Advice

[momof6kids]

Doug and I are going to Germany from September 29th - October 9th to visit our daughter, son-in-law and newest granddaughter. I have a friend coming to stay to watch Doug's 96 year old Dad and my tank. The only thing she knows about reefs is that she loves to sit and watch my tank. Any advice on leaving my tank for that long?

Erna

 

[nano1908]

Make sure u have enough RODI & show your friend the marking to top off the water. Emphasize no more than that.

Have the fish food separated by day & tell them never combine days.

Make sure to advise them to keeps there hands out of the water.

Just a few thoughts

 

[Wilson]

I was away for 3 weeks and also had someone who was relatively new to reefing watch my tanks. I got extra large ATO containers and emphasized to keep them full as much as possible, so even if they were to forget a day or 2, it would be more forgiving. Mine was 14 gallon container. I also filled a 55 gallon drum of RODI water and left it directly in the fish room, with a 1 gallon water jug. That way they can just submerge, fill, and dump it into each ATO as needed.. just simplifying it as much as I could..

Feeding, I set up a small sample pack of how much food per tank, and frequency.

Other than that, fingers crossed. Lights were on timers, empty the skimmer before leaving, do a final water change before leaving.. the reef should be able to maintain itself for a while..

 

[David]

In addition to all the other good suggestions, I would break down and clean all your pumps real good before you go to, including the ato, skimmer, and powerhead. Help to ensure they all run smoothly.

 

[MadReefer]

Make sure u have enough RODI & show your friend the marking to top off the water. Emphasize no more than that.

Have the fish food separated by day & tell them never combine days.

Make sure to advise them to keeps there hands out of the water.

Just a few thoughts

Exactly what I do. I even mark the food for every other day. So if they mess up not a big deal.
Congrats on the granddaughter!!!

 

[diana a]

Make sure u have enough RODI & show your friend the marking to top off the water. Emphasize no more than that.

Have the fish food separated by day & tell them never combine days.

Make sure to advise them to keeps there hands out of the water.

Just a few thoughts

I would add don't spray anything in the same room as the tank.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Erna....another old-timer still here...good to see...not that we're old, just aging gracefully. I was at your house when you and Doug hosted a meeting maybe 10-12 years ago...and I'm terrible with time. I'm going to PM my cell phone info in case there is something your tank-sitting friend has a problem. I'm willing to come to your house if needed. Enjoy your vacation and grand kids....we just recently had our first. Paul

 

[Jeremy Brito]

Every summer my family and i go away for at least a week and have a friend watch the house and tank while we are away. my wifes friend does not have any reef keeping or fish tank experience but manages pretty well with the routine i set up for her.
to start i plan a day before the trip in which i have her come over and go over the tank with me, During this visit i explain the tank in the most basic means of what the different parts of the equipment are and the tanks inhabitants. again everything is basic and also on this day i make sure the tank is running good with no current or expected issues. I tell her this is what the tank should look like regularly and let her take a picture for reference.

At the time i didnt have an ATO so i marked a line on the sump and wrote max water level, and second line and wrote minimum water level. The max level is were she will be topping off the sump to and the minimum is the level i regularly expect the water to drop to between visits anything more would indicate a issue for her to call me about.

Next to the tank i have a 5 gallon water container of RODI water for top off. Its labeled water for top off only. this is the water she will use to top off the tank.

for feeding i go to walmart and get those mini plastic cups with lids the ones you see ketchup and stuff given out in to take home from restaurants, I prepare each days portion of food in those cups. Oe ne cup frozen and another cup with the seaweed and dry food. I explain how to feed each and let her do it during the visit.

I also set aside for emergency's at least 10 gallons of pre mixed salt water. The salt water is in containers labeled not for top off.

even though i have gone over everything with her i make a little check list and schedule. the week before i leave i start feeding less so that there is no worries of nutrient build up while im gone.

She will come and check the tank visually look for anything that doesnt look right dead fish, cloudiness, coral not looking right anything that does not seem right and if she finds something she will take a picture and send it to me for instruction.

so far each summer i have had no issues

 

[DEL]

I have cameras that are for my tank. one is facing the sump and ato container, another is facing the tank itself. this was you can keep an eye on the levels every few days and then call the person amd tell them what you need them to do. also you can check on things yourself without having to ask.

 

[Mark_C]

Hoping you have an ATO

Where are you located?
If within 60-90 mins I can stop by somewhere mid-vacation to check things out for you.
If closer I could do a couple drop ins.
I do the same for a couple of other members. So far I have some jewelry, a TV...
Seriously though, happy to help if needed.
Another/an additional option is to give my phone number to your sitter, and if things go awry, she can face-time me regardless of hour (lord knows I've been awakened by beeps at 3am oft enough).

 

[momof6kids]

Thank you all for your advice and offers of help. We are located in Bridgewater for those asking, I do have an ATO and a 55 gallon drum of RODI water made up.

Paul, good to see a few of us "old-timers" still hanging around.

 

[blange3]

Thank you all for your advice and offers of help. We are located in Bridgewater for those asking, I do have an ATO and a 55 gallon drum of RODI water made up.

Paul, good to see a few of us "old-timers" still hanging around.

Wish I had popped back in sooner. Paul let me know if you get a call that you can't cover. I'd be happy to help.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Wow Bill, great to hear from you. Well I guess I can sit back and put my feet up knowing you're on board. With the two of use, Erna and Doug can enjoy their vacation without worries. This is what this club is about.....take note new(er) members....get involved.

 

[MadReefer]

Glad to see both you back on the site.

 

[momof6kids]

Again, thank you all for your advice and offers of help. We are back. We had an absolutely amazing time in Germany. Visited Austria, Luxembourg and stopped at a grocery store in Northern France, just to say we had been there too.

Fish all survived. Have a paly that has really lost it's color. Not sure what happened there, but glad that is the worst that happened.

Bill, so glad to see you are still around the board, hope life slows down a bit so that we can get back into the meetings.

Erna

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Hello all long time away but I thought I would add to this discussion. My family and I were away this summer diving in Honduras. Great trip. I had my daughters college friend Zoe watching tank and feeding fish. I have a 300 gallon display with sps corals. She was very able to figure out the rodi storage to top off tank filling (one switch and 3 valves).
Just on a feeling I moved my generator to the front of my garage and showed her how to connect it to outside port and how to switch panels. Also showed her how to check to see all pumps were running. Ie look here here and here. Point is it was all explained and written down with pictures. (Really text with photos). And you guessed it on the 2nd day away straight line thunderstorms took out power for Howell for 4 days. Zoe got everything set up and my neighbor next door kept feeding the generator gasoline. Kept the tank safe and all my refrigerators and freezers cold.
I know this is a bit long but my advice is over explain. Expect that things that have been fine might screw up. Have extra pumps near by and directions to set up.
be really clear on what normal is. Where to look etc.

By the way Honduras was Amazing.

 

[radiata]

During the two week period before you go, make NO changes to your system.

 

[diana a]

They returned on Oct 9