If Going Vacation

Good thread!

I am getting ready to go on vacation for a week in july. Fortunately my brother will be home so he can take care of stuff.

If you have someone that is going to be taking care of your fish I would measure out all the food for each day ahead of time.

an auto topoff would be a really good investment.

I am not going to worry about an auto feeder while I am gone. My brother (who has no interest in fish) can handle dumping a pre-measured bag of pellets into the tank. I am not going to bother with feeding frozen food. I do not want to make it any more complicated than it has to be. Even if he forgets to feed them most of the time, the fish will still survive. I would be worried about an auto feeder malfunctioning and dumping too much food. If that happens it could make the ammonia go up and kill a fish which in turn raises the ammonia setting off a chain reaction and you come home to a dead tank.

Unless you have corals that really need it, I would not have the person watching your tank try to dose chemicals. Unless they know what they are doing and you really trust them. My corals need to survive more than they need to grow while I am gone.

 

I don't want to sound stupid but, when talking about automated topoff, I assume it is referring to a pH adjusted fresh water. Is that correct? There is a professional guy that I bought my rocks and fish from him. I think I would ask a friend to let him into my house every 3-4 days to check my tank.
Arash

 

thats the easy answer get a pet sitter. one that will add topoff water and fed the fish every so often.
i would make a mark on your sump with a marker so the guy can see how much ro water to add.

 

Whoever you get to look after your tank- just make sure they know your system through and through. If you have a sump, explain the pumps, baffles, filters, etc.

I went to Europe for 3.5 weeks in November.... I let my brother take care of my tank.... And now, middle of May- My tank is almost back to what it was Pre-trip. Apparently one of my filter pads got sucked up against my return pump.... so there was about 1x/hr water filtration going for the 3.5 weeks i was gone. I came back and I had more green hair algae/cyanobacteria than I have ever seen in my life, in any tank (I couldn't see my rocks or sand, it was just blankets of black/green cyano/hair algae). I was tempted to take down my tank, but instead I just waited it out- It wiped out most of my coral (didn't bother my fish), but definitely lost a good couple hundred dollars in coral.

This also explains why my activity level on these forums shot down during those 5 months.

Im just glad I am now seeing the end of it. Let this be a lesson!

 

generally RO/DI filtered fresh water. Same thing you should be using to top off now.

 

Just to clarify there is no need to PH adjust topoff fresh water. Straight RODI water works perfectly. The chemical balance of the tank is not going to be upset unless you for some reason let your tank go for a long time without topping off and then dump a whole bunch of fresh water. Keep your alkalinity up and the tank room well-ventilated and you shouldn't need to worry about PH.

 

When I go on vacation, I am going to do the following:

1.) A few days prior, bring Ca, Mg and dKH to a little higher than normal levels.
2.) A day before recheck my dKH and redose if necessary
3.) Prepackage food and have the caretaker do the feeding. Three times weekly. Measured amounts.
4.) Show him where the water level is supposed to be in the sump and how to top off.
5.) Write up a simple and easy to understand synopsis of how the tank works.
6.) Offer a bonus amount of money if EVERYTHING lives through my absence.

So his daily chore is to top off. He will feed three times a week. That's it. A true no-brainer. The lighting will be automated. I am a little uneasy about the ATO going haywire and flooding the dining room, so I will not do that.

Oh, and a kid (teenager or otherwise) is not going to take care of the tanks. I am choosing a dude or dudette with a high IQ and an above average level of maturity to do the job. By the time I actually go on vacation, I will have the 90, a 15 tall, a 29 and a 30 to take care of. No easy task for the uninitiated.

 

My tank sitter is a teenager with a high IQ and an above average level of maturity....he also happens to have a saltwater tank! ;D He lives up the street and is Jwin's good friend - he helped us a lot when we were setting up. I think I'd have a hard time trusting anybody who has never had a tank!

We have a Sharpie line marking the water level on the sump. Works just fine!

 

I'm a fan of a human tanksitter- to me, there's no substitute for eyes and ears. Besides, if you offer to stock the fridge...

 

THX, I feel much better now. Taken together, I'll most likely hire the professional guy. He is really nice and very knowledgeable. Set up and maintaining the aquarium is what he does for living. Arash