[long post]

Well, my first week away from my planted tank went MUCH better than I
expected. Before I left, I took LeighMo's advice and did a larger water
change than usual, using my new Python, and dosed a little heavier on the
PMDD. When I got back, all my plants have almost doubled their size!!! It's
crazy. My Crypts have really grown, some of them almost to the top of the
tank and my Sags and Vals have exploded in height, new runners, etc. I also
refreshed my CO2 bottles before I left. Everything looks great. The only
thing is that I had some very fine looking, very "mossy" very green looking
algea grow on a few rocks, but nothing drastic at all. Could that be due to
the fact that I dosed more heavily on the PMDD before I left? But I think
the Ottos's and the Whiptail like it cuz there are little mouth marks all in
the little patches that did start to grow.

I did about a 40% water change when I got back, refreshed my CO2 bottles,
fed the fish some brine shrimp and cleaned the front and side glass of the
usual algea that accumulates there...nothing major....just typical.

My evaporation level was about 2 1/2 inches...enough for my surface skimmer
on the Magnum to suck air.

Now, in a few days I will be away from my tank for *2* weeks. This I am
worried about. I have a neighbor I am going to ask to feed the fish a few
times during the 2 weeks and to top the tank off for me after about a week.
I also think I will unplug the Magnum 350 while I'm gone so I don't have the
air sucking problem. Acutally, if I put my other half of the glass tops
back on, that should help with the evaporation problem some. How should I
dose PMDD for a 2 week absence? Should I dose extra the few days leading up
to my departure or extra on the day before or what? And what about the CO2
bottles, is there something I can do to keep them producing for 2 weeks? I
currently use 2 cups sugar, 1/2 teaspon of baking soda, and just under 1/2
teaspon of yeast per bottle. I have 2 2 liter bottles injecting into my
Ehiem. Is there any danger of any other harmful gas being produced and put
into the tank after CO2 production slows or the yeast runs out of sugar to
eat?

My fish seemed to be ok after no food for a week, but the big Angelfish and
Clown Loaches seemed like they might have been just a little "slower" than
normal until I fed them. Maybe that was just in my head. I am thinking the
Clowns can eat snails that come out at night and from their digging in the
gravel to sustain them. The tetras and danios I am not really concerned
about. My only real concern is the 2 large Angelfish, 6 Clown Loaches, and
2 Rainbows. What suggestions does anyone have? Would a automatic flake
food feeder cause problems as far as algea is concerned?

I know this is a long post, but thanks for reading.