danelam

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Hell's Kitchen
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I'm going back to Australia for the summer to see friends and family and to get married. I am formulating a plan to keep my tank running nicely during this time. Luckily, I'll have a friend using my apartment for June and July so I'll stay 2 weeks and teach him how to look after the tank.

For the month of August though, there will be noone living in my apartment so here's the plan:

-Before I leave in June I'll do a big water change, maybe 40-50% so there will be a lot of good water.
-In August I'll run an automatic feeder
-I'll pay someone who lives closeby (hopefully someone who knows what they're doing) to come in maybe twice per week to check on everything, feed some meaty foods and maybe do a water change.

What do you guys think? Am I forgetting something? Will I need auto-top off?
 

Alex

Pretzel in Orange M&M
Location
staten island
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unfortunately you have over looked murphy's law. Like chief stated see if you can find someone on MR to take care of it while you're gone that would be better piece of mind. I can speak from experience, everytime i go away my father in law takes care of my tanks and he does a good job but i have lost some fish, nothing lately knock on wood.
 

jhale

ReefsMagazine!
Location
G.V NYC
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yes auto top off is key!
a good chiller is crucial also.
automatic food feeder with pellets is good, get the fish used to them before you leave.
I'm doing a similar thing. I added a controller that is web based and lets me monitor the tanks conditions. it will also email me alerts if I can figure out that feature.
 

danelam

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Hell's Kitchen
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Thanks guys for your responses!
Ok, so auto top off is a must then.
As for the chiller, I live in a studio so it's very easy to cool so I was thinking of setting my air-con on a timer instead of buying a chiller. Would this work?

I was thinking of going with Spectrum pellets. I've heard they're really great in terms of their nutritional value.

Can anyone recommend a good auto feeder that can go for up to a week or more without being replenished?

Also a reasonably priced auto top off that won't flood my apartment? :eek:
 
Rating - 99.1%
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I do like Spectrum, most of my new fish will eat right the way, plus if you get the Thera A+ is has galic to entice the pickier fish.

With ac on, an ambient temperature is right, I guess there is no issue but yo may want to run a mod first.

A person knowing what to do with reefing at least once a week is a must IMO. Not so much about feeding because many fish can find food in the tank itself but more about checking things out and making sure the skimmer is not flooding .....
 

bad coffee

Inept at life.
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I go away for months at a time for work. I've gone enough that I've got my strategy down pat:

#1 HIRE SOMEBODY. Someone with reefing experience can see things going wrong long before a friend who's watching the tank. Trust me, your reef is worth more than a six pack you'd pay your friend... Show the person you've hired where everything is for your tank--Extra salt, pumps heaters, media for reactors.

2: Do a couple of big water changes right before you go and change all carbon/phosban, ect. BUT NOT THE DAY BEFORE YOU LEAVE. Give yourself (and the tank) time to see if there's any problems like a leaking fitting or something not turned back on.
2-B:If you don't have someone staying there, make a big batch of new salt water for water changes when you're gone. If you have someone there, teach them how to make the water. If you think they're capable, teach them how to do the water change. If not, refer to #1.

3: Make sure your top off container is huge. Mine is 29 gallon for a 58 gallon tank. (It lasts around 5-6 weeks before it needs to be refilled) I have a litermeter and it's the one thing that's saved my tank. I never have to worry about it, I just turn it on and let it go. I bought mine used for $100 and it's the best $100 I've spent on my reef. A new one will set you back about $450-OUCH. There are many other top-off options. Get one now and make sure it works before you go.

4: buy one of these (or something close to it,) for the food:
04A0566.jpg


Then measure out the food for each day. That way your friends who feed the tank everyday don't overfeed. Trust me - once your friends see the fish react to feeding time, the'll want to see it again, and again, and again.
I get the monthly ones from any pharmacy, and then write the dates on them with tape. One goes in the freezer with frozen food (cyclopeeze and mysis) and one with flake. Alternate days from frozen to flake.

5: LABEL EVERYTHING. EVERY PLUG, EVERY PIECE OF GEAR. Having to explain which plug is your skimmer over the phone is a pain in the ass. Sure, you know which one it is by sight, and where you usually plug it in. But the person there probably doesn't know what a skimmer is, so you've got to explain that first If everything is labeled, it becomes "unplug the plug labeled skimmer" Leave a list of things that can go wrong for the non-fish person. Tell them to call you if you have problems.

6: Enjoy your trip!

B
 

kmaintl

Still Learning
Location
Bay Area, CA
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From working with a lot of different situations, I highly recommend that you hire someone that knows what they are doing to consistently manage your tank. If you let it exchange hands, you don't know what could go wrong if one person assume something and the next person doesn't. For that long of a trip, pay your tank sitter to do a once of month water change and and to keep the ATO reservoir and feeder filled.
 

NJ_ychung1

Reefer
Location
New Jersey
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auto top off is a must with a lot of RO/DI water in the reserve tank. Someone mentioned Murphy' Law. I'm 100% convinced of it. Even on my freshwater chichlid tank, (Tropheus Colony), it took my sister who visited from Connecticut who innocently dropped in some left over human food into the tank to cause bloat that wiped out the colony.
 

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