what's the best/easiest way to....

[bluelagoon]

my friend down the hall from me in the dorms just got her tank up last night, so it just started the cycle. we leave for christmas break in two weeks, and we'll be gone a total of about 23-25 days, depending when finals are and when she comes back. now since it's just cycling, i was wondering what the easiest way to just leave it here would be. i know we should move the heater, so there's less chance of the water evaporating and causing it to break. probably also put a couple of fans pointed at it so it won't get too hot, since i know the rooms get really hot without us here to open the windows. we're going to go shopping for a light timer and thermometer later, either today or tomorrow.
what other tips/suggestions do you guys have???

 

[aw2]

If it's possible, place the heater on the bottom of the tank. That way, you dont have to worry about evaporation breaking the heater.
Also, by placing fans on the tank, you're going to cause a higher evaporation rate...I'd skip the fans.
I'd let it sit with rock, a powerhead and the heater...on the timers.

 

[bluelagoon]

well, my concern with the fans was to keep the tank a little cooler, since our rooms get very hot, and i'm not sure if they're turning the heat down over break or not. if the cover is kept completely closed over the tank, the fans won't really cause much evaporation, IME.
should we leave the lights on the timers? and if we do, we should cut back the time, right? so it doesn't get too hot.
heat is my main concern here. and i know that if we leave the fans on too high, someone will come in and turn them off. that happened to me over thanksgiving break. we left the fans on so my tank wouldn't be too hot for the few days i was gone, but someone came in and turned the big one off completely, and the little down to low, so my tank got too hot and killed my xenias.

 

[bluelagoon]

sh@t! sh@t! sh@t! i completely forgot until i was reminded a minute ago that they probably turn the electricity off over break, since no one's allowed to be here anyways..... i have to email our director of housing and ask her for certain, otherwise i'll have to take amanda's rock home with me. but the water will be fine and dandy sitting there for almost a month, right? i mean, it can sit in the bottle for longer than that at the lfs.....

 

[dogstar]

I think you have a case of bad timeing. From your other post its a 10g and alot of that will evaporate over 25 days. Depending on the hummitity of the air and fans will cause this to happen quicker. Heat is the least problem if there is no live stock. At some point the salinity of the water will get so high that you may just have to start cycle all over agin if you cant keep it toped off w/ fresh water.

 

[bluelagoon]

ok, just got back from talking with the director of housing. the electricity will be on!
and again, i'm not worried about evaporation.... they're turning the heat down in the building, so it won't get too hot, and if the cover stays down, it covers the entire tank, so the water won't have anywhere to go.

 

[my way]

If you are worried about evaporation you could get a 3 litre soda bottle rinsed out of coarse and put it above the tank filled with water. Get some airline tubing and put it in the bottle so it reaches the bottom then run it into your tank for added security tape the tubing to the outside of the bottle leaving enough slack so it wont kink the tubing. Cut the tubing anywhere between the bottle and the tank and add an air control valve to the tubing where you cut it. Then start a siphon and control the flow of water till it drips as slow as you can, to fast and you will over flow the tank. You will neeed to experiment till you get it right. Ok I'm a dumba :notsure: I just say you are'nt worried about it evaporating. Have a nice vacation.

 

[bluelagoon]

thanks! it's a good idea though

 

[jermpool]

Even though you aren't worried about evaporation I wanted to share some of my experience. We bought a cool mist humidifier and my evaporation rate dropped dramatically. Instead of adding 1 gallon a week in a 20 gallon tank it was more like a gallon every 3 weeks. It made a huge difference. Also smaller tanks evaporate slower than larger tanks because there is less water on the surface making contact with the air.