How do you find a good tank sitter? We will be traveling some in the next couple of months, and I don't feel comfortable leaving our tank solely in the hands of automation. Our power went out and tripped the GFCI outlet for the tank while we were on vacation in August. My son was stopping in every other day to check the tank and caught it, but the power had apparently been out longer than our IceCap back-up battery lasted. We have an Apex controller, too, but it's an older one and glitchy with the wifi connection. When it stopped talking to our phone, we thought it had just lost the wifi again! We only lost one fish, a young Kole tang. We almost lost our anemone but it pulled through, and most of our corals survived unscathed (probably because it was summer and the house was fairly warm). Our money and our hearts are wrapped up in this tank and I don't want to risk it again. My son is busy at college and isn't available to tank sit this time. So - any suggestions?
-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Finding a tank sitter
- Thread starter Shanna
- Start date
My grandma always watches the tank for me, and while she doesn’t notice the tiniest things that I would notice being off she keeps the tank in check until I am back. I would offer to watch your tank but I live an hour away from Marlton. My suggestion is that you see if anybody from our club is able to tank sit for you 
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Where you located
Marlton Nj
You're about an hour away from me.
Saying that, I know how a simple pump fail can cause a catastrophic event, and what may be a cause of anxiety to a tank owner can be an easy fix for a fellow reef keeper.
We have a number of members closer to you, but if no one is available let me know.
I can't make it daily, but I can try at least make a run on Wednesdays and Saturdays, very early mornings, and check things out for you, refill ATO containers, etc.
Lemme know.
Saying that, I know how a simple pump fail can cause a catastrophic event, and what may be a cause of anxiety to a tank owner can be an easy fix for a fellow reef keeper.
We have a number of members closer to you, but if no one is available let me know.
I can't make it daily, but I can try at least make a run on Wednesdays and Saturdays, very early mornings, and check things out for you, refill ATO containers, etc.
Lemme know.
Last edited:
here's some tech advice. first, get a reliable Wi-Fi camera like a Nest cam set it by tank where you can see sump and equipment. only plug what's necessary. you can be skimmer less for a while, so no need to plug that in. also, like others said, get a bigger ato container. check on your camera every few days, so at least if you see the water is low in ato, or notice anything else with equipment, you can shut it off through your apex. id plug 3 heaters, only turn on 2. have 3rd as a backup. lastly, get some leak detectors for the apex, so that if shuts off the pumps in case any water hits the ground. in case you are wondering, this is how my tank is setup, which is the main reason I shelled out all that money on the apex. I hope this helps.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I’m planning to hardwire the apex so I’m not relying on the Wi-Fi. We have a loooong cable!
Great advice! I’ll be looking at cameras today. I also like the heater set-up. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with being skimmerless for an extended time... I usually use a 10-gallon container for the ATO, but I have a couple of 25-gallon food-grade trash cans that we use for water changes so we can check into using one of them as a reservoir. We have an auto-feeder for the apex, but I’m concerned about feeding our juvenile yellow tang. He eats a lot of nori. He is one of the reasons I’d like to find a sitter who can stop in.