Vacation Time...

[fishwatcher]

How long can you leave your tank with no lights/food? I am going away for 4-5 days and am a little worried. I am thinking I could leave the lights off for the first 2 days, then have someone come in and feed them/turn the lights on. The only problem is that I'd be gone for 2-3 more days so the lights would be on that long. Would it be better to just leave them off?
Thanks!

 

[Dark Wolf]

Fish can go quite easily without food for that long, so i wouldn't worry too much about having to feed them.

Regarding the light, do you have lots of live plants in your tank?

 

[l.michelle]

If yuo have no live plants and if the tank can get natual light (sunlight) then leave the lights off, they will get their light from the window and won't get stressed with having a light on them 24 hours

 

[fishwatcher]

2 tanks are heavily planted, one plant not much at all (shellie tank), one is marine. The marine and one planted tank can get light if I leave the curtains open on the sliding glass doors near them, though then someone could see all in my house and realize no one is there. The other planted tank can get a little sun through a window if I leave that blind up. I'd rather the plants get stressed than the fish, so whichever would be best for the fish is what I'd rather do.
Thanks!

 

[Dark Wolf]

Well leaving the light on constantly for 5 days, would probably stress the fish out, seems as though it wouldn't get any darkness to rest.

 

[Matty P]

Would it be worth buying a timer?

 

[fishwatcher]

Probably not for all 5 tanks... could get a bit expensive.
I think I'll just leave the curtains opened a bit and wish for the best. The plants are all swords, java ferns, italian vals and onions. If any die then I'll just have to replace them. Better them than the fish.

 

[Behold]

Timers are SOO cheap in the UK i paid about 5-6 quid and its suitable for fluorecent lights. are they that costly over there?

 

[fishwatcher]

The only ones I've looked at are at PetSmart and they are not really cheap, to MY wallet, anyway.

 

[Teelie]

Go to WalMart. They sell them for about $3.50-4.00 each. I have them on six of my seven aquariums, including two on a double light strip. Look for them in the lighting section.

 

[fishwatcher]

Really? Cool then... hopefully I can get there before we leave Friday morning. Thanks!!!

 

[**sarahp**]

Timers are SOO cheap in the UK i paid about 5-6 quid and its suitable for fluorecent lights. are they that costly over there?

hiya

which one did you get and (dumb question time ) how do you fit it and how does it work I think one of those would be good for me but I cant get my head round how it works

 

[Dark Wolf]

I can't be a 100% certain but i would imagine, they are just a timer, that you place into your wall socket, and then plug the plug into the timer. Usually fromt he ones i see, they tend to have 24 numbers on the top, with an arrow, and gradually it goes through the numbers as the hours go along. then usually there are little plastic bits that you place on, or push down, between the time that you want the timer to turn on.

I've made it sound complicated, but really they are one of the simplest things ever.

 

[**sarahp**]

I can't be a 100% certain but i would imagine, they are just a timer, that you place into your wall socket, and then plug the plug into the timer. Usually fromt he ones i see, they tend to have 24 numbers on the top, with an arrow, and gradually it goes through the numbers as the hours go along. then usually there are little plastic bits that you place on, or push down, between the time that you want the timer to turn on.

Oh - you mean literally like a timer for a desk lamp or something - I thought I was looking for something fish specific

I've made it sound complicated, but really they are one of the simplest things ever.

Depends how blonde you are obviously

 

[Dark Wolf]

Depends how blonde you are obviously

lol, true.

Like i say i'm not 100%, they may be talking about a fish specific one, but i can't see why a normal plug timer can't just as adequate a job.