# Slow release/dissolving food blocks any good?



## LancsRick (29 Mar 2013)

Later in the year I'm going to be having a holiday for about 5 days, and I was wondering how to deal with the two tanks I have with livestock in.

One is a community tank, including shrimp and Oto's. The other is mainly a shrimp tank with a few Oto's in.

I was wondering about those dissolving holiday food blocks you can get, but I didn't know if all the fauna would eat that, and also what impact they'd have on a planted tank. Any suggestions welcome please! (Getting someone to come and look after them isn't a particularly easy option).


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## Tim Harrison (29 Mar 2013)

They are ok, and for all critters...well nothing starved to death whilst I was away. There is a bit of an art involved in positioning them so they dissolve at the required rate...in the path of a flow not too strong or too weak. 

I've used them a few times but the first time I placed the block directly on to the substrate. In my case that was not necessarily a good idea, I got a point BG algae bloom a few days later where the block had been.

It was easily remedied though, I just hoovered up the contaminated substrate - BG colony an' all - and replaced with a thicker layer...gone never to return.


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## tim (29 Mar 2013)

I've been away for a long weekend (4 days) and not fed my livestock they have all been alive and well and no water quality issues on my return.


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## BigTom (29 Mar 2013)

I wouldn't bother with them, horrible messy things. Your fish and shrimp will be fine without food for 5 days.


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## Tim Harrison (29 Mar 2013)

Overall I tend to agree with Tom and Tim, they aren't really necessary for short breaks. Similarly, though, I've known people to leave their tanks unfed for a 2 week vacation without any ill effects, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that myself.

Blocks can be messy but that's where the art of flow positioning comes in, so that supply meets demand.


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## Ed Seeley (29 Mar 2013)

Complete waste of time and money.  If well fed for the rest of the year then fish can go for up to 3 weeks without food.  If you really want to feed them then get an automatic feeder and set that up with food in - much better investment and you can control when and what is fed.


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## LancsRick (29 Mar 2013)

Thanks for all the advice guys . As you've probably guessed I just didn't want the critters going hungry, so if that's not an issue then I'll save the faff!


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## Claire (19 Apr 2013)

The other thing to bear in mind with the dissolving blocks is that they can cause changes in ph. That shouldn't cause a problem with most fish but something to be aware of.
I personally don't use them though - feed up before you go and they'll be fine. Or use an automatic feeder with pellets or flake inside.


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## IanD (19 Apr 2013)

I always use an auto feeder when on holiday, my last holiday was four weeks so needed something reliable to last that amount of time.

There are some cheap (less that £10) chinese made auto feeders out there that are great value for money, a bit fiddly to set up though and definitely worth doing a practice run on beforehand to make sure the delivery amount is correct.

One thing to be wary of is moisture getting into the feeder, this can clump up the food and block delivery. This happened to me once and I suspect it was caused by greedy rainbow fish splashing water as they feed below.


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## fish fodder (20 Apr 2013)

Don't bother.


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