Will be away from home - Temperature, lightning and food??

[ramon82]

Hi all

As subject suggests I will be abroad for a week. I usually take care of the lightning, temperature and food needs myself but now I am at a loss on how to do. Any ideas how I can automate these essentials?

I got some weeks chance left. At the moment got only some yoyo loaches and guppies in my aquarium. You can take a look at
Thanks

[Judge]

First, it depends on how long you will be gone?? The lights can be put on a timer and most decent thermometers have a thermostat and come on only when needed sooo, food is the only real question to be answered. I have left mine for 3 days with no problems. Most people have a tendency to overfeed anyway. At one time I only fed every other day. So, how long are we talking about?

[Justin68106]

I was going to suggest a timer for the light, also good to have a few for some lamps in the house to make it look as if someone is home, if you've got a house. I have seen some time-released feeders at PetSmart, not sure how well they work though.

[ZeroSystem]

I've been gone for long periods of time like that before and I usually either rely on a good automatic feeder (Ehiem makes a good one, though it's sort of pricey) or a trusted friend to come by and put some food in the tank. Now keep in mind although I trust said friend enough to let him come into my home while I'm away, that doesn't mean he knows squat about fish, nor how much to feed them! I usually put food into zip-lock bags and date them, so that way he just has to grab the bag with the correct date and dump it in. Great way to prevent over feeding, and if you have little kids that like to feed the tank, it works well for that too!