2 Week Holiday... What To Do With The Tank?

[Miss Wiggle]

what would be the best way to keep the marine tank ticking over nicely for a 2 week holiday?

our next door neighbour keeps fish (bog standard overstocked community tropical tank) i'm thinking we could maybe get him in every couple of days for feeding the fish but i'm not sure if he'd cope with or if it would be fair to ask him to be running off RO for top off etc.

if we ran off a load of RO, how long would it be good for, like if we ran it before we left and he just had to add some to the tank every couple of days to keep the water level up, or would the RO be likely to go off or anything like that? If you couldn't do top off for 2 weeks how bad would it likely be when you get back? guess we'd lower the salinity as much as possible before going, reduce the lighting period (what's the least no of hrs we could have it on for?) and hope for the best!

not been away for 2 weeks for absolutley years, i'd be really worried about leaving the fish. but we're considering emigrating to canada so we need to at the very least have a good long holiday there first!!

 

[SkiFletch]

RO water if covered (to keep dust and airborne particles out) will last for months before it can accumulate anything dangerous for a tank. So just mix up a big vat of it and have him dump a little in the tank every couple days. Have a spare heater and powerhead for emergencies, lower your salinity to the 1.023 area and drop your photo period to 6 hours. Just remember to bring it up slow when you get back

 

[The-Wolf]

here is what I do, if you wish to follow the same course that is upto you.

2 weeks before departure cut feeding down to half ammount (all other matainance etc stays same)
1 week before departure cut feeding down to half ammount of days, IE if fed every day, feed every other day.
day of departure or night before if early morning departure, perform a 50% water change
ensuring the filters are cleaned and new floss is in pace.

feed as you go out the door, but only a small ammount.

on your return
the day, or day after (depending on the time you get home)
perform a 50% water change; do not feed!
day after water change feed the half ammount.
for the following week slowly increase the feeds and days you feed back upto your normal regime.

I have always done this and never lost a fish during my 2weeks away

oh dang just realised this is a salty tank
forget the above, it won't work on salty fish.
I'm guessing you'll have to get someone in

HTH

 

[BigIan]

here is what I do, if you wish to follow the same course that is upto you.

2 weeks before departure cut feeding down to half ammount (all other matainance etc stays same)
1 week before departure cut feeding down to half ammount of days, IE if fed every day, feed every other day.
day of departure or night before if early morning departure, perform a 50% water change
ensuring the filters are cleaned and new floss is in pace.

feed as you go out the door, but only a small ammount.

on your return
the day, or day after (depending on the time you get home)
perform a 50% water change; do not feed!
day after water change feed the half ammount.
for the following week slowly increase the feeds and days you feed back upto your normal regime.

I have always done this and never lost a fish during my 2weeks away

oh dang just realised this is a salty tank
forget the above, it won't work on salty fish.
I'm guessing you'll have to get someone in

HTH

he he yeah we can cope with the FW tanks, cleaning and feeding as you said, feeder rigged up on oscars tank, everyone else can deal with it. it's just for the salinity and corals and stuff we were worried over.

thanks Ski, that sounds reasonable

 

[JaminRat]

Take away the problem and rig up an auto top up system. Then he just has to drop some food in.

 

[GrantyBoy]

Is there a no one else local who keeps marines who can keep an eye on things for you?
I'd be tempted to ask your LFS if they know of anyone who does holiday cover for tanks.

Failing that get your tank as best prepared as you can and ask your neighbour to look after the fish. Give him the number of the LFS in case of emergency

 

[Miss Wiggle]

we don't know anyone else local who keeps marines

we thought if we bottle up RO in 2 litre pop bottles (obviously clean them first!!) then he's just got to put one in every 3/4 days, we'd put automatic feeders on that tank and on oscars, the rest of the trops can cope for a couple of weeks.

 

[The-Wolf]

o great and wise wiggly one (that is your new name now ),
have you asked your lfs if they will either house the fish for you
or better yet come and feed them whilst you are away.
my ex-works would do both these methods for their regular customers.
it maybe worth asking them but only if you have 100% confidence in them.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

quite happy with that name although i'm not sure how accurate it is?! lol

unfortunately our local fish store I would in no way trust to look after our fish. the lfs we use is the other side of town, the bloke who we trust the most (only one we'd be happy to give our house keys to basically) lives in york and doesn't drive so has a 2 hr bus commute just to get home from work, can't see him wanting to trek over to the other side of leeds. i don't think they'd house them either. we had a crisis when our MH broke and we couldn't get a new one for a week or so, they housed our corals temporarily but it was on the proviso that he would tell everyone not to sell them but if they did that's not his problem basically and it's a risk we had to take as they'd have died otherwise.

think it'll be ok though, you don't need to know about fish to pour all the water from a clearly labelled pop bottle into the tank every couple of days, and we can set up an autofeeder so we can just get one of the neighbours in.