vacation ferts?

[mogurnda]

Like many, we are leaving home for about 10 days at the end of the month. I have a 25 gallon tall with 68 watts of PC lighting, pressurized CO2, fertilize with flourish, KCl and a dash of PO4 three times a week (there's usually enough NO3 from heavy feeding), and do weekly 40% water changes. The plants are doing quite nicely (rotala indica, giant hygro, crypt wendtii&willisii, italian val, apon ulvaceous, dwarf lotus).

Any ideas about how to keep nutrient levels up while I'm gone? Should I just turn off the 55W lamp and the CO2, and let them sit under 13 watts until I get back?

 

[Starry]

You might want to unhook the CO2 if you suspect it might go nuts while you're not watching it, depending on how dependable your system is. I'm assuming you have the lights on a timer? In that case, I don't think you need to do anything special. Just don't prune/uproot very heavily, you might end up with green water, and won't be able to take care of it if you're not there. A tiny little change from the usual dosing levels won't affect your plants in such a short time. And trust me, I'm an expert at leaving my tank, I do it quite often. Do a 50% water change, fertilize as usual (less if you unhook the CO2), and have fun on your trip!

 

[mogurnda]

The CO2 system's dependable, I just thought that reducing the light and CO2 would reduce demand for nutrients.

It took me a while to get everything in balance, so I was worried that starving the plants would throw everything out of whack.

Funny thing is that the reef is easier. Just fill up the kalkwasser reservoir and go away for a week.

 

[DIYMatt]

On your reef do you have one of those reservoirs that just basically tops the tank off kalk water? If so, you could in theory use the same type of reservoir with the plant tank. But, you would want to play with it for a while to make sure you have your mix right. Actually I have thought about trying to rig something for that for everyday use. I am gone for two or three days quite often and the people who I have feed my fish when I am gone longer aren't too trustworthy as far exact dosages. They missed a feeding once and fed double the next day, things like that. let us know if you try to do something like that I would be interested to hear how it worked.

 

[mogurnda]

You know, with a little time, one could probably rig a little doser from an automatic feeder. I think I'll have a little time in March

 

[djlen]

Are your lights on a timer? If so, I would do a large water change and just dose a tad heavier and cut the photo-period about 2 hrs. When you get home do another large water change and resume your normal schedule.
Your plants can store more nutrients than you think and will probably be fine while you're gone.
Hopefully you will reply when you get back and let us know what you did and how it worked out.

Len

 

[mogurnda]

Yes, the lights are on timers, so cutting the photoperiod is no problem.

Sounds like my worries are a bit overblown. You just reminded me that I read somewhere (Diana Walstead's book, or maybe a thread here?) that healthy plants can hold out for about 6 weeks before running out of reserves.

I'll post when it's all over in January.

 

[mogurnda]

results

Well, I did the experiment a little differently from the way I planned, in that the automatic feeder never started. No input to the tank at all for 12 days. I pruned the plants way back, got rid of about a pound of vallisneria, cut back the photoperiod by a few hours, shut off the CO2, and aded extra ferts.

The result was that everybody did more or less OK. The giant hygro lost almost all of its leaves, which wasn't too surprising. The rotala grew fairly well, just a little more slowly. Everyone else looked about the same as when I left. I could post pics, although before and after shots look very similar.