Anyone else Stressed Out Prepping Tank for Xmas Vacation?

[bar|none]

Glass will be fine. Better to clean it up yourself later than worry about things getting knocked loose. It’s not going to hurt anything if it gets dirty, it just doesn’t look as nice.

Awesome advise as well. Either not clean or maybe just the front glass so I can see in. Or camera top view instead.

 

[Magellan]

That's what I have done in the past. Honestly, 10 days? What do you think? I'm not as chill as you guys that know what will actually happen with your tanks.

It will be just fine! Fish will need to be fed at least a couple of times, and I don’t know how long your ATO reservoir lasts but that might need to be topped off/refilled. Skimmer cup potentially emptied, but other than that I would definitely take the “less is more” approach with having someone inexperienced do things to your tank. Just make sure everything is good to go and clearly labeled before you leave. Have her FaceTime you before doing anything and you can really get some peace of mind. (wireless camera would work great too!)

 

[DivingTheWorld]

Make sure your ATO reservoir has enough water. Hardwire your Apex with an extension cable. Assemble any food which will be fed to the tank in individual (once per visit) ziplocks so someone doesn't think Nemo needs extra food. Looks like you have most of the other stuff figured out. It's always stressful leaving a tank, but our last vacation (post Alkatronic install) was much less stressful. I was able to tweak dosers remotely and kept Alk steady!

 

[Dine]

Leave the glass. Just imagine how satisfying it will be to clean it when you get back. I agree with the Less is more approach. Pre measure the food, fill ATO, show her where RODI water is kept and that’s it.

 

[krash7172]

7-10 days is no prob. Make sure it's 100% when you leave. I actually prefer to have the sitter feed less while I am away. I use a weekly medicine pill box to portion food according to the schedule I want. Like the cheap plastic ones. Most tanks can go a week or more without frozen/live food. I personally have my LFS pro check on the tank half way through my vaca. I leave a note with instructions with all contact info for any emergencies - power failure, water on floor, cloudy water, dead fish, etc...

 

[ScottR]

I’m concerned about my ATO. Our weather has been severely dry and my ATO container isn’t big enough. I’m not sure it will last 10 days. I’ll need to rig a bigger container before I take off and hope all goes well.

 

[Terri Caton]

Nope. Hired a professional to come take care of it while I'm gone.

 

[Victor Nguyen]

I am a consultant and I travel a lot. I'd recommend Wyze cameras ($25). They are cheap and the app is really good to live stream your tank.

 

[Jwoott]

I wouldn’t worry about anyone cleaning the glass. It being dirty won’t hurt anything, plus you eliminate one less thing that can go wrong by things being knocked into/off.

 

[Diznaster]

No way I'd let anyone clean my glass, I put a little scratch in it once early on. Learned the value of being more careful because I get mad at myself whenever I see it. It's tiny and nobody else would probably notice it, but I know its there.

As for going 10 days without touching my tank. I do that all the time even when home and now I feel like a slacker. I do have a pretty high amount of automation though. Skimmer cup gets flushed out with water change waste water and pumped to the sewer daily, ATO reservoir auto refills, AFS, level sensors everywhere and alarms for anything I can imagine. My biggest fear is power outage. I have a battery backup that can detect the outage and run flow at a low state with an air pump for about 8 hours. I have a generator that can run almost my entire house, but I need to start it manually and flip the transfer switch. I'm not willing to spend the $ for a NG auto standby generator, so old Murphy and his laws will probably find me on vacation someday. I've lost power for 1-2 days twice in the last 15 years (so maybe 1:2000 odds?). I could probably talk a neighbor thru starting my generator and let them enjoy TV and heat as long as the outage persists.

 

[aquatic engineer]

I'm in the same boat. Had my tank up for about 10 months and this is my first vacation without a family member to watch the tank. House sitter will check on tank every 2-3 days. I showed him how to test alk and salinity just as spot checks once per week in case I need to adjust, and he will empty the skimmer. Running the rollermat, so no need to rinse filter socks. Redundant heaters and a backup return pump in the box if a swap out became necessary.

