Vacation advice for filter

[jaguargod]

I have been lurking here for a while reading articles, and just recently joined. I guess before I ask my question, I'll give you some info about my setup. I have a 29-gallon tank with medium river rock gravel. 50-gallon rated HOB filter and a power head for bubble aeration. I have three plants (not sure of the types), and various other artificial decorations. My tank is fully cycled using the fishless method. Zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and nitrates have remained between 10-40 ppm. My pH hovers around 7.4-7.6. My stocking is as follows:

6 long fin white skirt blushing tetras
3 silver dollars
2 honey dwarf gouramis
2 golden killiefish
2 peppered corys
2 emerald green corys

Now to my question. I am going on vacation for 7 days and I am looking for some advice. I think I have very good filtration, but I am afraid of what could happen if I have a power failure. My power head will come back on, but my HOB filter may or may not start back up and I don't want my bio-filter to die off. Can I put my cycled filter media in the aquarium, and just put some new filter media in the filter while I am gone? I thought that maybe if the power goes out the bacteria will have much more oxygen in the aquarium, and if the HOB doesn't kick back on, they can hopefully survive off of the aeration provided by the power head for a few days. I don't frequently have power outages, I'm just trying to think ahead.

Also, I don't have anyone who can check in on the aquarium, so my options are a feeding block or a battery operated feeder for dispensing flake food twice per day. Any preferences of the two, or a combination of both? Thank you in advance for any assistance.

 

[Cynic]

If you have a power failure you'll be fine unless it goes for several days or your accessories don't restart.

 

[azmodan]

Unless you have fry in the tank I wouldn't worry about feeding them as they should be fine for a week no problem.

 

[jaguargod]

Thank you for your reponses.

@ Cynic - that is what I am worried about. If the media is in the filter and there is a power failure, there will only be a couple cups of water to sustain them. I have never had a power failure that went longer than a few hours. The thing that worries me is that I know from experience that the impeller in the filter sometimes does not start spinning when power comes back on. I know that the power head will restart, and there would be 30 gallons of oxygenated water to sustain the bacteria in the meantime. I am guessing that there are bacteria on the aquarium decorations and gravel, so a filter die-off wouldn't be completely catastrophic, but I'm thinking the filter contains the highest concentration of bacteria.

 

[ArtistGardener]

I've had that happen with my HOB filters, too, that the impeller sometimes sticks (even when clean--go figure). I agree with azmodan that you should just skip the feeding--they should be fine. As a compromise on your idea of switching out the filter media and putting it in the tank, you could cut your sponge in half and put half in the tank and replace the other half with new so that you have BB in both places. I often take a piece of filter floss out of a HOB and throw it in a small tank or bucket when I need to isolate a sick fish for treatment and my quarantine tank is already in use for new arrivals-it works like a charm.

Also do a really big water change a day before you leave to get those nitrates down.

On a side note, are those silver dollars fairly young yet? You may have to upgrade soon or find them a new home.

Good luck and have a great vacation.

 

[jaguargod]

Thanks for the idea! Yes, I tried to do a lot of research on cycling and fish, but my wife liked the silver dollars and later I realized that they could get quite large. I have been considering upgrading my tank, and maybe using the current one for some rams or apistos. I'll probably go with 55 gallon or maybe a little larger if I upgrade. To answer your question, yes they are small now. About 2-2 1/2 inches long. Extremely shy fish. The rest of them hardly blink when I approach the tank, but the SDs run like cowards. They are slowly starting to get better now.

 

[tnfinfan]

Battery backup surge protector. Available at various online retailers and office supply stores.

 

[jaguargod]

Battery backup surge protector. Available at various online retailers and office supply stores.

Yeah, I may try this. I found one that costs $81 shipped from Amazon and it says it could power an HDTV for about 90 minutes. I assume the power draw from the filter (and maybe heater) would be less than a TV.

 

[BBradbury]

Hello jag...

You don't have to jump through a lot of hoops as far as your tank is concerned if you're only going to be gone a week. Fish can easily go a couple of weeks without food. You just feed them a little more often a week or so before you leave. A day prior to leaving, do a larger than normal water change. The fish live off their small fat reserve and you come home to a clean tank.

The bacteria won't die if in the remote chance the filter shuts off. The media just has to stay moist and the bacteria will be fine. The HOB filter will be fine too as long as there's water in the reservoir.

Don't fret. I've left my tanks alone for a couple of weeks at a time and they've been fine.

B

 

[jwh0818]

Dang I was late here!!! If you want a filter that WILL restart in a power outage, go pick up an Aqueon Quietflow filter. They restart every single time.