Going on vacation

[Lavey29]

So I'm going on vacation for a week and planning on doing a lot of what Patrick does all day. Kind of nervous, have my neighbor fish sitting. Showed him how to feed frozen twice a day. Hoping my 10g ATO will be enough but I also showed him how to add RODI. I think he will do a good job but I always think about What if" like the skimmer going crazy, doser issue, etc... it may be hard to relax in paradise but hopefully a bunch of Mia tias will help. I showed him how to empty the skimmer and adjust it if needed.

Anything important I should remind him about?

 

[KrisReef]

Cell phone number for 1-800-holypoo?

 

[Lavey29]

Cell phone number for 1-800-holypoo?

That's a confidence building reply. I told my neighbor his payment will be performance based on results upon my return home. No 30 pack upfront.

 

[KrisReef]

That's a confidence building reply. I told my neighbor his payment will be performance based on results upon my return home. No 30 pack upfront.

I have a local friend who my wife calls if I am away and the tank goes sideways. She calls him if/when it hits the fan. Otherwise, she calls me and we try and work out any tank issues over the phone. Point is to have connections locally to work out the best options if it goes south while you are away.

 

[ying yang]

I tell my mother in law who feeds my tank as I'm away, to keep check of temp ,just little £5 glass thermoter stuck to front glass and if high or low ring me,also got all plugs labelled up so if I tell her pull plug on something she knows exactly which one off the umpteen plugs that's plugged in lol

Edit: forgot to add I hide all the food and bag up 2 feeds each day in little mini zip tie bag thingies so no chance she feels sorry for fish and over feeds.
Seriously I hide the clams and oysters that I feed to fish in boxes off hamburgers and the likes in freezer and all dried food gets moved out off sight

 

[Lavey29]

I have a local friend who my wife calls if I am away and the tank goes sideways. She calls him if/when it hits the fan. Otherwise, she calls me and we try and work out any tank issues over the phone. Point is to have connections locally to work out the best options if it goes south while you are away.

I'm pretty tight with my LFS a few miles away but not sure he could leave the shop at a moments notice.

 

[Lavey29]

I tell my mother in law who feeds my tank as I'm away, to keep check of temp ,just little £5 glass thermoter stuck to front glass and if high or low ring me,also got all plugs labelled up so if I tell her pull plug on something she knows exactly which one off the umpteen plugs that's plugged in lol

Edit: forgot to add I hide all the food and bag up 2 feeds each day in little mini zip tie bag thingies so no chance she feels sorry for fish and over feeds.
Seriously I hide the clams and oysters that I feed to fish in boxes off hamburgers and the likes in freezer and all dried food gets moved out off sight

Yes temp is a concern. I will remind him of that...thanks

 

[Eagle_Steve]

When I go out of town, here is what I do (I will notmention food, as I use auto feeders when away.

I set my skimmer to a more dry skim, just in case.
Make sure my ATO and dosing containers are full.
Clean all of my pumps a couple of weeks before the trip

That is it. I try not to make any changes to anything less than 2 weeks before I leave. The skimmer going to a bit more of a dry skim does usually mean a slight increase in no3 while away, but it has nver been anything outside of where I keep my tank. If I am at 5 NO3 before I leave, it has never been above 10 when I get back. I just set the skimmer back to where it should be and in a week, things level back out to where they were before I left.

 

[fish farmer]

How would your tank fare without a return pump if equipped? Can they replace that?

 

[knockout]

I never have anyone fish my tanks, a) fish can live without you feeding them for a while there is usually plenty of food the can scavenge for
b) people never follow directions, they see fish wanting more and guess what they feed more
C) if you most feed, use an automatic feeder, this is what I use on a daily basis, I consider my extra feedings treats and they love me for it


If you absolutely have to have a friend feed the tank then what I have done is pre set each meal in a separate container and label each for each day and tell the feeder person if they skipped a feeding don't make up by double feeding the next day just skip it
Hope this helps

 

[Dbichler]

Make your rodi yourself so they don’t leave it on and flood the place. 5 gallon bucket tell him/her just fill the container back up when half way down. Feed heavily before and tell your sitter less is more.

 

[Lavey29]

When I go out of town, here is what I do (I will notmention food, as I use auto feeders when away.

I set my skimmer to a more dry skim, just in case.
Make sure my ATO and dosing containers are full.
Clean all of my pumps a couple of weeks before the trip

That is it. I try not to make any changes to anything less than 2 weeks before I leave. The skimmer going to a bit more of a dry skim does usually mean a slight increase in no3 while away, but it has nver been anything outside of where I keep my tank. If I am at 5 NO3 before I leave, it has never been above 10 when I get back. I just set the skimmer back to where it should be and in a week, things level back out to where they were before I left.

I dry skim all the time anyways.

 

[Lavey29]

How would your tank fare without a return pump if equipped? Can they replace that?

Well no, that would be a bummer.

 

[Lavey29]

So my vacation update from my fish sitter is great. No issues at all except he messed up my alarm system and got a nice police encounter but that's on him as long as my tank is ok. Skimmer running dry hardly any cup liquid which I'm fine with. Coral and fish in maui really declining it seems unfortunately.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

So my vacation update from my fish sitter is great. No issues at all except he messed up my alarm system and got a nice police encounter but that's on him as long as my tank is ok. Skimmer running dry hardly any cup liquid which I'm fine with. Coral and fish in maui really declining it seems unfortunately.

Since I cannot do 2 things in the "like" section of your post.

First part.

Second part

 

[Lavey29]

Since I cannot do 2 things in the "like" section of your post.

First part.

Second part

I used to see 100s of fish and lots of coral here years ago now snorkeling various reefs we saw dozens of fish and a lot of dead bleached coral. Water wasn't as clear either but a storm passed through last weekend.

 

[Lavey29]

Well got back from a week in maui. Wow I am beat, I thought vacation was to relax but I feel exhausted. I was really glad to see my tank looked great. Just a few loose frags from some snail bumps. Really not much film algae on the glass either after a week which was surprising to me also. My neighbor did a great job for me.