Aquarium Fish Care While On Vacation Tips - What to do?You've been working hard all year long and it's finally time for that well deserved vacation. Ah, just to think about it gives me the vacation fever. The time is drawing near and you suddenly realize - what the heck am I going to do about the aquarium and fish care? Who's going to feed the fish? What do I need to do to get my fish tank ready before I leave on my trip? There are several things to keep in mind and we'll try to help you get things in order before you leave so you can have a stress free and relaxing vacation not worrying about your fish and your aquarium! Fish can go for several weeks without food. Some believe they can go for 3 or more weeks even. Yes, this is true believe it or not and your fish will be fine while you're away. Your tank may even look cleaner when you get home from vacation since there should be less wastes in the water from the lack of fish food entering the aquarium and less wastes being produced from fish eating that fish food.

If you just can't stand the thought of your fish not eating for the amount of time you'll be gone, invest in an automatic fish feeder. These fish food dispensers are relatively inexpensive and they can actually be put into full time use, even when you are at home. You can fill them with a mix of tropical fish flakes (or other flake or pellet foods, depending on the fish you keep) and it should be several weeks before you need to refill the food container. fish tank gravel manchesterMost are fully adjustable (you can release as little or as much food as allowed), operate on batteries and will easily attach to the top of the tank.fish tank filter system design Another option is to use one of those plastic pill boxes that are composed of small boxes corresponding to the day of the week. fish tank heater petland

You put in the amount of food that day's container that you'd like for your friend, family member or neighbor to give to your fish and then you don't have to worry about them overfeeding and polluting the aquarium water. Try to do a partial water change right before you leave for vacation. This accomplishes a couple of things. The fish will get some good clean water, which should lower their stress levels and should help keep them healthy in your absence. This also gets the water level topped off so you may not have to worry about a low water level in the tank, but it depends on the rate of evaporation of course. Rinse out the aquarium filter media, or replace half of it. A clogged filter shouldn't pose a problem since many filters (especially power filters) have an alternate path for the water to return to the tank should the filter become clogged. You may be concerned about what to do with the aquarium lighting while you're gone. Should I leave it on or leave it off? There is a very simple solution here...

The aquarium lighting can easily be turned on and off automatically using an aquarium light timer. If you're keeping freshwater plants or saltwater corals in a reef tank or macro algae in your refugium, you really should have a light timer anyway so that your plants and corals receive adequate amounts of aquarium light. We try to go on vacation at least once a year (if we're lucky) and we have a neighbor come over several times a day to let our dog out. They have a dog too and we do this favor for each other when we go out of town. It really is extremely beneficial to have a good neighbor you can trust. While they are letting the dog out, I just ask them to check out the aquariums to make sure nothing is leaking and that nothing looks out of the ordinary. I have asked them to rinse out a protein skimmer collection cup before while I was away. If you've never seen a full cup of skimmer gunk, it can be very dark colored, yucky and smelly. They did it for me. I guess I really do have some good neighbors.

Make sure you give the fish sitter a phone number to reach you at while on vacation just in case of an emergency with your fish or tank. A leak could develop, the heater could stick in the on position leading to a rise in temperature, the automatic water top off system could stick in the on position, etc. Remember Murphy's law here - "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong at the worst possible time". Write down a small list of tasks you'd like for them to do. Keep it short and don't put anything that is not absolutely essential. Here is a sample aquarium list of things you could ask your fish sitter to take care of: Invite the fish sitter over a day or two before you leave and walk them through your list. Show them exactly how to do the various tasks. Don't expect them to know what a protein skimmer collection is or looks like! Show them exactly how to put the food in the water and exactly how to empty the collection cup, etc. If you're only going to be away for a week, your fish should be fine without food as mentioned above.

If you have a saltwater aquarium you may need to adjust the skimmer collection cup so that it doesn't collect as much since you won't be there to empty it. If you're going to be away for a longer period of time, than say two weeks, you will be really risking it not having someone come over. This is from a water evaporation and feeding standpoint. Although you're fish should be ok from a food standpoint, your tank water may not be in the best shape after two weeks without your care. So, plan ahead, take proper pre-cautions and show the fish sitter exactly what needs to be done and rest easy knowing that your fish will be fine. Have fun on vacation and we'll see you when you get back!The mysterious death of a Canadian tourist whose body was found in a rooftop water tank at a run-down downtown Los Angeles hotel has been ruled accidental due to drowning.In its report on the death of Elisa Lam, the Los Angeles County coroner also listed 'bipolar disorder' under other significant conditions.

The 21-year-old's body was discovered when a maintenance worker was inspecting the tanks in February of this year. Accidental Downing: Elisa Lam climbed up onto the roof of the hotel and drowned in a water tank Tragic: Elisa Lam disappeared on January 31 after taking a solo trip to Southern California from Canada Sickening: Lam was found wedged in the water tank above the Cecil Hotel by a maintenance worker after guests complained of low water pressure Ms. Lam of Vancouver, was visiting Los Angeles on holiday and was staying at the cheap hotel on Main Street in late January when she was reported missing. Her parents called police after they had not heard from her for a few days. Surveillance video from the hotel's elevator captured images of Lam on February 1st. The video shows Lam pressing several elevator buttons before stepping in and out of the elevator. Her body was discovered in one of four 4-foot-by-8-foot tanks on the roof some three weeks later when a maintenance worker

inspected the tank after reports of water pressure problems. The tank was about three-quarters full when the body was discovered. The tank has a metal latch that can be opened, but authorities said access to the roof is secured with an alarm Mystery: The hotel said the rooftop was locked and alarmed yet somehow Ms. Lam still managed to get on top Findings: The coroners report says  Elisa Lam died of accidental drowning but also so lists 'bipolar disorder' under other significant conditions. The coroner's office initially said that an autopsy in February had proven inconclusive and that it was awaiting toxicology test before establishing a cause of death.Those test results were initially expected to take six to eight weeks to complete, but coroner's spokesman Ed Winter said earlier this month in response to queries that the office was still awaiting complete testing results.Corral said no other information on the cause of death or condition of the woman's body was being released.

A worker stands on a water tank on the roof of the Hotel Cecil where the 21-year-old was found Far from luxurious: The Cecil Hotel is a two-star hotel in a rundown part of downtown Los Angeles Stange behavior: A surveillance camera on the elevator at the Cecil captured Lam acting in a peculiar, paranoid way  the night she vanished Police searching for Lam before the discovery of her body released the surveillance video showing her inside a hotel elevator, pushing buttons for multiple floors and at various times waving her arms and stepping out of the elevator. Internet forums and blogs were filled with speculation about her death, and some amateur detectives had gone to the hotel and posted video reports on how difficult it would be to climb to the roof and into the tank – or to carry a body to the roof and into a water tank.Lam stayed in touch with her friends and family while traveling in California - up until the day she disappeared.A security video taken in an elevator

at the hotel and released by the LAPD  showed Lam acting strangely, hiding in a corner and repeatedly peering around the elevator doors into the hallway. She never checked out of the hotel positioned on the outskirts of Skid Row and employees said they never saw her with anyone else. four large water tanks after a maintenance worker went up to investigate reports of low water pressure. Travels: Elisa Lam, seen center, was a student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and visiting Southern California on her own Area: Police say there have been reports of continuing crime at the hotel built in the 1920s but refurbished several years ago Authorities including police and the coroner have not stated how they believe Lam got into the tank. enforcement officials had been careful to say that the death could be accidental, despite widespread public suspicions of foul play. The hotel has a checkered past. of the conspiracy theories floated online invoked the history of deaths