A Young Reefer
Valuable Member
Yep running it 24/7/365, thankfully 0 fails so far. It’s a pretty cheap one too.
I just change the battery a few days before I leave.
How are you prepping for vacation away from your reef aquarium? GIVE US THREE THINGS
- QUESTION OF THE DAY
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I just change the battery a few days before I leave.
I would love a link to it!
Auto feeders kind of terrify me with all the horror stories
gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
I have two eheim feeders one at each end of the tank, and they feed alternately.
Just in in case one fails.
The feeders are modified so they can be controlled externally.
Starganderfish
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I live in Australia and my tank is inside an insulated garage so even in winter, water temps will stay relatively stable for a few days in case power goes down.
Everything else: lights, wavemaker, dosing pump, fuge lighting etc is already automated on built-in timers or Smart power plugs, so runs fine without intervention. Daily water changes combined with a well stocked chaeto refugium and a robust cleanup crew of snails, pods, shrimp, sand-sifting gobies and an abalone keep the tank looking nice and clean anyway so there's minimal extra effort. The only real addition needed for a holiday is to dig out the auto feeder and top off the reservoirs.
The key essentials to feel secure are:
1) Zacro Automatic Feeder - mix up a combination of dry pellet's and calibrate it to feed fairly lightly, twice daily. With a reduced amount of food, the inhabitants are perfectly happy for a few weeks.
2) AutoAqua Smart AWC Duo - It's permanently set to perform small 1% water changes on a daily basis. Waste line is plumbed directly to the drain, the fresh water and saltwater intakes connect to sufficiently large reservoirs to meet the needs of however long the holiday is. I run this permanently anyways and never perform manual water changes, and my water is stable, and minimal nitrates/phosphates. For a holiday I just need to ensure the reservoirs are full before we leave.
3) USB powered 5V micro pump pointed at the surface and connected to a 10k MAH battery pack. The pack is continually charged off mains and drives the pump. If power fails, the battery takes over and continues to drive the pump, agitating the surface and creating sufficient oxygen exchange to maintain the tank inhabitants. Battery is sufficient for 2-3 days.
Last holiday we took was for 8 days and the power went down for 6 hours on day 3. The battery kicked on and the pump aerated the water, Everything else kicked back on after power returned and the tank was in perfect shape on my return, We rarely experience an outage of more than 6-8 hours so a battery is sufficient for almost all cases.
Everything else: lights, wavemaker, dosing pump, fuge lighting etc is already automated on built-in timers or Smart power plugs, so runs fine without intervention. Daily water changes combined with a well stocked chaeto refugium and a robust cleanup crew of snails, pods, shrimp, sand-sifting gobies and an abalone keep the tank looking nice and clean anyway so there's minimal extra effort. The only real addition needed for a holiday is to dig out the auto feeder and top off the reservoirs.
The key essentials to feel secure are:
1) Zacro Automatic Feeder - mix up a combination of dry pellet's and calibrate it to feed fairly lightly, twice daily. With a reduced amount of food, the inhabitants are perfectly happy for a few weeks.
2) AutoAqua Smart AWC Duo - It's permanently set to perform small 1% water changes on a daily basis. Waste line is plumbed directly to the drain, the fresh water and saltwater intakes connect to sufficiently large reservoirs to meet the needs of however long the holiday is. I run this permanently anyways and never perform manual water changes, and my water is stable, and minimal nitrates/phosphates. For a holiday I just need to ensure the reservoirs are full before we leave.
3) USB powered 5V micro pump pointed at the surface and connected to a 10k MAH battery pack. The pack is continually charged off mains and drives the pump. If power fails, the battery takes over and continues to drive the pump, agitating the surface and creating sufficient oxygen exchange to maintain the tank inhabitants. Battery is sufficient for 2-3 days.
Last holiday we took was for 8 days and the power went down for 6 hours on day 3. The battery kicked on and the pump aerated the water, Everything else kicked back on after power returned and the tank was in perfect shape on my return, We rarely experience an outage of more than 6-8 hours so a battery is sufficient for almost all cases.
Starganderfish
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There will be soon. I'm keenly waiting for this to become available to the genral public and to see how it stands up to genuine users
the aF4, the world's first and only frozen fish food feeder.
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Sean Clark
7500 Club Member
Dont change a thing. Don't change your thermostat and Don't let Google know that you are leaving. The money you may save in energy will be lost in livestock. Setup your auto feeder weeks in advance to ensure that you have the feed rate correct. Go on vacation and then while you are on vacation you can freek out about how your reef is doing. Best to check on it every few minutes. Your partner won't even notice.
I travel often, I guess the longest was a few days over 6 weeks. I keep 100 gallons of top off water, I have a dog sitter that come and takes care of the dog. I have him give them frozen food 1 time a week. I watch it with my Apex and a pan and tilt camera. When I am home I rarely feed frozen and never feed dry food except Nori.
A Young Reefer
Valuable Member
I am living outside the states, couldn't find it on amazon.com.
however I found it on another site; https://bigamart.com/product/automatic-feeder/
dophin af012 is the model name.
tony'stank
Active Member
1. Fill and check autofeeder
2. check ATO and ATO reservoir
3. Set up airstones and air pump (air pump has built-in battery backup in case of power failur
4. Make sure tank webcamera is working properly so I can see my tank to checkup on it
2. check ATO and ATO reservoir
3. Set up airstones and air pump (air pump has built-in battery backup in case of power failur
4. Make sure tank webcamera is working properly so I can see my tank to checkup on it
Freddy0144
Active Member
So with the current tank, there was no live stock in the tank, however in the past this is what I have done. My Mother In-Law watches the tank for us.
1.) write instructions for daily feeding.
2.) make sure ATO will have sufficient water for the time we are gone.
3.) make sure two part has sufficient volumes for while we are gone.
4.) post the name and number of local reef shop that will do home visits in case something goes wrong
My LFS is actually a shop that primarily sets up and maintains tanks for commercial business such as the dentist office etc. So their willingness to do a house call while out of town is just awesome.
1.) write instructions for daily feeding.
2.) make sure ATO will have sufficient water for the time we are gone.
3.) make sure two part has sufficient volumes for while we are gone.
4.) post the name and number of local reef shop that will do home visits in case something goes wrong
My LFS is actually a shop that primarily sets up and maintains tanks for commercial business such as the dentist office etc. So their willingness to do a house call while out of town is just awesome.
1) Fill ATOs
2) Pre-cut frozen food & Nori portions
3) Brief dog/tank-sitter in-person the day before departure - follow up with written instructions via SMS
2) Pre-cut frozen food & Nori portions
3) Brief dog/tank-sitter in-person the day before departure - follow up with written instructions via SMS
A Young Reefer
Valuable Member
Just came back from the trip, tank looks fantastic tons of sps growth. Had one loss involving a favia that fell on the sand bed and a slight Aiptasia problem, other than that tank looks great.
ScubaFish802
Just keep swimming
I also just got back from being away for 5 days (4 nights). I have a wyze camera aimed at my tank. Neptune is hooked up to alert my phone - including the new leak sensor. I slept pretty well at night!
I set up the auto feeder but never actually turned it on since a friend stopped by each day.
I set up the auto feeder but never actually turned it on since a friend stopped by each day.
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