Hello all,
I have a low-tech 60l tank that has been set up for 17 days. It has Salvinia Auriculata and Water Sprite covering about 2/3 of the surface, with Anubias and Java Fern attached to driftwood (I have an inert substrate). I've currently been running 6 hours of light a day, and I've been dosing half the weekly recommended dose of TNC Complete (split into two 1/4 doses on two separate days) as well as about a gram of Epsom Salts and 0.5 ml of TNC IronAT. I've been doing 50% water changes every other day.
The issue is that when my tank reaches its 28th day, I will be going away for 8 days. I will continue with my water change schedule until then - the only alteration I was considering was a big (70-80%) change the day before I go away.
My question is: do I keep my fert dosing and lighting schedule as it currently is until I go away? I've been seeing new plant growth and have some hungry floaters so I had been thinking about increasing my fert dosing, but is this a bad idea if I'll be going away, or perhaps I should do a big fert dose after the big water change the day before I go?
Any advice would be very much appreciated. I accept that my tank won't come out of this unscathed but I would like to mitigate this as far as possible, particularly as things have been going well (due in most part to advice on this forum!)
A bit more info on current plant health and algae if it is useful:
The floating plants are doing fine (the floating Water Sprite in particular has been sending out roots v quickly), and the Java Fern and Anubias have shown new growth (the Java Fern more than the Anubias). I've just noticed some brown algae spots on the leaves of the larger Anubias varieties (these larger Anubias also showed some leaf melt - the smaller varieties of Anubias seem to have settled in much more quickly). There is also a very slight amount of green algae on the front glass (which receives ambient light, albeit not direct sunlight).
I have a low-tech 60l tank that has been set up for 17 days. It has Salvinia Auriculata and Water Sprite covering about 2/3 of the surface, with Anubias and Java Fern attached to driftwood (I have an inert substrate). I've currently been running 6 hours of light a day, and I've been dosing half the weekly recommended dose of TNC Complete (split into two 1/4 doses on two separate days) as well as about a gram of Epsom Salts and 0.5 ml of TNC IronAT. I've been doing 50% water changes every other day.
The issue is that when my tank reaches its 28th day, I will be going away for 8 days. I will continue with my water change schedule until then - the only alteration I was considering was a big (70-80%) change the day before I go away.
My question is: do I keep my fert dosing and lighting schedule as it currently is until I go away? I've been seeing new plant growth and have some hungry floaters so I had been thinking about increasing my fert dosing, but is this a bad idea if I'll be going away, or perhaps I should do a big fert dose after the big water change the day before I go?
Any advice would be very much appreciated. I accept that my tank won't come out of this unscathed but I would like to mitigate this as far as possible, particularly as things have been going well (due in most part to advice on this forum!)
A bit more info on current plant health and algae if it is useful:
The floating plants are doing fine (the floating Water Sprite in particular has been sending out roots v quickly), and the Java Fern and Anubias have shown new growth (the Java Fern more than the Anubias). I've just noticed some brown algae spots on the leaves of the larger Anubias varieties (these larger Anubias also showed some leaf melt - the smaller varieties of Anubias seem to have settled in much more quickly). There is also a very slight amount of green algae on the front glass (which receives ambient light, albeit not direct sunlight).
