What do you do for Tanksitters

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Afternoon all,

Just curious what everyone does for tanksitters while you’re out of town. I’ve had some horrible results lately:

Vacation 1:
Came back to Ich in my DT. Turns out our friend was using the water from the QT tanks to thaw food. Rip apart DT, Fallow, etc.

Vacation 2:
Same friend from #1 forgot to feed my second QT for two days. Didn’t notice the fish because of their size. Lost 3x Tiny Juvi Lemarks and a Biota Regal.
….Honestly she’s my girl’s friend. Disowning wouldn’t be too difficult…..

Vacation 3:
Different friend, same result as Vacation 1. Apparently I didn’t stress it enough. Just found out today. I’ll have time in about 2 weeks to tear everything apart. Again.
Can’t wait……..

So I’m 0-3. Any ideas? I’m in the Bay Area if anyone knows of an LFS that offers tanksitting.
 

Jedi1199

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Afternoon all,

Just curious what everyone does for tanksitters while you’re out of town. I’ve had some horrible results lately:

Vacation 1:
Came back to Ich in my DT. Turns out our friend was using the water from the QT tanks to thaw food. Rip apart DT, Fallow, etc.

Vacation 2:
Same friend from #1 forgot to feed my second QT for two days. Didn’t notice the fish because of their size. Lost 3x Tiny Juvi Lemarks and a Biota Regal.
….Honestly she’s my girl’s friend. Disowning wouldn’t be too difficult…..

Vacation 3:
Different friend, same result as Vacation 1. Apparently I didn’t stress it enough. Just found out today. I’ll have time in about 2 weeks to tear everything apart. Again.
Can’t wait……..

So I’m 0-3. Any ideas? I’m in the Bay Area if anyone knows of an LFS that offers tanksitting.


What I would do is set up your food in small condiment cups with lids. I defrost my food in batches for a week supply.

Make up your food and then dose out what you normally feed into individual containers. Simply feed a container at each feeding and done.
 

Dbichler

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How long are leaving for because if you can’t trust anyone nothing is sometimes better than something. I take week long vacations all the time and never have anyone do anything. I fill my ato and auto fish feeder that’s it besides feed heavily prior.
 

Rick's Reviews

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Afternoon all,

Just curious what everyone does for tanksitters while you’re out of town. I’ve had some horrible results lately:

Vacation 1:
Came back to Ich in my DT. Turns out our friend was using the water from the QT tanks to thaw food. Rip apart DT, Fallow, etc.

Vacation 2:
Same friend from #1 forgot to feed my second QT for two days. Didn’t notice the fish because of their size. Lost 3x Tiny Juvi Lemarks and a Biota Regal.
….Honestly she’s my girl’s friend. Disowning wouldn’t be too difficult…..

Vacation 3:
Different friend, same result as Vacation 1. Apparently I didn’t stress it enough. Just found out today. I’ll have time in about 2 weeks to tear everything apart. Again.
Can’t wait……..

So I’m 0-3. Any ideas? I’m in the Bay Area if anyone knows of an LFS that offers tanksitting.
Obviously you have not prepared 'tank sitter' , you could prepare anyone in a month advance, instead of being reliant on 'they should know', easy to teach/ show how to maintain/ manage 1 aquarium.
If you clean and do neccasary hard/ cleaning beforehand then a 'sitter' is basically there for 'the easy part'
 
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Obviously you have not prepared 'tank sitter' , you could prepare anyone in a month advance, instead of being reliant on 'they should know', easy to teach/ show how to maintain/ manage 1 aquarium.
If you clean and do neccasary hard/ cleaning beforehand then a 'sitter' is basically there for 'the easy part'
“Hey man what do you do before hand to prep the tank sitter?”

“Hey Rick, thanks for asking. I take videos showing the individual how I feed and what to feed so they can refer back to them. Then walk them through it in person 1-2 weeks in advance, and again the day/day before we leave.”

Fixed that for you.
 
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What I would do is set up your food in small condiment cups with lids. I defrost my food in batches for a week supply.

Make up your food and then dose out what you normally feed into individual containers. Simply feed a container at each feeding and done.

This is a great idea. I almost did this past trip, kicking myself for not doing it.
 
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How long are leaving for because if you can’t trust anyone nothing is sometimes better than something. I take week long vacations all the time and never have anyone do anything. I fill my ato and auto fish feeder that’s it besides feed heavily prior.

If I could get my Anthias to eat pellets this would work great.

We have 3 dogs so someone always stays at the house. Would be nice to just say “hands off” when it comes to the tank(s)
 

doubleshot00

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Man you sound like you have some horrible tank sitters or you take to many vacations. Not there fault way i see it.

When i go on vacation or OOT i premix all food ahead of time and labeled. Have a wifi camera going just incase to. It also helps to have a good tank sitter that has a brain. I have great neighbors.
 

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My opinion I’d call Rod at Bargain Coral Warehouse in Lakeland ! . I would think he’d be a lot closer and cheaper .
 

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i didn’t go through all the posts but perhaps investing in more automation? more controllers or auto feeders, or camera(s) to monitor while you’re away? i understand with more automation comes the risk of something failing sooner or later but perhaps you can set things up while you’re on vacation?

local reefer/LFS?
 

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal

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“Hey man what do you do before hand to prep the tank sitter?”

“Hey Rick, thanks for asking. I take videos showing the individual how I feed and what to feed so they can refer back to them. Then walk them through it in person 1-2 weeks in advance, and again the day/day before we leave.”

Fixed that for you.
Yeah, the "ignore" feature here can be very useful ;)
 

JoJosReef

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I have everything set up so that sitter only has to push one button to turn off pumps to feed them turn back on. Feed hole in screen lid. Premix good in individual 15ml tubes one for each day. Fill with tank water, broadcast, restart pump.

Nit as efficient as target feeding but less chance of equipment error and the fish eat enough!

For dosing I leave a syringe and AFR with postit saying "put 3ml if this using syringe each day".

Then worry about what I find when I come back.
 
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I’d find some new friends lol !!!:beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Come to think of it, they are both my girlfriends friends…lol

My buddies are a bunch of gorillas. Doubt they’d do any better.

Man you sound like you have some horrible tank sitters or you take to many vacations. Not there fault way i see it.

When i go on vacation or OOT i premix all food ahead of time and labeled. Have a wifi camera going just incase to. It also helps to have a good tank sitter that has a brain. I have great neighbors.
Yeah I almost pre mixed/packed before we left and kicking myself for not this go round.

I don’t take enough man. I just need to find someone who’s in the hobby and somewhat reef savvy. I had a great little tank sitter when I was single. But she’s an ex fling. Girlfriend wasn’t too fond of that solution :grinning-face-with-sweat:
 
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My opinion I’d call Rod at Bargain Coral Warehouse in Lakeland ! . I would think he’d be a lot closer and cheaper .

I’m in Saint Pete. Lakelands a little over an hour away.

I am going to circle around to a few of the shops and see if there’s any takers.
 
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