Worried About My Aquarium Whilst Im Away Help Me... Please?

[Sammy1911]

As the title says, im going away for 12days. im leaving behind my planted tank which i dose 10ml liquid carbon and 5ml profito daily, my lights are on 6hrs a day. my neighbour will be feeding my cats but knows nothing about fish tanks and i suspect she may neglect it.... what do you guys do when you go on holiday and is there anything i can do in preparation? i go away 1 week tomorrow, nervous much?! hell yeah!!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Drop lighting to 4 hours and see if you can drop the power of it too, maybe even have them come on 2 hours, go off 2 hours and come on another 2 hours later. The biggy is seeing if you can maybe loose a bulb to half the power too.

 

[Sammy1911]

I can change the timings to what youve said no problem but i dont think i can reduce my bulb to half power - would it be worth disconnecting one of them instead?
Thanks!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

That might work, some if you take out one bulb stops the other from working tho.

 

[Sammy1911]

Good point, will have to give that a test run!

 

[BerryAttack]

i have one of those timers for the light that i'll put on and then get the one week feeder thing for the fish and before i go i just dose the tank with some more plant food than usual (not extreme like the whole bottle) the plants should be fine until you come back and then just continue your cycle of CO3 and etc.

 

[This Old Spouse]

BerryAttack, what "one week feeder thing" are you talking about? 
 
I've left my fish for up to a week with no lights or food. They're always fine when I get back with no losses. They're just very happy to see me ...
 
If someone is coming in to feed your cats, couldn't they feed the fish every few days for you too? I'd worry about every day because most people overfeed fish if they're not used to it, but I'd think even twice a week would be fine. And with your lights off you wouldn't have to worry about dosing ferts.

 

[Sammy1911]

Some good ideas there, thanks. I was worried about my neighbour overfeeding too, i have two tanks but only one i dose, the other only has a pair of gbrs so i was going to say for my neighbour to feed them every other day but maybe twice a week would be best - i dread to think how much she would end up pouring in... i know i sound ungrateful my neighbour has been kind enough to look after my house andall i can think is that she will destroy my tanks and kill my fish.

Right, so change my timer for the lights to come on twice a day for two hours, dose ferts before i go probably equivelant to one weeks worth cut the co2 and ask for them to be fed twice a week. im feeling a bit better now i have a plan, thanks for the help guys!!

 

[This Old Spouse]

You might want to invite your neighbor over before you leave to show her what a "pinch" of fish food looks like. I swear that people think a good spoonful a few times a day is great. 

 

[BerryAttack]

sorry for the late reply, but one of these 
 
http/www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2753990&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInCA%2FNo
 
for the seven day feeder... works for my fish, just do a water change when you get back though because there might be left overs and just wanna clean up.