ZoWhat
7500 Club Member
Spent 15 days away from my tank.
Came home, no loss of anything
6ft 180g LPS tank
Pink tail Trigger
Powder Brown Tang
Blue Hippo Tang
5 Blkbar Chromis
How:
* Apex - couldn't have done it without it. Lighting, heating, sump pump, PHs, everything mechanical/electrical ran from programming within Apex. Even a constant ATO
* Apex monitoring using my Android. Checked all my parameters in the morning and evening while on vacation using the Apex monitoring thru my cellphone. I setup alarms. Had my mom and family on standby
* Wyze cameras. Had four cameras setup and watched live and recorded video of DT and sump thru my cellphone
* Premeasured food and dosing items in INDIVIDUAL 2oz plastic cups with lids. Every daily cup was then put in individual zip lock bags and 15'ish days of bags put in the refrigerator
* Hired my neighbors kid that's a Freshman in HS to come over each day, take 1 zip lock bag out of fridge and DUMP the exact contents of the thtee individual cups into the DT around 10am each day. She didn't miss a day as I setup motion detection on Wyze cams to alert when someone was on front of DT. she simply dumped three 2oz cups in daily and I had a small waste basket for her to throw away the days ziplock bag and three cups. K.i.s.s keep it simple stupid..NO NEED TO EXPLAIN TO HER WHY AND WHAT SHE WAS DOING.. Dump 3 cups and leave.
* Came home to quote a bit of algae on glass, as I opted not to have the neighbors kid clean the glass. Which could lead to knocking stuff over. K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid. Glass never got too covered that I couldn't see on camera fish swimming around.
Keys to success?
* Apex preprogrammed and running for months prior to leaving. I.e..stable running Apex weeks and months prior to leaving.
* Leaving AIR CONDITIONING ON during my whole time away. I changed nothing so ambient temp was constant
* Hiring a young adult to do the K.I.S.S. task consistently. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THERE'S USUALLY A HS KID WHO WALKS DOGS FOR MONEY. THAT'S THE PERSON TO HIRE BC THEY UNDERSTAND ABOUT BEING COMMITTED AND CONSISTENT. I prefer hiring HS kids over adults bc adults get busy with adult responsibilities to the point that they lay their head on the pillow at 11pm and say "CRAP! I totally forgot to go feed that neighbors stupid fish tank". Plus adult neighbors will SNOOP around your house. Kids dont care about that stuff. Kids want to do the task and leave.
* DO NOT go into a dissertation to your Helper why they are doing what they are doing. You will intimidate and scare the bejeebers out of them. Make a system where they take one ziplock bag and dump individual plastic cups. And leave. You gotta make it a very simple task.
* Reinforce with your Helper that any loss is NOT their fault and they are not responsible for any chaos. They are hired to perform their simple task, not to guarantee that nothing will go wrong. Give them a open line of communication thru texts to alert you of anything that they feel is "off" or looks strange or different
Came home, no loss of anything
6ft 180g LPS tank
Pink tail Trigger
Powder Brown Tang
Blue Hippo Tang
5 Blkbar Chromis
How:
* Apex - couldn't have done it without it. Lighting, heating, sump pump, PHs, everything mechanical/electrical ran from programming within Apex. Even a constant ATO
* Apex monitoring using my Android. Checked all my parameters in the morning and evening while on vacation using the Apex monitoring thru my cellphone. I setup alarms. Had my mom and family on standby
* Wyze cameras. Had four cameras setup and watched live and recorded video of DT and sump thru my cellphone
* Premeasured food and dosing items in INDIVIDUAL 2oz plastic cups with lids. Every daily cup was then put in individual zip lock bags and 15'ish days of bags put in the refrigerator
* Hired my neighbors kid that's a Freshman in HS to come over each day, take 1 zip lock bag out of fridge and DUMP the exact contents of the thtee individual cups into the DT around 10am each day. She didn't miss a day as I setup motion detection on Wyze cams to alert when someone was on front of DT. she simply dumped three 2oz cups in daily and I had a small waste basket for her to throw away the days ziplock bag and three cups. K.i.s.s keep it simple stupid..NO NEED TO EXPLAIN TO HER WHY AND WHAT SHE WAS DOING.. Dump 3 cups and leave.
* Came home to quote a bit of algae on glass, as I opted not to have the neighbors kid clean the glass. Which could lead to knocking stuff over. K.I.S.S. keep it simple stupid. Glass never got too covered that I couldn't see on camera fish swimming around.
Keys to success?
* Apex preprogrammed and running for months prior to leaving. I.e..stable running Apex weeks and months prior to leaving.
* Leaving AIR CONDITIONING ON during my whole time away. I changed nothing so ambient temp was constant
* Hiring a young adult to do the K.I.S.S. task consistently. IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD THERE'S USUALLY A HS KID WHO WALKS DOGS FOR MONEY. THAT'S THE PERSON TO HIRE BC THEY UNDERSTAND ABOUT BEING COMMITTED AND CONSISTENT. I prefer hiring HS kids over adults bc adults get busy with adult responsibilities to the point that they lay their head on the pillow at 11pm and say "CRAP! I totally forgot to go feed that neighbors stupid fish tank". Plus adult neighbors will SNOOP around your house. Kids dont care about that stuff. Kids want to do the task and leave.
* DO NOT go into a dissertation to your Helper why they are doing what they are doing. You will intimidate and scare the bejeebers out of them. Make a system where they take one ziplock bag and dump individual plastic cups. And leave. You gotta make it a very simple task.
* Reinforce with your Helper that any loss is NOT their fault and they are not responsible for any chaos. They are hired to perform their simple task, not to guarantee that nothing will go wrong. Give them a open line of communication thru texts to alert you of anything that they feel is "off" or looks strange or different
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