what is the longest you can leave your reef un-attended?

[surfn]

asside from having to feed your fish.....what is the longest you can leave your reef tank un-attended for? i.e. if you have to go out of town etc, and there is no one to check on it.

b/c i don't have any form of auto top off, i can only leave mine 3 days max before the sump runs dry. fish can easily go without food for 3 days.

i really need to invest in something to help with this instead of buying fancy corals or other stuff, this really should be my number 1 priority even before putting in any actinic lights.

my most logical conclusion would probably be to just buy another dosing pump for my LM3, and dose top off water from a trash can mixed up with kalk. or get rid of my 2-part dosing system and just go with kalk and top off water, i'm tempted to try this....but don't want to ruin a good thing that already works.

 

[reefboy]

I'd say a week but I dont let that happen lol my dad stays at my house when I leave or I wouldnt sleep lol

 

[edwing206]

A week max. I over fill the sump with about 5 gallons.

 

[JGoslee]

My ato holds enough water for 2 weeks.

 

[gflat65]

I've got at least a week. Since adding the ATO four or so years back, I've left for vacation or visiting family at least 10 times. The only real issue I had was last Novemeber in Montreal, the tube on the ATO pump popped off, so nothign was going to the tank. The skimmer ran dry (MRC MR2). A friend came and checked it out about 5 days into me being gone, added water and the skimmer went nuts (they don't seem to like to run dry, then wet again withotu some sort of spike). Only had about a 10 gallon water to the floor incident... The only other issue was when I forgot to leave another tub of freshwater for ATO and the non fishkeeper added saltwater to my top off. If I pay attention before the trip, a week is not a problem... I don't feed my fish very often (lazy bums can find natural food in the tank...), so they don't miss me a whole lot. Once the Ca reactor is running, I shouldn't have too many concerns.

 

[mfinn]

If I didn't have to feed the fish, I could leave the tank unattended for approx 2 weeks, but by the end of that period the salinity would be getting a little higher than I care to let it get.
If I planned it, I could use a larger ato container and go 3 weeks, but that is the longest I would want the tank to go without a water change.

 

[Teeka]

My fish is mostly what keeps me tied to the tanks. For my top off my tank has a automatic top off that is plumbed to its own water source, namely my whole house water filter that is right outside of my fish room. After going thru that it goes thru a 5 stage ro/di unit we got off Melev's website. That is fully automatic.

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

If I had to leave and there was noone to feed I would say 1 week. If I had someone to feed the fish I could easily change my 10gallon ATO tank to a 32 Gallon Brute can and be gone for 3 weeks. Big water change before and after.

 

[J. Montgomery]

The size of my ATO reservoir (5 gallon for a 55 tank) is the limiting factor for me, like most others. Depending on the season and the amount of evaporation, I'd say one week.

 

[cardgenius]

My 32g Brute keeps me good for about 2 weeks. In summer time its only good for 1 week. I use Kalkwasser in my top off water to keep my levels in check. Here in a month or so Im gonna get a AC Jr. so I dont have to worry about timers failing when I leave.

 

[VanGogh121]

My 32g Brute keeps me good for about 2 weeks. In summer time its only good for 1 week.

Mine is just the opposite. I get so much more evaporation in the winter. Go though 20 gallons a week during winter and 10 gallons a week during summer.


I go about 8.5 hours away from my reef and start getting jittery :hammer:

 

[twon8]

asside from having to feed your fish.....what is the longest you can leave your reef tank un-attended for? i.e. if you have to go out of town etc, and there is no one to check on it.

b/c i don't have any form of auto top off, i can only leave mine 3 days max before the sump runs dry. fish can easily go without food for 3 days.

i really need to invest in something to help with this instead of buying fancy corals or other stuff, this really should be my number 1 priority even before putting in any actinic lights.

my most logical conclusion would probably be to just buy another dosing pump for my LM3, and dose top off water from a trash can mixed up with kalk. or get rid of my 2-part dosing system and just go with kalk and top off water, i'm tempted to try this....but don't want to ruin a good thing that already works.

i would go with the kalk for top off and use your second pump for any additional alk needs, and either get a third pump for ca or dose that by hand. ca doesn't drop as fast as alk and could be dosed by hand every four or five days with no issues.

 

[cardgenius]

Mine is just the opposite. I get so much more evaporation in the winter. Go though 20 gallons a week during winter and 10 gallons a week during summer.

Huh, I wonder why that is. Do you think its cause of the different places that we live or maybe different setups? In the summer it stays in the 90's for a few straight months and even gets over 100 for a week or so. But its very dry out here in the summer, not much rain. I have an open top tank with a fan blowing across it too keep the temp in check. It cycles on and off every half hour in the winter and stays on all day during the summer. It keeps my tank right around 79 year round.

 

[J. Montgomery]

I get more evaporation in the winter as well due to the drier weather. Summers are humid here, so less evaporation.

 

[twon8]

it is entirely related to humidity, i lose about 2 liters more per day now than i did during the summer.

 

[rdvab]

Except for feeding the fish,I could easily go a month .I have auto top off to my sump from my RO system and run a calcium reac tor for minerals,so if I could teach my dog to feed the fish and himself I would be set.

 

[revhtree]

I have went for about 2 weeks with someone feeding for me. For vacation my reefkeeper2 will be set up with a web cam so i can view the tank and keep an eye on the ph and temp.

 

[143gadgets]

It varies. I can go for 2-3 weeks depending on what ATO reservoir I use. I usually do it manually from day to day, but if I decide to go out of town. I test the ATO system for 3-5 days before to make sure it is running well.