I'm going away how do i prepare my tanks

[A Bauer]

MTS is very serious. I'm already suffering from it.:rolleyes:
I started a month ago with a two foot tank, i now have three tanks and am thinking of the next one. Help i'm running out of space. :idea:I think i should start looking for a bigger flat or maybe a house then i could have a fish room, but then again if i rent a house i can't afford more fish.:eek: On the serious side i'm going to Kruger for a week, now the day before i leave i'm doing a 25% water change and cleaning the filters. Testing the water also the day before.:cool: I will add the holiday food the day i leave. Is there anything i'm forgetting. Oh yes the lights, is it ok to leave them on 24/7 or should i rather get a timer.:wondering:

[speedz]

if its for one week i think your fish will be fine with all the precautions you are taking. I wouldnt recommend leaving the lights on 24/7 because of the whole algae thing

[Zafgak]

Preparations seem good - Put the lights on a timer if you can or else don't put them on at all.

[veegal]

I agree, your preparations seem to be okay and the lights should go onto a timer. Don't feed your fish too much food before you leave out of pity though - this will end up uneaten and foul the water, so stick to the same amount of food you usually feed them. If you wanted to you could invest in an automatic feeder as an alternative to the 'holiday blocks'. Most importantly though - enjoy your holiday! :D

[chas84]

On the serious side i'm going to Kruger for a week, now the day before i leave i'm doing a 25% water change and cleaning the filters. Testing the water also the day before.:cool: I will add the holiday food the day i leave. Is there anything i'm forgetting. Oh yes the lights, is it ok to leave them on 24/7 or should i rather get a timer.:wondering:

Remember not to over clean the filters with tap water - the chlorine will kill off the beneficial bacteria.

My tank's light stays on 24/7 - I must add that it's not really a very bright light though and I don't grow any natural plants in the tank.

[A Bauer]

Thanks, whats not to enjoy a whole week in KNP, i live for this.
I will leave the lights off, but will the plants be ok. I'm going to use the holiday blocks of food.
Thanks again you guys are great.

[chas84]

I think your best bet regarding the lights (because you have live plants) will be to buy a plug in timer (they're around R150 at Pick n Pays/Checkers/Hardware stores).

I got a pic off the net of one similar to the one I've used. The only downside is if there's a power failure, then the times will be a mixed up a bit, but that's not critical as the amount of hours it will switch on and off will be the same.

[A Bauer]

I've added the timer to my shopping list. Thanks

[chas84]

I'm going to use the holiday blocks of food.
I've never used the holiday blocks. Don't you have a neighbor who can pop in in the evenings to feed the fish? If your fish are in good health and condition, one good meal in the evenings for a week will be fine. Or an auto feeder is also a good alternative.

[A Bauer]

Don't have anyone to check on the fish, so i have to make do with the holiday blocks and timer. Will check out the auto feeders at LPS.

[chas84]

Cool! Just beware of poor quality fong kong items - you don't want to rely on it to work and then it bombs out, lol. A good brand is the Sera auto feeder (Or practically any German brands).

Enjoy your trip!

[Zafgak]

Your fish will suffer no ill effects even if you did not feed for the week .. The holiday blocks will be fine

[Zoom]

I agree... your fish will be fine... your plants might take a slight strain, but should recover if anything bad happens.

Be careful when buying the timers. Rather buy the more expensive timers than the cheap ones. (I.e R150.00 = very cheap and nasty!) The cheaper timers work on a principle of open-contact until the timer clicks into the close-contact point. This clicking over phase can sometimes take a few seconds, meaning the electricity arcs across the contacts.

Worse case a fire hazzard, but this is 0.1% chance. Tha main problem is that the arcing causes the electricity to trip. This means tank off, heater off, air off, filter off.... but trust me... loosing your fish is NOTHING compared to the stench you come home to after a FULL freezer of meat and fish has defrosted and gone off in your kitchen. (Yes, this happened to me once... and the blood dripped ALL OVER the kitchen, and the house stank for WEEKS!)

Rather leave lights off!

[A Bauer]

Ok Zoom now you have really scared me. Scratch timer off the list. Lights off for the week. Will be cheaper to replace the plants than the fish anyways i really don't want to come back to that kind of mess.

[Zoom]

Yeah, ever since that holiday I am very dubious of timers. A lot of people rely on them to run their tanks, but understand the principle behind how the timer works. Unless you've paid R400+ for the timer, then I really would be careful of using it. The digital ones seem to be better because they digitally have an on/off setting, rather than relyin on that small dial turning.

[chas84]

Och Zoom! I feel for you!

A Bauer: I think it will be in your best interest to consider getting a pet sitter in at least once while you're on holiday - As Zoom mentioned about the power failure, anything else can also cause the lights to go trip and someone has to check it at least once.