Filtration while on holiday?

[Del]

I am going away on holidays for 3 weeks (in June) and am a bit worried as my discus tank can only have a weekly water change (done by friends who are feeding them).

I have found my old "Whisper 40" hang on filter and was wondering if this would help with filtration for this period?

I was planning not to use the activated carbon that comes with it - just white filter wool.

150lt planted tank with gravel - no co2
Eheim 2213
lights (on timer) 9hrs per day

Temp 30
Ph 7

5 discus (1x13cms, 1x10cmx, 3x8cms)
20 assorted tetras
5 siamese flying foxes
1 whiptail
1 cory
1 otto
2 mystery snails

I have cleaned the filter with bleach, rinsed it thoroughly, then soaked and rinsed in de-chlorinated water.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

[Proteus]

Cut back the food by half, and weekly water changes will be fine. The extra filter will help.

Nothing to worry about.

(I do this sort of thing at least twice a year and have never had a problem)

[chrissyoscar]

you can also reduce the light to maybe 4-6hrs a day. By doing this the fish are less active and don't require as much food.
I recently went away for 10 days. I had my auto feeder to feed the fish once a day and had the lights on a timer for only 4hrs daily.
Fish handled it easily and looked quite healthy on my return.

[Del]

Thanks Ro - the hang on filter was extremely noisy so am using the sponge filter (from my water aging tank). It cleared up the water beautifully - much better than the filter alone! I'll be getting another to use all the time...

Thanks Oscar - do you mind if I ask what brand of fish feeder you use?

DEL

[chrissyoscar]

Hi Del

The auto feeder I use is a copy of the eheim feeder.
here is a link to the eheim feeder and at this price i recommend you get the original rather than the copy.

http://www.aquariumproductswholesale.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=422

When I got mine about 12mths ago the Eheim models were around $120 as you can see they have come down in price and well worth getting. The copys are around $60.