I have most things on smart plugs, but no reef controller yet. I did put cameras on the sump and the display tank to catch any issues. Feeders are on automatic for pellet and flake separately. Not sure what else I can do, but have that sick feeling in the pit of the stomach that something is bound to go wrong if I'm not coddling the tank every day. ;Dead

Sure hope the power doesn't go out...

 

[Sidius]

Not to worry you more but I have had to leave on a few lengthy trips this year (10-14 days each time) and every time, something seems to go wrong. In all cases, I sat down and went through everything with them, pre-measured food, left a checklist, etc.

I had my wife feeding the tank for a couple of those trips and she forgot to feed for several days, then fed A LOT because she thought they might be extra hungry (even though I specifically told her not to do that). Came back to a cyano explosion and no3 of 50+, po4 over 1. One of the trips, I had an experienced freshwater buddy come by and feed/take care of things. He decided to go on an impromptu 6 day fishing trip in the middle of my trip and didn't tell me. Tank went 6 days without food or attention and I came home to corals that were really unhappy (I'm unsure if a hermit crab or fish was picking at them but my acans were retracted and barely showing any flesh).

Each time, a little elbow grease, a few extra water changes and/or some extra TLC brought everything back to normal again.

 

[bar|none]

I had my wife feeding the tank for a couple of those trips and she forgot to feed for several days, then fed A LOT because she thought they might be extra hungry (even though I specifically told her not to do that)....

lol. She was getting rid of the evidence by dumping it into the tank.

 

[bar|none]

ok it's go time.

Here's my OC List

Fish tank vacation list

Emergency main pump -DONE
1 gallon salt water replacement container - DONE
Setup auto feed - DONE
1 gallon reefbot waste container - DONE
Empty waste reefbot + trident
Clean glass
Fill reefbot - DONE
Setup wyze camera - DONE
Change oil in generator and test - DONE

Empty skimmer - tune dry skim
Put algae magnet scaper on front glass
Setup fill and test autofeeder - DONE
Test salinity -DONE
Fill ato - DONE
Clean macro fuge - DONE
Dose triton traces - DONE
Add chaeto grow - DONE
Make daily food rations - DONE
Backup Heater in display - DONE

Pet sitter is just cleaning enough front glass (not edges) for WYZE camera to see in.

 

[Magellan]

Your tank is lucky to have you!!

 

[bar|none]

Your prep is good except I would honestly not do the Autofeeder. Too many potential problems. I tried more than a few times and almost every time something went wrong, especially in the amounts that a small tank would need. Either doses nothing or too much or worse case dumps the entire contents into the tank. If you have food in the cups and someone feeding it is way more reliable.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Maybe Santa could stop by your tank and check on it for you maybe drop some fish or coral in their for you haha. But your tank looks like it'll be set and ready to go for the holiday!!

 

[KristineV]

Great advise thx. Unfortunately the LFS is 1.5 hrs away on a good day. I prob need to find another reefer nearby.

Where are you located?

 

[KenBabich]

The one thing I do think is an issue is if I get her to clean the glass and she knocks an ecotech off the side of the tank. Hard to get reattached without killing the pump. She could try to call me but...

I think I want to do one mod before I go. A manual switch inside the cabinet to switch into Feed Mode. Thinking can do this with a simple switch and FMM module.

What if she knocks her dentures into the tank?

 

[Mortgaged Reefs]

6 mo old tank and I've been working up to this. A few days away here, a few there.

But honestly, coming up on 10 days away and I have a lot invested. Tank (Reefer 170) has a lot of frag acros, doing well but I test daily.

Have a reliable live in house sitter but they know jack about reef tank. They have done my few tasks before though.
Feed prepped food daily
Empty skimmer cup

I've been automating as much as possible.

Here's my prep
1. Neptune APEX, Dosing and Trident running
2. Little cups in freezer with food for each day
3. Autofeeder can adjust remote (Neptune)
4. Maintenance before leaving
- Water change
- ICP Test
- Dosing setup
- Trident waste empty
.. actually this would be a long list for me

I feel like I need to teach them how to clean the glass. Thoughts?

I just make sure feeder had food and ATO reservoir is full. That’s about it for me.