10 days away

the Christmas season means different things to different people. to married people it often means a logistics nightmare of trying to keep everyone's families happy by juggling immediate and extended family Christmas celebrations. in addition to 4 Christmases, my wife was also standing in a wedding on the 18th. to add to the joy, all of this was back in Iowa and we live in chicago. translation, i would be out of contact with my tank for 10 whole days with limited help from friends (everyone else i knew was traveling as well). i set my photo period to 6 hours to lessen evaporation, i lowered to temp to 78 as well. i fed heavy for two days prior to leaving and i was having a friend come in on the 5 day mark to add water and throw a chunk of food in.

i walked in last night and ran straight to the tank. all the fish are alive and the corals were open (even my frags were all happy). the only issue was that my ninja mantis shrimp, who must normally eat up scraps from my broad feeding, must have got hungry because i have 5 new empty shells near his rock. hes actually becoming quite the builder... oh, and i had a few corals that were uprooted but that happens all the time (stupid turbos)

i guess i just wanted to share this little Christmas miracle. i know that many of us dread the thought of leaving our tanks alone, or even in the hands of inexperienced friends. i wanted to share my little victory to maybe quell any trepidation someone in my shoes may face in the future. smiles

 

Im glad your tank made it