Holiday Filter And Food Advice

[joseykin]

Hi,

I have a 240lt commuitity tank and im about to go on holiday for 4 weeks, i have a couple of questions i need help with, with going away for 4 weeks would adding say 100g of zeolite to the usual 150g of carbon in my fluval 306 external filter be a good idea due to no water change for 4 weeks to remove excess ammonia and once more when i return? If so are the quantitiys about right? Also i would like some advice on the best food to use in an auto feeder, the flake food either dispences in different qtys each time or in some auto feeders the flakes can get slightly damp after a few weeks

 

[DrRob]

To start simply, no adding zeolite is more likely to crash your filter than to solve a problem. It'll remove the ammonia, starve the biofilter of food so it'll die back a bit and then run out, letting the ammonia run back up with a poorly biofilter trying to cope with it, so please don't do that.
 
The ammonia will build up far more slowly if feeding is reduced, so being away for a few days will help considerably with that element of things. If you have someone you can trust to drop a measured amount of food into the tank a few times while you're away that's the best approach (although only give them enough portioned food for a small feed each time, people tend to think that they're doing the fish a favour by giving them plenty to eat, so I hide the food pots if I'm going away and leave marked portions for the fish sitters).
 
Otherwise yes, flake is good in autofeeders, and some of the pellet food can be good. Personally I've never truly trusted them, and have always managed to get someone to come in at least once a week.

 

[Zante]

I have tried the sera autofeeder, and I think it's excellent. Much better than a more expensive chinese one I bought a couple of years ago.
 
I am testing it now on the long run for my reef, I have a butterfly that I want to keep well fed and some anthias that need food frequently and I will be away for 10 days at christmas.
 
In the last three weeks I have had no problems whatsoever. It also has a little nozzle where you can connect an air pump to keep the granules dry.
 
It won't work well at all with flake, but it's just fine with granules.

 

[Fishmanic]

I use the daily double fish feeder--it feeds every twelve hours---I leave it on as my main feeder all the time---I just check it occasionally to make sure it's dispensing properly and is not close to empty.   I have used this same feeder over the course of several years and it still works great.   The trick with these feeders is to break up the large flakes into much smaller bits  and add a bit of pellet food to aid in dispensing as the pellets have more density and will help the flakes fall due to gravity.   To keep the food dry, the trick is to mount the dispenser a few inches above the top of the aquarium.  You could use wood blocks as spacers or what I do is mount it on the top of the light fixture which has a flat top surface.   Make sure there is a big enough opening in your hood cover as the food does not always dispense when opening is at its lowest point but can dispense on its way down or on its way back up   
 
The eheim feeder seems to be a good feeder too but if the opening is set too small it could clog and if opening is set too wide, it could send out too much food.    I find the daily double is more reliable than the eheim at smaller settings.

 

[Zante]

On the sera feeder you can program any time you want. It has a wheel that rotates once a day. Each feeder comes with six pins that you can put on the wheel. There is a trigger at the top of the wheel and when a pin pushes the trigger the food is dispensed.

 

[Fishmanic]

can you feed flake food in the Sera Feeder if you break it up into small pieces?
 
in my daily double feeder, I mix fine flake with cichlid mini-pellets and some freeze dried blood worms

 

[Zante]

can you feed flake food in the Sera Feeder if you break it up into small pieces?
 
in my daily double feeder, I mix fine flake with cichlid mini-pellets and some freeze dried blood worms

 
I never tried. Problem is both my larger tanks have a sump, and any floating food falls through the weir fairly quickly. That is why I only use granules, and sinking ones, in my autofeeder.

 

[DrRob]

Floating plants solve that, but you have to watch them for messing up the weir.

 

[Zante]

One of them is a reef, so no floating plants there. In fact with denser water due to the salt I also have a bit of problems with the sinking granules which don't sink so well.
 
The other is a discus tank, and floating plants have a habit of melting. I do have a lotus that is doing quite well, and in fact I am thinking of getting an autofeeder for that tank too, but my discus don't sem to like flake, but they will graze on the granules once they've sunk.

 

[joseykin]

Hi, thanks to all for replys, great advice on zeolite and like the idea of breaking up the flake food and adding some pellets to keep the flakes separate, i have now bought two fishmate feeders which will dispence a measured seprate feed upto 4 times a day ( or once a day for me as im on my hols for 4weeks)

 

[Fishmanic]

you might read the reviews on Amazon for some pointers
 
http/www.amazon.com/Fish-Mate-F14-Aquarium-Feeder/product-reviews/B000YK5W18/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

 

[Maehlice]

For food, I use a modified EHEIM autofeeder.  Instead of the provided food bucket, I have three plastic containers (Aqueon shrimp pellet containers) glued with silicone one on top of the other.  Each holds a different type of food and has a hole cut out specifically for that food.
 
The first container's lid has been cut open to accept the male fitting of the autofeeder.  The first feeder gets air from the unit, so I put my flake food in there.  Also, the holes face straight up when at rest, so I've never had any trouble with food getting damp.
 
It isn't a perfect science, but I've managed to size the holes well enough to give (on average) the right amount of food.  The motor is pretty strong, so I could probably add two or three more containers of food, if necessary.
 
Check out a picture of it here.
 
 
As for the water change, if you trust gravity and your engineering, set up two buckets to add/remove water while you're gone.  Buy an irrigation dripper and some 1/4" tubing.  One drip siphons water in while the other drip siphons water out.  I've done this with 5g buckets and with 18 gallon tubs, but I imagine you could do the same with a 35 or 55 gallon drum, also.
 
Alternatively, you could also build/buy a cheap overflow in lieu of the water-out siphon.
 
EDIT (warning):  Obviously, if something fails, you can have a huge mess on your hands.  Protect the input of the "water-out" siphon so it doesn't clog.  Also, plastic drop cloths make a good failsafe when duct taped around the aquarium like a skirt.  It won't stop the water, but it will direct possible overflow to a preferred location should the water-out siphon fail.
 
 
No matter what you do, have somebody check on the fish while you're gone.  Our vet doesn't service fish but [for a price, of course] will check on aquariums and take basic actions.  I've also paid a friend as well as a babysitter to spot check things for me while I'm away.
 
 
Good luck.