Mini Vacation

[PaulaB]

Looking for pointers (or just some reassurance)

I'm going away Thursday morning and won't be back til late Sunday. I still only have the one clown fish and one cleaner shrimp, and a small xenia. I bought an automatic feeder and have timers for the lights - there are 2 sets so I have a timer for each one in case one timer fails. Anything else I should worry about?

My biggest concern is fish. S/he only eats a tiny amount and is tank-bred so knows to come to the top of the water when s/he sees me there. I've never seen it scavenge in the sand for fallen pieces. . Anyhow, what if the fish doesn't realize food is in the tank and then it sinks to the bottom (which it did when I tested it) causing: #1 Starved fish, #2 Lots of waste to start a new cycle. Or am I stressing over nothing, cause if the fish gets hungry enough it will go down the sand to look for food? I cleaned the food up the next day so not to add to my almost-all-taken-care-of-new-tank diatom/algae problems.

I'll be going away for a much longer period in August so this will be a trial run.

 

[kabal2]

do you have a top off sistem??
i think that will be one of the biggest problems i was just in vacation for a week, put the feeder to the minimun and try to get a top off, that way will be easier, and yes when you go for a whole week your tank is a mess when you comeback but nothing you can clean and fix
just my .2c
Gabriel

 

[bozothereefer]

hey paula, i wouldnt worry too much. if your lights are timed and your feeder is working properly you should be ok as long as the clown is already eating the food you are giving it. being a fish only tank at this time you can lower your temp in the tank a few degrees and (or) put your glass tops back on for the few days to prevent too much evaporation as kabal suggested. as far as the waste goes feed the fish its normal amount and you will not have a problem. have fun on your vacation and try not to worry too much........steve 8)

 

[PaulaB]

Thank you both. I only have a 29 gallon, so i don't havy anything so fancy as a top off system, just me adding a few cups of water every other day or so -- and only because I recently took the glass top off and put the lights on a swing-away mount. I'll put the glass back on for evaporation.

Much appreciation