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Unable To Do Water Changes - Advice Needed.

Jason Blake

Jason Blake

Member
Joined
1 Sep 2014
Messages
58
Hi Guys,

I usally do my water changes on a Sunday, however I have become ill and with other medical conditions means that I am going to be unwell for about 2 weeks or so and I won't be able to complete my water changes. I swear I am not here for sympathy lol. Unfortunately there is no one around who can do the water change for me.

This is going to mean my water will not have been changed for about 3 weeks in total. So I am just wondering how to deal with this with my tank. I have no livestock if that makes any difference.

Should it be lights and CO2 off and stop EI dosing for however long it takes me to recover or just carry on dosing as the whole point of EI is the nutrients being in excess? Or should it be something else?

I appreciate your input.

Thanks.
 
Hi, I've never left mine for longer than a week, when I do as I keep crs I turn the Co2 off and the lights. You may be better reducing the light putting in some root tabs and running lowtecish until you are well,expect melt either way, but plants grow back or I'm sure people on here will help you start them off cheap again.after all it good that you are concerned about your tanks health but yours is more important so don't stress, hope your back on your feet soon with your arms in that tank.
 
If it were me i would do a big water change before your out of action
Leave lights and co2 the same, dose full ei on the first week and half doses on the second week. everything should be fine till your well enough to resume normal maintenance.
I've even left my tank 3 weeks between water changes and dosed full ei without problems.
You might want to keep the tank topped up, if your able, this will stop co2 fluctuating if the level drops below spraybars, lillys, etc
 
Sorry Andy I'm not that much of an optomist:D I allways think of the what ifs. Risk of solenoid if used sticking blah blah. If these no live stock Jason what Andy said won't be a problem should you get co2 problems. Do you have enough to last 3 weeks.?
 
kirk said:
Sorry Andy I'm not that much of an optomist:D I allways think of the what ifs. Risk of solenoid if used sticking blah blah. If these no live stock Jason what Andy said won't be a problem should you get co2 problems. Do you have enough to last 3 weeks.?
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Don't apologise Kirk thats a perfectly viable holiday plan which lots of members use with success, I would probably use it if i went away from the tank, but if i was bed bound but around i'd just keep topped up and dose less ferts
People double dose ei without problems so letting tank run a few weeks shouldn't be a problem, except for crs,cbs maybe

And jason kirks right make sure you have enough co2 left to cover your downtime. Put a full one on if your unsure of how much you have left
 
When I have been away for weeks, just wind everything down, CO2, ferts and light, job done. My high tech went for nearly 5 weeks when I when I went away on holiday for 3 weeks. Used fish feeder, dosing pumps and lights on for only 3 hours and all was fine when I got back. Plants maybe not as dark green as I wanted, but mainly no algae.
 
Jason I agree with ian-m, could be a question of slowing things down I think. George Farmer gives a answer in PFK someone being away on holiday and what to do about a high tech set up.I think the advice is to slow it to a low tech set up and in the future it can be gradually made high tech,some plants may suffer but on average they will be ok.
 
Of course slow it down over a couple of weeks before you go away or else, as I found when I went away for 2 weeks, came back to slight algae, probably due to the abrupt change in CO2 dosing. When back to water changing, speed it up slowly as well.
 
I would do as ian says but with a slight difference. I wouldnt lower CO2, but I would lower light intensity to a minimum and also photoperiod. You can also lower your ferts to a minimum. Plants mainly melt due to changes in CO2 in my experience. Specially if you lower it.

If you dont lower your co2 your plants metabolism will slow down (due to low light) but they shouldnt melt as long as they have enough CO2 and nutrients.
 
If you haven't got dosing pumps (or fish feeder), turn down CO2 and light hours and prepare portions of food and ferts for neighbour/friend to add daily. I bought loads of 30ml bottles which I was going to put daily 20ml ferts doses in (and food) and label each bottle Mon, Tue etc. So visitor would just empty the relevant day into the tank and discard empty bottle. No need to think, no need to measure anything. Actually was going to be 10ml (1/2 EI dose) as tank should be "running slowly".

In the end neighbour got "scared" about ruining tank so I built dosing pumps/
 
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