So many great ideas have been discussed so forgive me if I repeat any. We go on family vacations at least twice a year from 1-3 weeks. Here's what I've learned and what I do to prepare.
1. Something's going to break or go wrong eventually. Some vacations are fine, others are not. I've had things as serious as my Apex and return pump fail on different occasions. Most of us have backup equipment either in line or on hand in the event of an emergency. Make sure those people feeding your fish or watching your tank know where that equipment is and how to replace it. Have backup equipment for that critical life support hardware; Apex, pumps, heater at least.
2. When I'm gone for an extended period of time I have 3 different people come over to feed the fish. This helps distribute the burden. My neighbors are great people, but they aren't aquarists and they don't have the same passion to feed fish that I do. I get them gifts or take them to dinner as thanks. I tell my LFS I am going on vacation. Sometimes I pay someone there to come in to check on things or to alternate feeding days in the rotation.
3. I put all food to be fed for a day in a ziploc bag, write the date on it and put it in the freezer. 6 bags for 7 days gone. I put the next day's frozen food in a cup of tank water in the fridge to thaw for the person who comes in that day. That way they have the food ready and can just dump it in the tank. That person is instructed to put the next day's bag of food into a cup of tank water and put that in the fridge for the next day.
4. I create a document breaking down who comes in on what days. That document also includes emergency contact information for my LFS, myself and any other people involved in helping watch the tank.
5. I have everyone who helps watch the tank come over before each vacation and we walk through the steps. Check the tank and sump water level, check for any leaks, where the replacement equipment is located, etc. Since it's usually 6 months to a year after they've previously helped I explain everything I do.
6. I leave some latex gloves and ask my most competent friend to change filter socks once a week. I also ask them to drain the skimmer cup when it gets to a certain height. I put a piece of tape on the cup so they know when. My cup has a drain on it with a tube to an enclosed bucket so they just turn the drain on and off. I tell them how critical it is to turn the drain off because if it stays open and there's a problem, the skimmer can drain a lot of water. I change the socks and clean out the skimmer/bucket myself the day I leave.
7. I have a 50g tank of ATO water (kalk) that is topped up. 3 weeks gone in the winter and that tank can dry out. I educate my friends on how to turn on my RODI to fill that tank when it gets below a certain level. Mark that level with tape so they remember. My ATO tank has been used up so this was a lesson learned. I also have a 50g tank of salt water and a 25g of fresh water available for an emergency.
8. I have a camera and I check my Apex regularly for piece of mind.
9. I do a large water change a couple days before leaving. There's always too many other things going on that day before. I also have a Genesis for automated daily water changes, however I don't run it on vacation just in case something goes wrong. A water change can wait a couple weeks but a problem resulting from equipment involved in that process can cause a disaster.
10. I have a whole home generator. It takes 10 seconds for that to kick in. I put critical gear like my Apex, and return pump or any other gear that could be damaged by a surge on a surge protecting UPS. The Apex EB8 is not a surge protector. It is suspected my RD3 return pump controller failed while I was on a 3 week trip because of a surge. This was a recent lesson learned. I also learned how great my LFS and fellow local reefing community is.
11. Make sure those general maintenance things are done before hand. Powerheads cleaned, gauges like temp and salinity cleaned, glass cleaned. I ask the people helping me to slide the glass cleaner across the front glass only and at least a couple inches from the sand. This way they can see inside the tank if algae starts to fog things up after a couple weeks, they don't catch any sand on the cleaner to scrape the glass and they don't feel like they're doing tank maintenance.
12. I have 3 kinds of leak detectors. A Watchdog from Home Depot, an Apex ALD and detectors connected to my Vivint system. With these I'll get an audible alarm heard through most of the house, an email alert and a phone call from Vivint.
CYA as much as possible. I've had issues come up I never expected. There's no such thing as overkill when you're on vacation too far away to do anything and you don't want to interrupt hard earned time off when we don't get many vacation days in a year.
1. Something's going to break or go wrong eventually. Some vacations are fine, others are not. I've had things as serious as my Apex and return pump fail on different occasions. Most of us have backup equipment either in line or on hand in the event of an emergency. Make sure those people feeding your fish or watching your tank know where that equipment is and how to replace it. Have backup equipment for that critical life support hardware; Apex, pumps, heater at least.
2. When I'm gone for an extended period of time I have 3 different people come over to feed the fish. This helps distribute the burden. My neighbors are great people, but they aren't aquarists and they don't have the same passion to feed fish that I do. I get them gifts or take them to dinner as thanks. I tell my LFS I am going on vacation. Sometimes I pay someone there to come in to check on things or to alternate feeding days in the rotation.
3. I put all food to be fed for a day in a ziploc bag, write the date on it and put it in the freezer. 6 bags for 7 days gone. I put the next day's frozen food in a cup of tank water in the fridge to thaw for the person who comes in that day. That way they have the food ready and can just dump it in the tank. That person is instructed to put the next day's bag of food into a cup of tank water and put that in the fridge for the next day.
4. I create a document breaking down who comes in on what days. That document also includes emergency contact information for my LFS, myself and any other people involved in helping watch the tank.
5. I have everyone who helps watch the tank come over before each vacation and we walk through the steps. Check the tank and sump water level, check for any leaks, where the replacement equipment is located, etc. Since it's usually 6 months to a year after they've previously helped I explain everything I do.
6. I leave some latex gloves and ask my most competent friend to change filter socks once a week. I also ask them to drain the skimmer cup when it gets to a certain height. I put a piece of tape on the cup so they know when. My cup has a drain on it with a tube to an enclosed bucket so they just turn the drain on and off. I tell them how critical it is to turn the drain off because if it stays open and there's a problem, the skimmer can drain a lot of water. I change the socks and clean out the skimmer/bucket myself the day I leave.
7. I have a 50g tank of ATO water (kalk) that is topped up. 3 weeks gone in the winter and that tank can dry out. I educate my friends on how to turn on my RODI to fill that tank when it gets below a certain level. Mark that level with tape so they remember. My ATO tank has been used up so this was a lesson learned. I also have a 50g tank of salt water and a 25g of fresh water available for an emergency.
8. I have a camera and I check my Apex regularly for piece of mind.
9. I do a large water change a couple days before leaving. There's always too many other things going on that day before. I also have a Genesis for automated daily water changes, however I don't run it on vacation just in case something goes wrong. A water change can wait a couple weeks but a problem resulting from equipment involved in that process can cause a disaster.
10. I have a whole home generator. It takes 10 seconds for that to kick in. I put critical gear like my Apex, and return pump or any other gear that could be damaged by a surge on a surge protecting UPS. The Apex EB8 is not a surge protector. It is suspected my RD3 return pump controller failed while I was on a 3 week trip because of a surge. This was a recent lesson learned. I also learned how great my LFS and fellow local reefing community is.
11. Make sure those general maintenance things are done before hand. Powerheads cleaned, gauges like temp and salinity cleaned, glass cleaned. I ask the people helping me to slide the glass cleaner across the front glass only and at least a couple inches from the sand. This way they can see inside the tank if algae starts to fog things up after a couple weeks, they don't catch any sand on the cleaner to scrape the glass and they don't feel like they're doing tank maintenance.
12. I have 3 kinds of leak detectors. A Watchdog from Home Depot, an Apex ALD and detectors connected to my Vivint system. With these I'll get an audible alarm heard through most of the house, an email alert and a phone call from Vivint.
CYA as much as possible. I've had issues come up I never expected. There's no such thing as overkill when you're on vacation too far away to do anything and you don't want to interrupt hard earned time off when we don't get many vacation days in a year.