Going on vacation - no water change for 5 weeks?

Looking at your signature you have a lot of fish in the 72gal. Is there any way you could teach your friend how to do a water change while your away? 5 weeks with that bio load and daily feeding it would be a miracle if they survived. If you could set the auto feeder to only feed on every 3rd day or so and have your friend do a small water change every week you would probably be ok.

Gimme the keys I'll watch your fish for ya. :joke:

It would be best to have your friend do at least one or two water changes over those 5 weeks....as well as filter maintenance at least once if you are using a HOB powerfilter....it is possible that you might, with light feeding, get away with the 5 weeks with no water-changes, but I would not suggest it.....and your friend should be versed in at least the water-chnage and filter maintenance protocols just in case things in your tank go south after 3-4 weeks.

I don't know how everyone feels about Amquel Plus. It is a chemical additive that will remove or neutralize ammonia, nitrite, and chloramines (up to a certain concentration). I'm not sure how it works, but it seems to be a simple salt, so probably not too bad for your fish. It doesn't look like you have live plants, so you won't be robbing them of nutrients.

I would suggest the less frequent feedings, too. Even when I'm home, I sometimes do only 3-4 feedings a week. I've been able to get by for a month without cleanings (shamefully). The tank doesn't look pretty, but everyone survived. I don't use Amquel myself because I have plants that get rid of nitrogenous waste for me.

It's probably a good idea to teach your friend to do a water change, but I'm so picky about that stuff myself, that I barely even let my boyfriend do it. So I know how you feel, if you just don't trust anyone else.

I don't believe it is the ammonia we need to be worried about. I would be more concerned with the nitrates building up. Amquel works by changing the form of the ammonia into one that will not harm the fish. It is still able to be eaten and changed into nitrites and then nitrates which will harm the fish if at a high enough level.

I would have your friend do water changes. It doesn't have to be much, just a couple gallons a week. To make it easy for your friend leave out some empty and well rinsed gallon milk jugs this way it is easy for them to know just how much they have taken out or added. Plus they are easy to carry.

Amquel Plus (new and improved over the original formula, I guess) says it removes nitrites and nitrates as well as ammonia. A standard dose of 1 tsp per 10 gal will remove at least 1.2 ppm of ammonia, 2 ppm nitrite, and 13 ppm nitrate.

Admittedly, I have a small bottle of the stuff but never use it myself. So I'm not totally advocating it. Just thought it might be useful in this situation or other "emergency".

The quick and dirty water change idea sounds good. Just remove some water and add prepared water, right? Certainly much easier than vacuuming gravel and scrubbing decorations. I would even trust my boyfriend to do this one

I use amquell and have had no problems but i think everyone is missing the big point here ...
How in the hell do you get a five week vacation ?

PURIGEN!
I have used this product in my filter boxes with fantastic results. It removes/absorbs all the stuff which eventually turns into nitrates... I used it when I went on vacation in a fry tank actually, and when I came home, nitrates were still 5. I have some in all my tanks and it hasn't effected the bio-filter in any of them. The stuff is just great for times when you can't be around for water changes. There is one thing to be cautious of however, you mustn't use in with amine based slime coat products... info about this stuff is available through the Seachem website.
Cathy

Leave your friend with a few bottles of distilled or RO water to top the tank off and your fish will be fine. Nitrates might build up a bit during the 5 weeks but they are relatively non-toxic and should not be too much of a worry. My main concern would be kH depletion but if you have a kH higher than 5 then you should be just fine.

The reason for using RO/Distilled water to top off the tank is to prevent mineral buildup and then old tank syndrome. When you return start with 20% waterchanges and work your way up to normal waterchanges again.