Tank Maintainance

[Firestarz]

Been pondering on my new tank design when suddenly this question came into my mind.

I'm planning to set up a 2ft tank with sump and skimmer, and i'm wondering wad i should do whenever i follow my family overseas (most probably for 1 week) and no one will b able to take care of the tank.

Is there anyway in which i can preserve my lifestocks for an entire week without anyone caring for it ?

Need some advice here. Thanks

[KTLK]

fishes can go without feeding for few days,furthermore they have the algae to feed on. If u want to play safe then get a auto feeder.

Another point to take note is to have a very big container & a auto top up device for water lost thru evaporation,make sure u calculate the rate of evaporation in your tank & provide enough fw during your absence

[Firestarz]

Thanks !

[Elune]

no comments on the water evaporation calculations, i ain't pro in this aspect.

But i agree fishes can go without food for couple of days (just dun drag too long ya?). In this case, get an "Auto-Feeder". You can find these at most Local Fish Shops. get those that can be set to cover a range of a week. Then auto-feed your fishes once a day. Good luck.

[Marinesavy]

It depend what live stock you have in tanks... I was on a holiday for 17 days to HK last months, came back... the brown algae were all over my tank, in my mind... i thought all fishes and coral - mushrooms had died, but surprisingly.. was ok, took me couple of hours to clean the tank, mine a 24g nano, if you have a big tank... wah.. whole day to clean it

Feeding for fish can be done once every 4 days, no problem for me.

The only thing is algae... if you have a flowr tank, than light can turn off... no boost of algae.

Get somebody to take a look... to make sure.. power, equipments (filter, pump, skimmer) work normally... if you uses fan, prepare couple of litres of water with buffer for top up. One week.. should be ok. Me 17 days, a long one.

Remember don't use those hard solid dissolve food... my brothe use that... came back for holiday, nitrate boost and fishes died because of the waste food.

Feeder is better, but need to try at least 1 month before you go to make sure ok.

[shoelevy]

i agree with getting someone to come look at your tank

i rememeber last december 2005 i went to thailand over the new yr...guess what...my tank also decided to countdown 5 4 3 2 1...pump short out!

tank went without circulation or lights for 48hrs...i lost quite abit of fishes...fortunately my corals and the hardiest of fishes survived...so seriously, get someone to come over....if i had done so my tank could probably have survived

[May&Bruce]

There are people who will look after your tank while you are away. For example one of our sponsors here, Bio Ocean (speak to Justin). I got them to look after my 5 foot reef tank while we were overseas for 2 weeks. I can highly recommend them!

[Firestarz]

Cool. Hadnt thought of the idea of getting someone to look after the tank for me.

YEa .. my future tank would b of 96G in size. Hard work cleaning up no problem, so long as fishes n corals survive is the best i can ask for.

Thanks alot guys. u hav been of great help.