What's the general consensus when going on vacation?

I would suggest timers. Timers for lights. Timers for the co2. From what I've read it seems to be what people do when they leave for more than a couple days.

Then again, I'm a nooby. I may have no idea what I'm talking about!

hellomyradio said:

I would suggest timers. Timers for lights. Timers for the co2. From what I've read it seems to be what people do when they leave for more than a couple days.

Then again, I'm a nooby. I may have no idea what I'm talking about!

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Yup, got all that already, just wondering on my ferts since I do daily dry dosing

I usually shorten the photo period to about 75% and don't worry about the ferts.

you could set up auto dosers for the ferts.

What is an auto doser? How does it work? Where do you get them. sorry to highjack this thread but I also have questions about vacation.

i would just turn off the lights and co2. your plants shold be fine unless you have some real finecky ones

there are different types that people use. there are ones that are pumps that will inject liquid solution and there are auto feeders (for fish food) that you could use

If you're only gone a week, I would just cut back the lights and CO2 as suggested by houstonhobby and not worry about it. Plants store carbohydrates all over the place in case they have an emergency and need to find reserves. Also, if the tank is well established, there may be some minor amount of ferts in the substrate. I disappeared for 2 weeks on vacation and cut everything back. When I got home, I still had a jungle that needed a major trim even without daily ferts.

if you turn it all off it will pause the whole growth cycle and everything. leaving no chance for any problems of any kind with ferts, co2, lights. when you get back it will be just like when you left

I always would turn the lights and co2 off.

I'm scared about turning off the lights for a week. I had a friend do that and he said all his blyxa melted away and never grew back

Can you dim any of your lighting?

Yeah I can run only one T5HO bulb, or even use some window screen over the fixture. Fixture is about 8" off the tank right now...

I've left for a week and found stunted growth when I came back. I never thought of reducing CO2 and light during my absence. That's likely due to the fact that I am stupid.

jcardona1 said:

I'm scared about turning off the lights for a week. I had a friend do that and he said all his blyxa melted away and never grew back

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blyxa can easily survive a 3 day trip in a box, it can easily survive a week in nutrient rich water for a week without light

I've done many vacations with high tech tanks. for a weeks time, I'd leave everything as is. At most I'd reduce the light cycle. I'd leave the co2 running unless you are truly scared about something going wrong and it dumping into the tank. I wouldn't turn the lights off. The worse thing that has ever happened to a tank was being gone for two weeks and not realizing I'd taken the lights off the timer and they were off the entire time I was gone. Almost every plant in the tank was wiped out.

MedRed said:

I've done many vacations with high tech tanks. for a weeks time, I'd leave everything as is. At most I'd reduce the light cycle. I'd leave the co2 running unless you are truly scared about something going wrong and it dumping into the tank. I wouldn't turn the lights off. The worse thing that has ever happened to a tank was being gone for two weeks and not realizing I'd taken the lights off the timer and they were off the entire time I was gone. Almost every plant in the tank was wiped out.

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I have about 10 WPG on my 3 gallon, with co2 and plants that are all still fairly new (a month or 2 old)

I have to go away for 2 weeks, and was thinking about lifting the light (27W Archea) so that it's about a foot above the tank instead of 6 inches like it is now, and reduce the timer so it's only on for 6 hours a day. I plan to leave the Co2 on 24/7, which is how I currently run it. (have read about turning it off at night, but I don't have solenoid, and I never remember.. )

Can anyone tell me if this plan seems like it would be problematic? After reading this post, and several others, it seems that this would likely be the safest way to go.

My other tank has some CRS and RCS in it, it's only 2 gallons, 6 WPG.. Is there something I can put in there that will last 14 days so the shrimps don't starve?

Thanks!

thank search for finding this thread. I no longer feel bad about leaving my lights and co2 off when i leave from Thursday-Sunday. Thanks everyone!

I went a week without dosing my tank and everything was ok... There were mild signs of deficiencies but nothing another week wouldn't fix.