Anyone have a travel heavy job with a reef tank?

[Jvesche20]

Hello,

2020 wasn't the best year for me when it came to reefing. Long story short I had to sell my tank and move out of where I was living. I was so sad to sell everything. But 2021 is going to be much better. I am moving to Miami, FL to start a new job. So it worked out in the end because taking a tank 1500 miles would have been way too hard. With that being said this new position that I have is a consulting job. Before there was a lot of travel but now that covid happened it's all remote and they aren't sure if it will go back to traveling.

Well, I wanted to see if anyone has a travel-heavy job and has a reef tank. If so how hard is it. I love reefing but I don't know how much this will impact my ability to keep up with the tank.

 

[ZoWhat]

Miami FL?

Dump the Reef Tank and take up scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing. Get out when you can and enjoy the Beach Life

But that's just me. I'd dump my tank overnight if I could just enjoy Marine Life in the real world

 

[TerraFerma]

It absolutely can, and without a Neptune. Never had any problems travelling 8+ weeks of the year the last decade. But it always wears on you while away. And when your coming home you have to give yourself a pep talk that if everything is toast it's going to be OK.

Only thing that almost got me a few years ago....had a filter sock about to overflow that I accidentally noticed night before a 12 day trip. Sump design meant water would have overflowed. So I just take socks out now before a trip...

I run a pretty simple setup nowadays to avoid problems while away

 

[pochaxoo]

Many years ago I had a heavy travel consulting job (80% plus travel) and tried keeping a reef tank but in the end the inability to be around led to poor maintenance of the aquarium. I would say when you are traveling Sunday to Thursday I would NOT advise it. When things go south in an aquarium and you realistically don't have the time to do the work to recover the tank it will leave you very bitter when you have things start dieing. If you had someone at home that loves it as much as you it might be a different story. I now have a job that travels 25 - 30% and is an entirely different story, in addition to pandemic work from home 100% made the start up phase very easy to manage. I suppose you could manage it if you had the time to setup and automate a ton of the aquarium however for me the husbandry is why it is fun. I wish you luck whatever you choose.

 

[mdb_talon]

I think in that scenario(been there before) you really need someone local you can trust to know about reef tanks. Maybe even an LFS that can do a service call.

With the various options for controllers, ato, automatic dosing, webcams, etc a tank will run itself.....up until something goes wrong. It inevitably will go wrong so you need someone to call beside the next door neighbor kid to come dump 20x the amount of food you told them to.

 

[PanchoG]

I completely relate to you, I traveled a lot before the pandemic and even left my tank in another country. If you are only going to be traveling often I would recommend you this:
1. Get a controller, it would be the best to react to an emergency. Set up all the alarms and safe programs in case of leaks, skimmer overflowing, etc.
2. Install a webcam so you can watch your tank in phone 24/7.
3. Do not go cheap in the equipment, the better the equipment the less problems.
4. Train someone to do normal husbandry or hire someone to do it. In my case I hire a friend from the LFS who is attending my tank.
5. Do frozen food, even if you have the auto feeder the food is basic to your reef health. Frozen food build up less phosphates as it takes longer to decompose.
6. Spare parts, if possible be prepared with some spare parts (return pump, wave makers, etc) also some battery powered air pumps or any other backup plan to face a power failure.

In my case is worthwhile because I love my tank and I enjoy working on it when I am home but we are all different.

 

[ca1ore]

40-50% travel before 2020 .... zero since .... don’t miss it either! You just have to plan for it and have contingencies. I decided that a standby generator was a necessity and had a reefing friend on standby (never needed fortunately). Apex is helpful, though ability to intervene is obviously limited. I also never, well almost never, was away for more than 5 days at a time.

 

[Jvesche20]

Miami FL?

Dump the Reef Tank and take up scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing. Get out when you can and enjoy the Beach Life

But that's just me. I'd dump my tank overnight if I could just enjoy Marine Life in the real world

haha, that's what I was thinking. Cant wait to be able to afford a boat and go scuba diving all the time. I love the ocean that's why I chose Miami out of all the locations the company offered.

 

[Jmcg89]

I work as a merchant mariner and travel 30 days at a time for the time being.
I have a wifi camera set up so i can watch the tank as well as the sump.
Skimmer with a drain helps as its one less thing for the gf to have to take apart.
I also skip any felt or filter socks when im gone (try to simplify as much as possible)
Also run a Feeder 2 times a day.
I Have my dad who lives close by and can handle any larger issues that may arise.
I also have a good sized top off reservoir that lasts almost 2 weeks and is set up so theres just one valve to turn on for my gf to refill it.
Have a generator ready to go too.
So its def do able! But boy it can be stressful
I wouldnt be able to do it without a girlfriend who enjoys the tank also i dont think.

 

[Jmcg89]

A side note i just upgraded from a 60 to a 180 so i have a smaller fish and coral load for the new system which is giving me some more stability

 

[Jmcg89]

I also run a herbie style overflow with 4 1 inch drains and a dual lockline return over the back close to the surface that breaks the siphon without any holes or anything to have to clean.
Ive tried closing differnt drains as well to try and simulate blockages which gives me the peace of mind about overflowing the sump or running the sump dry.

 

[Agirgen]

I travel three months on, three months off. GF takes care of the routine stuff like feeding, changing the filter socks and the skimmer cup. I have the lfs come in and do a water change and other maintenance once a month. I know them pretty well so if there was an emergency, I could probably get someone from the store to do a short notice, unscheduled visit. I have automated as much as possible with an apex. I guess the biggest thing for me is leaving with the mindset that I might come home to a dead tank. Knock on wood, this hasn't happened... But I'm always prepared for it. Also, do a wired connection for the apex, the wifi connectivity for that thing is really bad imo. Mine use to constantly fall off the network and not reconnect without some sort of human intervention.