What a vacation can do to a reef tank...

Alrighty, so this week I went to Destin Fl for vacation like I do every year and did the huge cleaning before I left. Put plenty of water in so it wouldn't evaporate and dry out the sump, left specific instructions for my grandfather to feed the fish and double checked the timer to make sure it was on the correct time. Last year I went and returned with a flooded bottom stand cause the electricity went out for 5 minutes and over flowed.

Well, that was last time! Let's get to what to expect in a few hours when I return. I switched the timer to only 5 hours a day to maybe kill some algae and have a HUGE longspine urchin and 2 turbo snails so I expect the glass the be pretty clean. I know you probably don't want to hear me go on and talk all about me so let's hear the GOOD and BAD things a vacation can do to your tank!

 

How's your tank doing now?

It wasn't really a vacation, but just a random visit for what ended up being 2 weeks. lol It was to my sister's house(she picked me up at 3:00am on her way home from Tennessee). Without Dad realising I had left, I hadn't told him what to do to make sure everything as doing well with the aquarium.

I don't have an RODI unit; I get about a 1/2g a day of evaporation in my 29 gallon tank. So I have to buy distilled water for $0.88 a gallon at Wal-Mart - it gets expensive.
Along with that, my Marineland Stealth pro heater which had been recalled for nearly 2 months (never got to the LFS) was still running I my tank and I thought it would be OK...worked great until now. the heater got my water from the normal 80* F up to 92.5* F...I suppose it randomly decided to not stop heating.

I come home to that...all my coraline algae is dead. Hot water in the tank and about 8 gallons of water had evaporated.

Fortunately, I didn't have any fish/coral. I had just 5 dwarf hermit crabs. 3 of those died. I killed a hermit crab. That's sad. lol.

 

^That happened about 2 weeks ago. I have since pulled he heater from the outlet and it now runs at an even 77* F. Som3 reef3r has offered to send me some new LR with coraline on it.

 

WOW! You are really fortunate that that didnt happen with a fully stocked tank! My tank is actually doing great! I think i learned from my mistakes. You should of seen the list of things i told my grandfather to do while i was gone....i think i went a bit over board but when i came back they were all fat and healthy and no deaths or diseases at all!

 

It sucks, but you better bet, I was glad it happened now and not when I had fish or coral in the tank later. Congrats to you and your grandfather.

 

I'm a bit worried as in December I'll be traveling for about 10 days and leaving my fishes all to their lonesome. I'll have timers for lights and feeders, along with a battery backup for any potential power outages so no biggy there but no ATO unit. If I get an ato it would only feed from a small bucket just in case it decided to go all nuts and try and flood my room which would be bad... I'm hesitant to leave but i know I HAVE too family demands that everyone goes for a visit. so with this in mind is there any thing i should do? I mean I want to have a friend come by and just make sure everything is running smoothly but I'd have to get that past dad since he's not big on people coming over.

 

You seem to be very nervous about the possibility of a flood. I would suggest you invest in a good quality ATO system. As far as having someone there to watch your tank, that is a good idea. They can feed (whatever amount you tell them, hopefully no more than that) and will be able to check if there are any problems with your tank.

For dad..let him know it is someone you can trust and they have been to the house a lot. if they haven't then have them over more often and explain your setup to them.

I have been looking into web-cams. If you have an android phone or an iphone, you can download Ustrem which will allow you to watch your aquarium through your phone, live, from the web-came. I will probably be investing in two cameras for my tank..one looking at the front and one for the end of the tank.

http://www.ustream.tv/everywhere

 

Wow! I have an android phone and i should probably think about that! Yes, definitely check all systems before you leave days in advance! I had the great idea to set up the timer in the middle of the dark at 4:30am the day i was leaving! My grandfather told me the lights were set to come on at midnight and stay till 10am! Yea, dont do that!

 

Going to Galveston Saturday. Going to fill the ATO tub all the way (even though a bucket lasts almost a whole week) Cut the lights down to 4-6 hours of light. Its not a long vacation so probably have some one drop by to feed the tank.

Going to hope I don't have anything crazy happen. lol I don't think I have ever read/heard a Hydor heater going nuts. Power shouldn't go off since it is summer and we are more likely going to hit a drought than have a power outage here.

 

I would suggest an HD camera. They aren't too bad for the wallet either.

Amazon.com: Microsoft LifeCam Cinema 720p HD Webcam (Black): Electronics

My dad uses this one for his laptop (not with the aquarium. lol), but it is pretty good quality too.

Amazon.com: Logitech 720p Webcam C310: Electronics

A more expensive one can be used through your home wireless router so it does not need to be near the computer.

Amazon.com: Cisco-Linksys Wireless-N Internet Home Monitoring Camera: Camera & Photo