Month Long Vacation

As the title says I'm looking for advice/options on how to preserve my tanks while I leave for a month. it isn't a vacation its mandatory military duty but its basically a forced makes you wanna die in a hole vacation.
The problem with friends is a majority of the ones that live within an hour radius are coming with me. The ones that aren't are not comfortable doing water changes like I need.
I don't have family in the area.
Local fish store is the only one that does tank services in the area and they're going on vacation the same time I'm leaving, not to mention they charge soooo much. I think they quoted me 300 dollars for 1 water change on 3 tanks. I understand, insurance, driving, supplies, but still.

I have an ato on one my firemouth tank that enables me to leave it for up to 2 weeks without intervention. I have auto feeders on all of the tanks which hold food for about the same time. The other 2 tanks need top ups every week (when I normally do my water changes).
I could get 2 more ato's but my 10 gallon builds up ammonia quickly after a week or two.
I looked into automatic water changers that run for about 200 a piece and I just don't think I could swing 600 dollars for all 3 tanks, as nice as it would be. It's already costing $500 to board the dog.

I could get one for the 10 gallon shrimp tank, get an ato for the african cichlid tank, and hope for the best. That would cost about $300 total. This seems to be the route I'm likely going to go if noone else has any ideas.

I'm at a loss here, letting a stranger into your house while they know you're gone for a month isn't the best idea. My african cichlid tank is overstocked as it is and only really gets by with low test numbers with the weekly water changes.

When I built these tanks I didn't think that everything would line up so it would be such a struggle to find someone to help me. I still have a bit before I leave to figure something out so I'm not full panicking yet.

 

Hi! This is a tough one.... I would personally say that you should turn the auto feeders OFF while you are away. That way there is no extra food to make more ammonia. Anyway thing is what I would do:
1. Turn off the auto feeders (most fish can go a long time without food)
2. Do 75% water changes before you leave
3. Maybe get the auto water changers like you said
4. Hope for the best and maybe instal some live feed cameras so you can watch and make sure nothing leaks or anything like that

I hope this helps

P.S. thank you for your service

 

Hi! This is a tough one.... I would personally say that you should turn the auto feeders OFF while you are away. That way there is no extra food to make more ammonia. Anyway thing is what I would do:
1. Turn off the auto feeders (most fish can go a long time without food)
2. Do 75% water changes before you leave
3. Maybe get the auto water changers like you said
4. Hope for the best and maybe instal some live feed cameras so you can watch and make sure nothing leaks or anything like that

I hope this helps

P.S. thank you for your service

thank you for your support.

You think the fish would really survive a month without food? I've read some can go up to 3 weeks before resorting to eating eachother, but a month seems a bit much. I could probably find someone to come feed the fish, that's easier than changing the water/maintenance. Maybe like once per week?

Already got the cameras covered, my dog likes to do bad things while I'm gone so I check in and yell at him regularly. (obviously he'll be gone so fish watching it is).

I'm debating which tank I would put the auto changer on. The other 2 would have top off systems. I'm now trying to look at it from a value perspective. I only recently made the shrimp tank (5months) and while losing 50 dollars worth of cherry shrimp would be annoying I think it would be worse to lose 5 african cichlids that are breeding and have lived for years.
My firemouths have a large 20 gallon sump that is absolutely packed with media. I think I have enough media for 100 gallon sump crammed into this 20 gallon. I thought I didn't have enough media but I went to the fish stores around me and they support 5 tanks on the media I have in my sump. Maybe that would be enough to keep them alive.
The shrimp tank is a completely carpeted tank. I figure the plants should be able to survive the bad water. I never like losing things I spent money on but maybe that's where I'd take the least amount of loss.
I could possibly buy 2 more pumps, lay out specific instructions with buckets of water that were pretreated. Just have someone plug in the pump to transfer water out of and in the tanks. It would eliminate the need for them to stick a siphon in the tank.
I'm just rolling ideas here.

 

Where are you located? It may help someone suggest a good tank maintenance company.

 

Where are you located? It may help someone suggest a good tank maintenance company.

I'm a little weary of giving out the location due to the information I previously released. Never good to say you're leaving then narrow it down for em. Nothing personal just call me crazy.
I have also researched in depth the companies in the surrounding areas and I am outside the service area of almost all but the one I mentioned that is going on vacation.

 

I'm a little weary of giving out the location due to the information I previously released. Never good to say you're leaving then narrow it down for em. Nothing personal just call me crazy.
I have also researched in depth the companies in the surrounding areas and I am outside the service area of almost all but the one I mentioned that is going on vacation.

No worries, I'm a former servicemember myself, so I understand the hesitancy. I apologize if I overstepped my bounds.

 

No worries, I'm a former servicemember myself, so I understand the hesitancy. I apologize if I overstepped my bounds.

No you're good man! Appreciate what you've done.

 

If the tanks aren't too heavily stocked, I might suggest using automatic fish feeders, if you can set them up in advance so that you can monitor how much they dump, and feed very lightly. Fish can go two weeks without much for food. So, adjust them to feed lightly. Nitrates will build in the tank over the month without water changes, but honestly, it's happened to my tanks many times over the years, and the fish aren't likely to be harmed in that length of time. You will have a chore to bring levels down again, but it might be the safest.

You will still want someone to come in to check to make sure the filters didn't mess up due to a power outage or something, and to scoop out a dead fish if there ever is one. But honestly, I've had to do this a number of times and haven't had any major catastrophes. My tanks aren't majorly overstocked though, so if that is an issue for you, maybe you have time to set up another tank to lighten the load.

 

If the tanks aren't too heavily stocked, I might suggest using automatic fish feeders, if you can set them up in advance so that you can monitor how much they dump, and feed very lightly. Fish can go two weeks without much for food. So, adjust them to feed lightly. Nitrates will build in the tank over the month without water changes, but honestly, it's happened to my tanks many times over the years, and the fish aren't likely to be harmed in that length of time. You will have a chore to bring levels down again, but it might be the safest.

You will still want someone to come in to check to make sure the filters didn't mess up due to a power outage or something, and to scoop out a dead fish if there ever is one. But honestly, I've had to do this a number of times and haven't had any major catastrophes. My tanks aren't majorly overstocked though, so if that is an issue for you, maybe you have time to set up another tank to lighten the load.

As I said the tanks are on auto feeders but I could definitely lighten the amount they put in the tanks.
Another tank to spread it out, I didn't think about this option. I could definitely set up another 20 gallon and plop 2 africans in it to lighten the load on the main tank.
thank you! more to think about. Keep the ideas coming!

 

if you have a facebook group for fishkeepers/petsitters near you try asking them. or try asking on the nextdoor app for people near you who can do water changes and feeding and such

 

Found a company willing to make the drive twice for $180. Not bad at all, I connected 2 of my tanks to the same sump so now they're both fed from my auto top up. The shrimp tank will probably be fine for the week before the company comes.

 

Well the vacations over. All the tanks survived with minimal losses. Had some issues like an overflowing filter sock that dumped a good 10 gallons on the floor. Honestly, I don't understand how the one sock got so filthy in a week, it was completely black but I leave them for a week with no issues. My cherry shrimp have resorted to eating all the anarchis in my shrimp tank for some reason. My plants grew like crazy and now my tanks are all nicely grown in. The girlfriend even brought me these cool clay figurines for the tanks from her vacation in china. Now I moved on to set up my first salt water tank with the extra money I got.
Her little 2.5 gallon I built before I left should be cycled by now. Plants come in tomorrow for it. Fish added with the plants. Gonna be great!