what do i do when i leave town?

rxdoc_85

rxdoc_85

AC Members
Mar 9, 2008
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st. louis, missouri
hey guys. i'm going to be leaving town for 7 days here soon, and i'm wondering what to do with my tank. obviously i can't take it with me....haha...but wat do i need to do? i don't have a roommate or anyone i can have come and feed them/turn the light on/off while i'm gone. i know they make week-long-feeders you can drop in the tank, are these ok? i've used a weekend feeder before when i was out of town for 3 days, but this time it'll be 7 days. also, do i need to leave the light on or off? i have compact fluroescent lighting now, but i also have a dinky regular very low power single fluroescent bulb that i could stick over it while i'm gone to help controle algae or whatever. i don't have any corals to worry about, just tryin to get the coralline really strong in the tank. i'm just tryin to find out what will be the best thing for my tank. i have two very small damsels, a firefish goby/dartfish, blood shrimp, hermit crabs, 2 turbo snails, a couple of nausarrius (sp?) snails, and a serpent star, so i don't have a huge fishload or anything. any advice is appreciated! thanks!
 
I use a timer for the lights myself. And is there any way you can get someone to stop by at all? At the very least you'll want someone to make sure there hasn't been a power failure or something. They do make feeders and the Eheim one gets good reviews especially used with pellet food but I've not used one personally
 
well, the problem is i'm in college in st. louis (not from the area), and spring break is this week, so EVERYONE i know in st. louis is out of town. i'll definitely consider getting a timer for my lights, and hopefully the power won't go out. i've been in my apt for 9 months and we've had it all from summer tornadoes to winter ice storms, and i still haven't had even as much as a flicker in the power. so i'll keep my finger's crossed. thanks for the advice grins!
 
Are you going to be anywhere near the area that you can get permission from the school to stop in (assuming you're booted off campus for SB) to check on it? I'd be inclined to say all will be well for 7 days with a timer and even without feeding, but I would be a nervous wreck that some freak thing would happen.
 
well, i don't live on campus, i have my own apartment, i was just able to get the week off work as well as school so i could go home and see my family. i think i'm just going to end up getting a timer, throwing in one of those week feeders, and hope for the best. i keep my apt around 72 degrees, so worst case scenario the power goes out and my tank goes down to 72 degrees, so i don't think i'd lose anything. and i don't have corals or anything really delicate in my tank, so i think it'll be ok. i just wanted to make sure that stuff wouldn't die if i left the light on/off or it didn't get to eat for a few days, but from you guys' advice i think i'm gonna be fine. thanks so much!
 
it would be better to try and hire a pet-sitter to just stop by once or twice and feed the fish (measure out the food before you leave and hide the rest).
 
Is there no 11 or 12 year old neighbor who wants to earn a couple of bucks to stop by and feed them once or twice? Still get the timers - it makes life easier in general, but some kid might come inexpensively.
 
thanks for the advice yall. i think my friend will be back in town on tuesday, and i'm leaving tomororw evening, so i think i'll hve her stop by like tue, thur, and sat or something since i'll be back next sunday. i bought the timer today, so all she'll have to do is feed them. thanks again for all the advice! i hope it all goes ok, because i bought some pieces of live rock today, and i get home and one of them has about 3 small feather dusters, and another has 4 small polyps of some type of coral. i'm not sure what kind it is (i'm not a coral expert AT ALL), but i'm excited! i bought some dt's phyto today so hopefully that'll help keep it all alive. thanks again for the advice guys, you're such a wonderful resource for newbies like myself :)
 
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