What is your tanks # - how long can it last

[afamousjohnson]

I am heading to Greece for the month on January. Am trying to train my roommates to help it survive over the 28 days.

Any tips so I can avoid disaster?

Write everything down on diff sticky notes stuck in the area where that need takes place. I just got back from my trip and plan on posting a tank pic survive shot when the lights come on. The notes are still up and I'll get um in the pic too

 

[afamousjohnson]

The real question is how long can I leave the tank alone =P

How true that is!! lol Thanks for the great idea on new thread and poll

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

I can go 30 days and then i need to mix saltwater. With the Apex I run 2 Apex auto feeders to take care of the food.
Auto top off is controlled by solenoids that turn on the ro/di system to refill the top off container and turn it off when full.
Water changes are done with a Liter Meter III at a rate of 50 gallons a month with salinity probe to monitor tank via Apex.
Calcium Reactor for trace elements.
Skimmer has auto cleaner head to prolong cleaning cycles( after 30 days it is pretty gunked up)
UV Sterilizer runs and keeps my glass to where a mag float cleaning every two to three weeks keeps it clean.
Whole house generator for power outages.
It has been working out well with this set up and I knew that long term reefing becomes work ( although it is a passion, simplicity makes the hobby even more enjoyable!!)

****! Like a doomsday prepper for reef tanks. Lol!

 

[afamousjohnson]

Well the tank made it thru the away time. Left tue and got back last night - 5days. Had someone stop by 1/2 way thru to add water to ato res but think with the 20g res (to big but needed it this time) it would of made the whole 5 days. Got pretty dirty tho n a lot of coraline on the front glass.
Sticky notes for a non hobbiest tank sitter.lol

 

[Wags]

Write everything down on diff sticky notes stuck in the area where that need takes place. I just got back from my trip and plan on posting a tank pic survive shot when the lights come on. The notes are still up and I'll get um in the pic too

Wow, great idea I will definitely have to do this!

 

[P3FE]

I've been away from my tanks five months now and still have two more to go. With the help of my wife, which doesn't really care much about the tanks, everything still alive and I hope it can hold up for another two months. All she does is fill up ATO reservoir, do water changes once a month, feed the fish, and clean up the skimmer cup. I monitor everything with my APEX. So far it's working.

the picture is two weeks old

 

[fungia_fiend]

I'm at roughly 40 days fully automated. Water changes, topoff w/ kalk, feeding.

I have one problem fish though, a bangaii cardinal that will only eat frozen mysis.

 

[afamousjohnson]

looks great - tell her good job - months away - I woud go crazy.lol

 

[scardall]

I have 4 tanks, fresh,salt and reef. I have fish in all, other wise I could go longer than 2 days. If you had a reef with no fish to feed, then the water level in sump is your time factor. You could automate a feeding unit on the tanks with fish. wahhhh

 

[P3FE]

looks great - tell her good job - months away - I woud go crazy.lol

I am! Lol

 

[Eckolancer]

Just went a week and one of new favorite sps frags grew like an inch while I was away.
Last week

This week

 

[Gopi]

I have dogs so I trained my sitter/neighbor on topping off and feeding. If I could set up an ato and use my autofeeder from my fw tanks that could help.

 

[sbazain]

seven days

Seven days while I was in the hospital

 

[murjan]

Traveled for 20 days and did not touch the tank for the first week after. I have a very low tech setup, apart from the auto doser and a battery backup enough for 4 hours, the rest are a bunch of timers and mechanical float valves with big enough fresh water reservoir for 14 days in winter.

I found it much better than I expected it to be, corals are a bit bigger and happy, and all fishes are there, except for an issue with calcium level due to a mistake from me, nothing went bad and i seem to have made it on time before this affected anything. I had someone feed the tank every day and fill up the reservoir once and clean the glass once.

the skimmer was not cleaned and only emptied with a turkey baster. was too yucky for them. getting a cleaning head will be my next item and i think i will be able to go for about 40 days with this setup.

I was monitoring it for a few minutes every day with a 360 webcam so i could see both sump and display.

 

[afamousjohnson]

Leave to cozemul in 2 weeks to reset the batteries for 2015 so will update on that away from home as well. Will be 1 week n i have it set with a sitter to only check n do nothing to see if it will last the span. If there is a problem of course he will step in. But will be good for reference.

 

[afamousjohnson]

Got back last night. Tank made it the week and looked great when i got home. I didn't get an auto feeder so had my sitter do the feedings. He also topped the ato res at the end because he was nervous about it.lol but seems to of went smooth. Did have a phos blow up while i was gone? Think i know why (detritus disruption in FT) So will be taking care of that over the next 2 weeks but corals seem to love a certain level of phos so no biggie there.

 

[sawdonkey]

8-9 days in the summer when the humidity is higher, 6-7 days in the winter when the humidity is super low. I have a 16 gallon ATO reservoir.

Same for me. Total water of about 260 gal with about a 22 gallon ato/kalk tank. I usually have someone come by around day 5 and check on things and dump a few gas of premade rodi into my ATO. Also have them feed some nori and frozen.

I don't even sweat the 3-4 day trips like I'll be doing over the holidays. It's the 9-10 day trips out of the country that worry me.