Vacation and Protein Skimmer

Ok, so I am going on vacation next week and I have one of my tenants watching the house for the week. She is great with my dogs and other pets but has never had to deal with our aquariums. Here is the question

I am wondering if I can go ahead and shut the skimmer down for a week. I am running a phospate reactor which I use to run carbon and will continue to run for that for the week. I am just concerned that when she performs top offs for me that something could go wrong and she will freak.

We have all of the lights on the tanks on timers and we are using plastic weekly pill boxes for feeding.

We currently have several corals, a cleaner crew, a clown, and hawkfish which occupy this tank.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

This is on the 72 that is described in my signature.

Thanks in advance

 

If it is only for a week just turn it down a little so that you are not skimming as much but still doing a little. Don't know if you skim wet or not. She doesn't want to clean the cup?

 

I skim dry, however, the skimmer tends to overflow sometimes when doing a top off. I don't want her to have to clean the cup, as she is doing so much for me as it is....

 

Are you pouring the top off water in the skimmer??? Don't under stand how it could overflow when you are adding water to the tank..:-/

 

Definitely not adding it to the skimmer, I am adding it to the tank.

 

Hey Baxter, your skimmer's collection cup doesnt have a fitting that you can attach a tube/hose to it and run that hose to a gal container? That way, when the cup is filling up, it will fill up to the fitting and divert the overflow to the gal container. keeping the over flow from flowing back into the sump or tank.

 

Hi Lunatik,
Yes, I normally use a 2 gallon waste basket in the cabinet for overflow. I have a 5 gallon bucket setup for the week away...

 

I would personally leave it running.

 

Mine will over flow with water addition

HI,
If you add water to the sump you must retune the skimmer cause the higher water level make the resistance or distance the pump can raise the water higer in the skimmer . High water in the sump will raise the skimmer level
So when I add water I back off the skimmers and wait 20 mins for the water to mix and balance out the spec grav, water densitiy can effect skimmer the higher the salt the more foam.
I would fill you sump to the max level with the returns off power up the pumps and put a water level mark on the sump with black ink, this will be the target refil with pumps running, this is important to me cause I have two over flows that can add a gallon or two to the sump when I do tank maintance.
Now dial your skimmers down to where they are just barely reaching the bottom of the cup or tube.
this will prevent overflow if your house keeper adds water to prevent the sump from running dry and if they don't add past the line you skimmer should be fine, ask them to only feed a little.
I plan to do this with my wife when I go out of town next month for a week.
Good Luck and take your cell phone and put the number of you phone on the front of a tank and the number of any of your freinds who keep saltwater.
Doug

PS Vacations may be a good reason to join a saltwater club you watch mine I'll watch your tanks.

 

Yep, I understand the physics behind the skimmer sump relationship that is why I add the water to the tank. It does still happen on occasion when I add it to the tank. I need to change my skimmer(coral life). I actually purchased a Deltec($614.00) and then got it home that night. I was so frustrated because the LFS did not tell me that I needed the installation kit which was another 100.00. So I took it back...I do need to change it though...