What do you do when you go on vacation?

Hi everyone! I was just wondering what people do when they go on vacation. I'm not worried about the lighting, since I have an automatic timer. Or the feeding, since I have an automatic feeder (though I think it overfeeds the 3 small fish I have in the tank). However, what do you do with A) emptying the collection cup on the protein skimmer (aquaC remora to be exact) and B) topping off the tank with fresh water??? I'm going on a 5 day vacation and I'm afraid when I return everything will be messed up. What do YOU do?

 

I have an automatic top off so I don't worry about that. I also have a friend and fellow reefer stop by the house every few days to check on the system and to empty the skimmer

 

Often wonder myself what i would do. I dont have an autotop off and i go through about a gallon a day of evap. My lights are on timers like yourself. But what about dosing chems. Is there anything out there that would allow you to dose slowly?

Are those feeders good for anything other than flake food?

 

Not really, the automatic feeder just pretty much dumps a bunch of flakes into the aquarium. I try not to use it when I'm home because I don't want to be overfeeding.

 

You can drill a hole on the collection cup to auto empty it into a large bucket
or skimmate container. And you can use auto top off like mentioned.

 

auto top offs rule, i have used 1 for about 10 years, i also put most of my supplements in the top off water so it does it automatically

 

which auto top off brand/product are you using?

 

I built mine with a 10 gal aquarium and old power head and a $7.00 float switch from a electrical supply store. All told everything cost less than $20.00 and it works like a top.

 

CPR sells the Remora with a predrilled and threaded colection cup and a threaded elbow to which you can attach tygon tubing. You can 1) order the elbow from their retail devision amekaaquatics.com and then drill or have someone drill and thread the hole [bottom of the hole is about 1/2 " from the bottom of the cup. You don't want it at the very bottom because you won't be able to slide the cup down far enough.] or 2) you can order a new predrilled cup with the elbow. I have my tubing going into an old drinking water bottle. A friend of mine uses a milk jug.

 

I don't go on vacation....LOL