Going on vacation

[Jaybird]

I'm going on vacation for two weeks. How worried about nitrate should I be? I've got all the food put into baggies for the family that will be coming to feed the fish every couple of days.

Normally I do 50% PWCs every week, but now I will miss two. I just finished the changes for this week, and tested the water. Ammonia and nitrite were zeros as normal, and nitrate was about 15ppm. It should be fine for two weeks, no?

 

[justrelax]

it should be fine. i would cut your normal feeding schedule in at least half and make sure the people feeding are very clear on how much to feed each time. sounds like you have the portions ready for them?

 

[Jaybird]

yeah, I put a mix of three types of food in small sandwich bags. They will come by every three days and just open a package and pour it in.

 

[src]

Good. Now hide the rest of your food, so they don't "take pity on the poor starving fish".

 

[Stretch]

A water change isn't that complicated to do, can you teach someone else how to do it so that it will be done once while you're gone?

 

[Jaybird]

The water change is a lot more complicated to ask someone who doesn't have an aquarium to do.

src, good point on hiding the food.

 

[Stretch]

Just take predermined amount of water out, add new water in, add conditioner. What else?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It is difficult for someone who is not used to doing water changes. They could suck out a fish, spill water all over the floor, not remember to add the dechlor, not add the proper temp of water, etc. As mentioned, cut the feedings in half and do a large water change before leaving. Then when you get back to another large change. I wouldn't let anyone else do a water change on our tank while we are gone. It's too iffy.

 

[Stretch]

I guess you're right. I just vacuum the substrate and then let the Python sit in the tank and lower the water level. I never do pay attention to see if any neons drift too close to the intake.

I'm guilty of forgetting the dechlor once, I was in a hurry.

 

[Jaybird]

I've sucked a fish into the pyton once. My girlfriend still doesn't let me live it down. The feedings I have should be fine for them. Besides, there are still some convict fry in my tank and it looks like they will spawn again soon. If the others get too hungry....well, mom and dad convict better be fast

 

[JRagg]

If you're going to be gone for 2 weeks, then you're really only missing 1 PWC. Just do one right before you leave, and another as soon as you get back. Nothing to worry about. As long as those watching your fish don't feed more than what you tell them to, you'll be totally fine.

 

[Jaybird]

Cool. Thanks guys. This is the first time that we both will go on vacation and leave the fish behind. The last time I left I came back to about 60-80 tiny baby convicts. About 5-10 are left. Who knows what I'll come back to this time. The jewels are behaving oddly...........?

 

[SCFatz]

sounds like a solid plan to me.

One thing to consider is the temp in the house.I lost most of my population in a tank I was heat treating for ich when I left for four days.
The problem was I turned the the AC off without even considering the tank....not my proudest moment.

As hot as its been I thought I'd mention it...even w/o heat treatment it may get hot enough to cause problems.

 

[Stretch]

Will there be much water lost over a two week period due to evaporation?

 

[Burks]

Will there be much water lost over a two week period due to evaporation?

If you cut your lighting period down a bit that will help prevent evaporation.

I left my tank for a week and noticed a one inch drop in water level with 6 hours of lighting each day. That was with 80+ degree apartment temps too. It helped a lot.

 

[maxwell1295]

Just have them fed every other day to avoid overfeeding. Evaperation shouldn't be too much of a problem unless you have a planted tank with CO2 and HOBs (splashing could gas off your CO2).

The most important thing this time of the year is to make sure the room with the tank stays cool, particularly during the daytime hours.