Getting ready for vacation (extensional dread)

[BanjoBandito]

I'm going on a week long vacation....so 7-8 days. I plan on a good water change prior to leaving, but my tank is small so I have to be reeeeeeaaaaal careful about feeding or my phosphates will run up. I cannot run a media reactor 24/7 because it'll take me down to 0 phos pretty quickly. I use it more of a "spot fix" for phosphates. So my question is this - Can this tank go that long without feeding? It's a 12 gallon w/ pistol shrimp w/ yellow watchman, geometric pygmy hawk and a neon goby. Plus a boatload of coral and some rock nems, and a mini max nem. My standard feed for a DAY is about 1/3 cube frozen mysis (usually soaked in selcon), reef bugs. Any suggestions? I don't want to find someone to feed my tank with the caveat that they have to test PHOS prior and after then run GFO for X number of hours.

 

[Saltyreef]

No time to get an autofeeder primed from amazon to feed some pellets while youre gone?

Ive left my fish unfed for 6+ days without any major issues....maybe some bullying but thats about it.

 

[youcallmenny1]

I also use an autofeeder with pellets. It goes off once a day, every day. If I'm away from the tank for any length of time and can't also feed my daily frozen and nori then I can bump the pellets up to 2x or even 3x a day as needed. My tank is much larger though so you'd probably need time to fine tune it to your nutrient needs but maybe something to think about for future trips. Have a great vacation!

 

[BanjoBandito]

I've had AWFUL experiences with automatic fish feeders. They never seem to work right regardless of "quality". I'm just not a fan. I could have someone just sprinkle some pellets in probably 2 or 3 times while I'm gone? It's the phosphate spike I'm concerned about and trying to explain "appropriate levels" to the person feeding the tank. Almost rather just let it run with no food. Maybe I'll just add a boatload of copepods and isopods in before I leave?

 

[youcallmenny1]

Fair enough! For what it's worth though I've literally never had an issue with the Eheim ones and I've used one every single day for over five years at this point. I too would be very apprehensive trying to have someone understand nutrients.

 

[BanjoBandito]

I don't think this is any surprise to anyone that has a reef tank, but I have a TON of money and time invested into this tank...it would crush me if something went wrong while I was away!!!!!

 

[Saltyreef]

Fair enough! For what it's worth though I've literally never had an issue with the Eheim ones and I've used one every single day for over five years at this point. I too would be very apprehensive trying to have someone understand nutrients.

Yep i use the eheim too.
Forget its even feeding them until my fish "roll" out of the water and splash around to let me know its time to to refill the pellets lol.

 

[Saltyreef]

I don't think this is any surprise to anyone that has a reef tank, but I have a TON of money and time invested into this tank...it would crush me if something went wrong while I was away!!!!!

You cant avoid everything.
Every piece of equipment you have will eventually fail.

TBH your fish feeder person is theoretically more capible of complete destruction vs an auto feeder.....

 

[BanjoBandito]

You cant avoid everything.
Every piece of equipment you have will eventually fail.

TBH your fish feeder person is theoretically more capible of complete destruction vs an auto feeder.....

You aren't helping calm my nerves here Salty....

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Why not just appropriately portion out two or three food servings and be done with it?

 

[tehmadreefer]

I leave on 8/21 for a 8 day cruise! Guess what ima do? Fill 8 gallons of rodi for my ato on my 60g and enjoy my vacation. That’s it, nothing more.

FYI, never do a water change right before a vacay.

 

[Saltyreef]

You aren't helping calm my nerves here Salty....

Oh im sorry.

The autofeeder will be just fine.

Otherwise the above comment by saucy will work too.

Ive had people feed my tank in the past with pre portioned ziplock bags of pellets.
Just dump in the whole bag.

 

[BanjoBandito]

Oh im sorry.

The autofeeder will be just fine.

Otherwise the above comment by saucy will work too.

Ive had people feed my tank in the past with pre portioned ziplock bags of pellets.
Just dump in the whole bag.

So...it's funny you say that...I was considering getting a "pill safe" and divvying out daily "servings" in it and just having someone dump and go. I just haven't figured how to keep the frozen good, wonder if I could refrig thawed mysis for a few days without repercussions?

 

[tehmadreefer]

I’ll even bring back some rock to add to my tank for biodiversity from Aruba, curaçao and the Dominican Republic

 

[Jon's Reef]

Why not just appropriately portion out two or three food servings and be done with it?

+1 on this. Also, get something like this.

 

[Saltyreef]

So...it's funny you say that...I was considering getting a "pill safe" and divvying out daily "servings" in it and just having someone dump and go. I just haven't figured how to keep the frozen good, wonder if I could refrig thawed mysis for a few days without repercussions?

Sounds like you need a reefcicle lol.