Leaving Your Tank

@ombomb

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I'm going away for a couple of nights for the first time since I set up my nano.

I'll only be away for 2 nights (one full day) and the plan is to just leave the tank for the day and feed the clown fish before I leave and after I get back. I've happlity left the freshwater tank for 4 full days in the past, but not sure about the nano.

Does anyone forsee any major problems with this?
 
The fish will be fine without food for the day, i fast mine once a week on a water change day and they look fine for it.

The only thing i'd be worried about us evapouration, everyday my tank loses about 2cm of depth so when i go away i leave my mum in change of topping up :thumbs: My tank is open top though so i have alot more evapouration, just have your GF keep an eye on it :thumbs:

Dan
 
Unfortunately she's coming with me! ( :lol: )

I've added a couple of PC fans into the hood as I find the temp was starting to climb, it's a constant 79 again now but evapouration is noticable now. I suppose a top up before we leave and then another as soon as we get in is the best option.
 
Another thing i do is shorten the light cycle few hours to keep the heat down. You could knock yours back a couple of hours also?

An auto topoff would be useful for these times but i just don't have any £££'s ATM :(
 
Unless your sump is going to run dry in the time you're gone, I wouldnt worry about it.
 
Well I've put the plan to increase the lighting on the tank for now*, but could take an hour or two of the photoperiod I suppose.








*This is actually due to me getting the balast and bulbs delivered to work on a Friday, going out, getting hammered and leaving them on the train on the way home... :sad:
 
Slowly do an extra topoff if your s.g. setpoint has room to do it. Eg, if you run at 1.026, drop it slowly a few days before going away to 1.025 or 1.024. ONLY DO THIS if your tank drops rapidly from evaporation and/or if you run at 1.026, IMO, to keep it from going to 1.028 (although, it would probably be OK for such a short period). My tank was left in the hands of another family when I went away for the week..they never topped off as instructed and my tank survived. SH
 
Dude, you dont have to buy a conventional DIY top off. (Id never buy one worth that many pounds LOL) Ive seen many DIY plans, even just a powerhead, in a large tub of water, put on a mechanical timer, so it ruins for like 5mins a day or so. Have you searched for some DIY plans?

(This is something you probably wouldnt want to do while away, sorry for hi-jacking @om)
 
I would agree with steelhealr's idea. I have heard of people dropping the sg to 1.021 over a period of a week or so before going away, so that if evaporation does happen quickly (i.e. it is a hot couple of days), the sG in a nano can only reallistically rise to about 1.026 in a couple of days.

Ben
 

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