What To Do While On Hoilday

[EllieW]

Hi at the end of August im off on holiday for 2 weeks. Only ever gone away for a week so this has never been a problem before.

Basically, I cant leave my tank for 2 weeks without syphoning the substrate because it gets really mining. I normally do a water change of 25 % a week.

My mum is going to feed them for me but she can never get the hang of syphoning the water up. Tried using a syphon by hand pump and that didnt work.

I need to think of a really easy way she can clean it for me, any ideas? are the battery powered syphons any good (im guessing not)

 

[Tolak]

Have mom feed a couple of times weekly, maybe 3 times a week. Less food means less waste produced.

 

[fishnovice]

Easy quick water change - use bowl to empty water into bucket until you remove 30% of tank water. Rinse out filter sponge in bucket. Refill tank wuth clean fresh water. Not as good as a proper gravel vaccuming but will keep water quality OK for a few weeks.Do this regularly with all my tanks that don't have big plecs and only nrrd to gravel vac every 2-4 weeks to keep ammonia at zero.

 

[shroob]

Like Tolak says, just feed less often. A well balanced system should be able to go 2 weeks without a water change.

I normally suggest that if your mum isn't that confident / not that experienced in fish then you leave 'pre measured' food. By this I mean measure out the food into containers (the ones for medicine are good, that have the days on it) and instruct only to feed that amount (as often non-fishkeepers overfeed).

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

As someone is going to be there looking after the fish for you, you can actually lean out the feeding process for a week or so before you go. You can then do a good clean before you go. This way with a (for example) half rations food supply the waste produced will be a lot less, and should help keep things ticking along nicely.

I have never had a tank that required such regular substrate maintenance (with the exception of a tank i kept years ago with a pair of oscars). What are you keeping in there, and how much do you feed and how often?

 

[clareinatheballerina]

I use the medicine boxes (about £2 from boots ) when I go on holiday to put the fish food in for my mum to feed. About a week before I go away I test how much food the fish will ideally need (put in a little bit and see if they eat it all) so that I don't end up letting my mum overfeed them.

I do a big water change (depends on the size of your tank) a day or so before I go away. So far I've had no problems, the tank looks a bit messy when I get back but as long as the fish are healthy then it doesn't really matter in my opinion. Sometimes I think gravel cleaning too regularly is a bad thing, as you are getting rid of good bacteria.