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.
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.