one?

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## steveno (4 Feb 2018)

AverageWhiteBloke said:


> Have you got one Steve? How much ferts can you put in one?
> 
> Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk



I have picked one up, but as suggest have yet to use, here the instruction that come with it:






Hope you can see ok, your only need used on the amount of ferts that indicate on the Dosator for the size of your tank.





you can also use a second unit to supply tank with their S7 ferts thou this only last 7 days, as suggest will only be using with their V30 ferts and iron tabs.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

steveno said:


> I have picked one up, but as suggest have yet to use, here the instruction that come with it:
> 
> View attachment 113086
> 
> ...


So how much water in ml's would be in it at the 300ltr mark mate? It actually looks a lot bigger than I thought now I can see it in your hand.  

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## steveno (4 Feb 2018)

AverageWhiteBloke said:


> So how much water in ml's would be in it at the 300ltr mark mate? It actually looks a lot bigger than I thought now I can see it in your hand.
> 
> Sent from my STH100-2 using Tapatalk



Not much, just under 10ml.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (4 Feb 2018)

steveno said:


> Not much, just under 10ml.


Thanks for confirming that Steve. Still handy for smaller tanks though. 

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## steveno (4 Feb 2018)

Happy to assist, my newly set up tank is only 60 liters ( ADA 60P), actually less if you subtract all the hardscape, not lucky enough to have space to accommodate an larger tank. Thou you never know, one of these days.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (5 Feb 2018)

I wonder what would happen if you just put a months worth of dry salt in it and left it in the tank? The water is still going to enter it through osmosis and eventually drip it all in the tank I guess once mixed with tank water.


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## Ispookie666 (7 Feb 2018)

Why not add your fert to your top up water?  Sincr you do know how much your tank uses each week. 

If you have no problem to spend £. 
You could get two ATO units. 

The first for your sump and the second for your ATO reservoir - this adds extra level of redundancy and would prevent your ATO dumping all the water in. 

I have done this in my reef tank and has worked like a charm. 

Rerfloat is a UK based manufacturer and uses IR sensor. The other are tunze, aquamedic etc. You could also conjure one using Float valves and relay- If you are up for a bit of diy. 

Just make sure that the end of the ATO tubing is higher than your reservoir, else this would result in a siphon. If the end of the hose is way too high and you are getting splashing noise, you could add a larger diameter hose/pipe from there onwards so that it does not create siphon. 

You other option would be to get a doser and make up a stock solution  - I use a doser on mine. 

Cheap ones are Jebao. 
The other good ones are - Kamoer, aquamedic, bubble Magnus. If you are after really elite ones -GHL doser, Pacific sun kore, Apex DOS

Feeding - auto feeder. Eheim and JBL are excellent - I use them daily on my tanks and have excellent battery life. Pellets would be the way to go. 

If you want more piece of mind - invest in an aquarium controller which has web interface like - GHL Profilux 3/4, Apex, Seneye. 

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## ian_m (8 Feb 2018)

Ispookie666 said:


> If you want more piece of mind - invest in an aquarium controller which has web interface like - GHL Profilux 3/4, Apex, Seneye.


Or make your own super duper doggies danglers controller to do what ever your require (timing wise)....
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-to-use-a-plc-to-control-your-fish-tank.42993/


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## Kezzab (8 Feb 2018)

Mmm, that's a bit Tony Stark for me!


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## Ispookie666 (8 Feb 2018)

ian_m said:


> Or make your own super duper doggies danglers controller to do what ever your require (timing wise)....
> https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-to-use-a-plc-to-control-your-fish-tank.42993/


Indeed but I'd go with Profilux anyday- value for money except their powerbar, which is very expensive. 


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## ian_m (8 Feb 2018)

You could of course, just leave the tank as is.

Before I built my dosing pumps and tank controller, I had previously left the tank for over 3 weeks no issues.

- Turn lighting (and CO2) period down to say 4 hours. Start this weeks before tank is going to be left.
- Peform large water change and tank vaccum as near as possible to when going to be left, my case is usually weekend before going away.
- Use a timer based fish feeder feed fish whilst you are away. Fish can survive a long weekend without feeding, but not a week or more.
- I dumped a large macro dose of fertz before going away.

When back, water change and vaccum as soon as possible, resume dosing and start increasing light level back to "normal".


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## Kezzab (8 Feb 2018)

Evaporation is main issue. It loses 3 ltr a day approx. If i can sort out a top up, then tone down light etc, should be ok.


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## ian_m (8 Feb 2018)

Kezzab said:


> Evaporation is main issue. It loses 3 ltr a day approx. If i can sort out a top up, then tone down light etc, should be ok.


 Couple of solutions spring to mind...

1. Inverted filled bottle of water "dangling" in tank (or sump). As water level falls water comes out of the bottle keeping level constant.
2. Auto level and fill float valve, in sump or tank. Technically more challenging with great potential for flooding if done wrong.
3. Cover tank temporarily with clear cover. Made from thick enough acrylic sheet will be fine. Needs to be on clips, below tank rim level so condensation drips drop back in tank. Also any reduction in light level will be fine and useful if tank is to be left unattended. Search internet, 6mm x 400mm x 400mm sheet for £8 odd. Couple of sheets that size will be fine. Do same for the sump.


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## AverageWhiteBloke (8 Feb 2018)

ian_m said:


> Before I built my dosing pumps and tank controller, I had previously left the tank for over 3 weeks no issues.



Yeah I'll agree with that, I left my tank for six weeks totally knocked off from the power (Long story) it was in summer so was getting some light from a window and the weather was warm. Came back to no fish losses and the plants hadn't suffered at all really. The upside was because I had Amanos and Ottos in there the tank was virtually Algae free. A combination of gradually turning the light period down over a few months, a good few WC's the week before you go and a decent EI style dose combined with some slow release root tabs I reckon your tank won't even know for the first 2 or 3 weeks that you're not even there.

If you brim the tank with water before you leave and leave some prepared water you could ask you Air BNB guests just to pour some of that in if water gets down to a certain level, maybe put a bit of tape on the glass so they know when. They might only have to do it once.


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## Kezzab (11 Feb 2018)

Thanks for all the suggestions folks!


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