Feeding during vacation

leon1972

Reefing newb
I am going on vaca for a week and am weighing my options of not feeding for a week versus an auto feeder. The problem is pellet food goes to waste ok ,y fish as two or three out of a bout 20 pellets get eaten in total and I don't want even higher nitrates when I get back!!!!! I have two clowns and a damsel. Will they be ok if I decide not to feed them for a week?
 
How old is your tank? Any corals? I've heard of some people in the hobby with extremely old systems that put food in their tank once a week with no problem, but that is only with an old system that has a lot of natural food in the tank. Your best bet in my opinion would be to have someone look after it for you and feed them every other day while you are gone. Pellet food is high in nitrates and phosphates and I think those feeders feed every day and it is hard to feed only a small amount like your 3 little fish would need.
 
It's only months old. Nothing in it but those three little fish. I feed every 3 days right now.
I was thinking maybe I could just give me a real good feeding the day before I left
 
Can't you have a neighbor go in and check the fish? I have a kid from my neighborhood who dog sits and also feeds my fish. I pre-measure the fish food so unless he purposefully feeds more than 1 packet, there's no way to overfeed. Plus I tell him it's ok to miss a day here and there. I do any maintenance at least a week before a planned long vacation, too. In case of emergencies, I have my LFS on stand by to do any emergency tank visits.
 
Lol. I only feed once ever two or three days right now. Me and my gf are doing a trial run of living together and it's an hour drive so they only been getting fed twice a week. They seem ok with it and I'll just give them a larger feeding before I leave for vaca I think. They seem to be ok with a twice a week feeding and as it has been pointed out to me before daily feeldings are a luxury they don't get in the wild.
 
Leon, if you have a sump/refugium, I'd suggest starting a culture of pods and maybe growing some macro algae that you could then add to your tank when you get ready to go away - feed your fish very well before you leave so they are full when you add the pods and algae, and then let them snack on the pods and algae throughout the week while you are gone. Or, as everyone else has said, get a sitter! I would not go the auto feeder route - those things have been known to fail and dump all of the food at once, causing huge rises in nitrates and waste.

LoveJC03 - you do not need to feed that often - that's way too much!
 
I've got a makeshift refugium. I turned a DIY mechanical filter into a fuge and have chaeto in it now but the chaeto seemed to start falling apart for a bit.
 
I would highly suggest finding some kid to come in and check the tank at least once. If you have a disaster, it would be better if someone came in and found it sooner rather than later.

Plus, if you dont have an ATO, you can go that long without toping off
 
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