# Going on Vacation, HELP!!!



## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

I have a 75 gallon aquarium with 18 adult African cichlids. I'm going on vacation for 6 weeks. Some one can feed the fish for 2 weeks while I'm gone but cannot clean the

tank.

What can I do for the cichlids to survive 6 weeks in a dirty tank and not have food for 4 weeks?

Thanks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would feed once halfway through. Not sure about no water changes though.


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

If you keep the feeding low you may get lucky. I had a 5 week vacation and had someone come twice to change the water and small feedings on an autofeeder. I thought I would come back to a really dirty tank...much to my surprise the tank actually had lower nitrates than i normally have. So what happened? Well algae figured out that there was this wonderful place with food a plenty. So the fish lived just fine and the algae never has really gotten cleaned out. I would put an autofeeder up and hope for the best.


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## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> I would feed once halfway through. Not sure about no water changes though.


Could the fish be fed regularly the first 3 weeks of vacation by a friend, and survive 3 weeks with no food?

And by not being sure about the water changes???? (I think I'm screwed.) :fish:


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

yes, you are probably screwed. If you could teach your friend how to do a water change midway through you would probably be fine.


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## Als49 (Jul 11, 2014)

DIY automatic water dripping system may be one of the solutions.


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## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

Should I buy another emperor 400 on my 75?


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Can you drop the temp a little to slow metabilism?? Feed the fish well 2 weeks before you live. Do 2 massive WC the week before you go, add a Nitrate remover. Feed sparingly when you gone (very sparingly). If lights are on timer take a few hours off each day.

Do massive WC when you return.

PS--I would never let a person that has no experience do a WC. I rather have a dirty tank.


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## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

tanker3 said:


> Can you drop the temp a little to slow metabilism?? Feed the fish well 2 weeks before you live. Do 2 massive WC the week before you go, add a Nitrate remover. Feed sparingly when you gone (very sparingly). If lights are on timer take a few hours off each day.
> 
> Do massive WC when you return.
> 
> PS--I would never let a person that has no experience do a WC. I rather have a dirty tank.


Thanks for the advice.

I Will do 2 massive water changes the week before I go, and add a Nitrate remover. I'll tell my friend to feed less than usual and instead of every day, every 3 days. The lights will remain off.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The reason for feeding once in the middle is to minimize any added pollutants to the tank (food and waste) and improve your chances of surviving without water changes.


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## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> The reason for feeding once in the middle is to minimize any added pollutants to the tank (food and waste) and improve your chances of surviving without water changes.


So, what I should do is tell my friend to come the 3rd week while I'm gone and feed my fish once. That sounds better for the water I will do that.

Should I still buy a nitrate remover?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I don't use it...does it work? I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a product.


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## agent1207 (Mar 23, 2015)

DJRansome said:


> I don't use it...does it work? I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a product.


Ok, so here's the final plan please tell me if I'm on the right track.

I will do a massive water change before I leave. Lower the water temperature a little. Tell my friend to fill the tank 3rd week I'm gone with fresh water that I will set aside (chlorinated and salted). Tell my friend to feed the fish for 3 mins, once on the 3rd week I'm gone. The lights will be off the whole time I'm on vacation. Hopefully come back to a dirty tank to clean when I come back from vacation.

Thanks for the advice thus far DJRansome. :fish:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

:thumb: dechlorinated.

Worth a try!


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