Holiday Advice

[Themuleous]

Hey all

Im going away for about to weeks starting next week and wondering what is best to do with my EI nano? Feeding is sorted but I don't want to leave my sister to dose ferts while I'm away (she'd probably draw the line at that anyway!)

I was thinking of reducing the lighting by half and leaving everything else the same? Hopefully that'll reduce plant growth and therefore nutrient demand and also stop the algae getting a foot hold while I'm away?

Any thoughts people?

Cheers

Sam

 

[Waterloo Kid]

That's probably the sort of thing I'd do. I would aim at reducing the lighting/CO2 levels to a point whereby the plants efectively go into a sort of stasis. Almost like pressing the pause button. I'm not sure that leaving the CO2 going would be a good idea (is your water soft?), well not at current levels. If the tank is in a well lit room is there any chance of just leaving the lights off completely every other day (obviously on a timeer if you have one that does days)?

I think you're going to have a bit of trouble, what with it being such a small tank but nothing you wont be able to deal with on your return.

Good luck with it and don't worry too much about it. Enjoy your holiday.

WK

 

[Themuleous]

Good luck with it and don't worry too much about it. Enjoy your holiday.

cheers, will do!

 

[ChrisP]

Thats probably what I would do too, just dont do what I did and leave the timer on constant while your away.

If you wanted to Ei you could always just dump your daily doses in seperate film canisters or something and just get her to tip them in once a day. That would still leave a waterchange though.

 

[-=Joel=-]

Reason why im staying away from the EI way of doing fertz is due to this ....

I dont know if it would work but I though about maybe having a auto feeder to dose the fertz but mixing them wouldn't work to well

Joel

 

[craynerd]

Sam, IMO i think you are right about reducing the light, but is there any logical reason to reduce the CO2?
I mean i presume you use the 30ppm rule, so if i was you i would hold that constant, reduce light and reduce ferts.

Chris

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh I was going to keep it at its current level and reduce the lighting, ferts will be reduce cos my sister wont dose each day like me so have no other choice!

Sam

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Am I missing something here? If you keep injecting CO2 at the current rate yet reduce lighting wont the plants use less CO2 and so you'd have a buildup of CO2. I suppose the tank will vent more CO2 as a result so maybe the level will stay similar.

WK

 

[George Farmer]

I would half light and reduce photoperiod to 8 hours. If your CO2 is on a solenoid then I wouldn't change it. If 24/7 then reduce bubble rate by 2/3 or so, obviously the plants' consumption of CO2 is reduced with less light so a build-up may be a potential problem.

Have a nice holiday!

 

[Themuleous]

Was going to leave the CO2 the same, could a decrease not create an imbalance and allow the algae in?

Will do, cant wait!