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Best Lighting/CO2Strategy for 20 day Vacation

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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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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