No Place Like Reef: How do you keep your reef happy when you're away?

[AlyciaMarie]

It's that time of year! Holidays are in full swing, and traveling to see family and friends is quickly approaching. But what about our reefs? Luckily, with the newest reefing automation technology, many reefers can travel with a little less stress. Still, even that isn't feasible for everyone, especially when traveling for long periods. Let's share our solution to keeping the reef happy and stable when traveling!

How do you keep your reef happy when you're away?

 

[shakacuz]

on occasion, depending the length away from the tank - i have a family member tend to it periodically. for the most part i tried keeping things automated except feeding, and dosing. i made both feeding/dosing as simple for the person tending to the tank.

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

this is a good thread to keep us on our toes if you aren't auto dosing or auto feeding. No matter what, its probably good practice to have someone look at your tank while you are away. Luckily I have family nearby.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

We have a house sitter and cameras for our tank when we are out of town!

 

[kdx7214]

We don't have the money to travel, so it isn't a concern for us.

 

[Imrahilwjz]

I have brothers who live nearby. Last July while we were away I put frozen food in used algaebarn jars. He came by twice a day to check on the tank and feed the fish. I think he may have topped it off with RODI water once. Our trip was relatively short, so no water change needed

 

[Reefer Matt]

I rarely travel. If I do, three days is the max. One of my daughters feeds the fish.

 

[exnisstech]

I stay home. I don't like traveling so now I use the tanks as an excuse not to. Anytime something happens that would be catastrophic if I were gone I tell my Gal "see if that happened while we were away we would come home to a watery grave yard."

 

[PharmrJohn]

When we retire, I'll have my tank FULLY automated. For weekend trips, I'll leave it alone. For a week long trip, I'll have the neighbor look at it. For those trips a month or longer, I'll have both the neighbor look in on it and the LFS come in to do what needs to be done weekly. I'll have phone access to everything and a camera to boot.

 

[KrisReef]

I just unplug my tanks as I walk out of the house and if I happen to make it back then I start over. I thought this is what everyone does?

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I hire a marine biologist to come in twice a day and follow a list of protocols. You can actually get them pretty cheap... I don't think they get paid well in their industry if at all...

 

[RockRash]

Last "vacation" we took was 2 years ago to move our daughter to Arizona for school. That was for 3 days and we didn't have tank at the time. If I had to guess in the last 10 years we have maybe spent 8 day away from home. We have horses, 3 dogs, 3 barn cats and soon to be 2 tanks. Adding the fact I'm self employed and am always "on call" we hardly ever leave for more than a few hours/ day or 2. Living in southern California makes it nice we can take a day trip to knott's, Disneyland,SeaWorld the mountains or beaches. Last month we spent a night at the Queen Mary enjoy the Halloween haunt all said and done we were gone 18 hrs. We have great neighbors that will feed for us but we are happy with our day getaways.

 

[damsels are not mean]

 

[Timfish]

all my systems can go at least a week without attention. Most can go much longer as long as top off water for evaporation is added on a weekly basis (but I still feel like I'm neglecting them if I don't do weekly maintenace :/ ).

 

[JayM]

"Other".

Dosing and top off is automated, and I use an auto feeder when I'm away. I'm comfortable with leaving it unattended for a week or so. Any longer than that and I have a guy stop by and put eyes on it just to make sure everything is good.