Vacation time? How do u automate ur Tank? Just a scary thought all together! (o;

[higorc]

I just came back from a 4 day trip to Marthas Vineyard... I left my 7 month old daughter with my parents, and put them in charge of feeding my tank. Is it bad that I was more worried about the tank than my daughter?!!! I mean I missed her like hell, but I got worried sick about my Reef!!!


A few things I did before I left;

-Fed the Tank
-Set the Central Air to 75 degrees
-Made sure the ATO reservoir was full
-Emptied/cleaned Skimmer Cup
-Cleaned the Glass
-Double checked all equipment and Reef Keeper's timers and programing
-Checked water parameters a couple days before
-Prepared frozen food with instructions on how much to feed. Usually once a day.


Got back yesterday and noticed-

-Somehow a snail clogged the Skimmer's pump intake and it was barely skimming... (No ill effect though)
-ATO Reservoir just made it (7G container)
-Dirty glass (normal though I guess...)

All corals and fish were still fat and happy. It's amazing how much growth you notice when u are away for a few days! My Blue Eye Blonde Zoa Colony had two new polyps!




To celebrate, I took a vid !*)


[video=youtube;WCJk7wXsZTM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCJk7wXsZTM[/video]



I am going away for 10 days and I am REALLY nervous being away from the tank that long (daughter is coming with us this time! ). I think I will ask for daily picture of the tank from my parents and have them call me when they are over feeding the tank so I can walk them through a little "Check List"...


I am thinking of getting a bigger ATO containner for that time. What do you do when u go away and leave ur tank in someone else's hands?!

Higor

 

[frank180reef]

the ac was a smart move
I am alway worried about over feeding while I am away,

 

[frank180reef]

did they dose for u (alk and calc)

 

[higorc]

did they dose for u (alk and calc)

Oh man, r u crazy?! I would never ask them to dose anything for me!!!! I usually don't dose anything yet anyways. Kalk in my ATO has kept up with everything so far. I have a couple of BRS doser pumps when the time comes to start dosing though...

I hear u on overfeeding. I leave very explicit instructions on the amount of food to feed them. Which usually is about half of what I feed when I am home...

Higor

 

[mchartier]

An easy way for food is the small weekly pill organizers so you put in the proper amount you want feed for each day, so they just need to feed what is in the M container on Monday and so on. I do that and hide the rest of the food so theres no chance that they could add more than needed. I also tend to put a little less than normal in those containers than what I normally would feed.

As for daily pictures I would look at a web cam, maybe if you have a laptop of something laying around you could hook that up so you can monitor it when you want and how often you want. Depending on the camera some run Dynamic DNS so you can access it from your phone or computer. Or if you have a PC near it you could call using Skype can also be helpful if you have audio so if you hear something out of the ordinary you can call the tank sitters.

My ATO resevoir is a Brute Trash can so that will last my tank longer than any vacation I can take. You might want to take advantage of the Petco $1 gallon going on now and grab a 20-29gallon seeing you went thru almost 7 gallons of top off in 4 days.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[higorc]

An easy way for food is the small weekly pill organizers so you put in the proper amount you want feed for each day, so they just need to feed what is in the M container on Monday and so on. I do that and hide the rest of the food so theres no chance that they could add more than needed. I also tend to put a little less than normal in those containers than what I normally would feed.

As for daily pictures I would look at a web cam, maybe if you have a laptop of something laying around you could hook that up so you can monitor it when you want and how often you want. Depending on the camera some run Dynamic DNS so you can access it from your phone or computer. Or if you have a PC near it you could call using Skype can also be helpful if you have audio so if you hear something out of the ordinary you can call the tank sitters.

My ATO resevoir is a Brute Trash can so that will last my tank longer than any vacation I can take. You might want to take advantage of the Petco $1 gallon going on now and grab a 20-29gallon seeing you went thru almost 7 gallons of top off in 4 days.

Just a few thoughts.

I like the camera idea! I have been looking at some IP cameras on eBay for sometime now. I think this will be a good excuse to get one

I wish I had space for a permanent bigger reservoir, but I don't. But I probably will set one of my water change 32 gallons as a temporarily reservoir for the time I am gone.

Thanks for the ideas...

 

[PSU4ME]

I also do the "here is what you feed each day" method......I use larry's food, break off each days food then lable each bag, hiding all other food! I top off the ATO and flush out my reactors effluent line and reset it. Everything has seemingly worked this far with no problems. I have them top off the ATO every 3 days and I supply a jug for it right by it. I also have 3 wifi cameras with night vision on them. Between the apex readings on my phone and the visuals I get, i can usually get someone to correct mostly anything that goes wrong.

I also have 10g of fresh made water ready to go and provide instructions on where to insert the poly pad.

 

[RiverRat]

I just came back from a 10 day trip and had someone do daily check ins....
I left a certain amount of food in separate containers for each feeding........the fish look great.
I marked all the water levels on the tank, sump and refugium for maximum and minimum and left jugs of water for top off......the water level is perfect.
Cooling system was accidentally unplugged (my fault for not having it marked or plugged into the outlet behind the tank where no one could reach it)....water temp was over 90 (I'm thinking it was hot around here)....coral massacre , acans gone, blasto has half a head remaining, my favorite frogspawn still not showing (fingers crossed for a recovery)....lesson learned.

 

[higorc]

I just came back from a 10 day trip and had someone do daily check ins....
I left a certain amount of food in separate containers for each feeding........the fish look great.
I marked all the water levels on the tank, sump and refugium for maximum and minimum and left jugs of water for top off......the water level is perfect.
Cooling system was accidentally unplugged (my fault for not having it marked or plugged into the outlet behind the tank where no one could reach it)....water temp was over 90 (I'm thinking it was hot around here)....coral massacre , acans gone, blasto has half a head remaining, my favorite frogspawn still not showing (fingers crossed for a recovery)....lesson learned.

Oh dude, sorry to hear that!!!! That's my nightmare right there!!!!

 

[higorc]

I also do the "here is what you feed each day" method......I use larry's food, break off each days food then lable each bag, hiding all other food! I top off the ATO and flush out my reactors effluent line and reset it. Everything has seemingly worked this far with no problems. I have them top off the ATO every 3 days and I supply a jug for it right by it. I also have 3 wifi cameras with night vision on them. Between the apex readings on my phone and the visuals I get, i can usually get someone to correct mostly anything that goes wrong.

I also have 10g of fresh made water ready to go and provide instructions on where to insert the poly pad.

Yeah, I think I will have to get one of those IP cameras... It will make me feel a lot better to be able to look at the tank anytime I want.

 

[pesto]

I went away for 14 days with no ill effects. In addition to automating as much as possible. I create instruction sheets with some words and pictures along with visuals written on the equipment. Works like a charm. I would be happy to send an example.

 

[jdeb101]

I just ordered one of these to use as a fishcam....err.. I mean baby cam.

 

[PSU4ME]

I think i got 3 of the Lorex ones.:
http://www.lorextechnology.com/product/info/ip-network-cameras-wireless-internet-camera/2000034

 

[higorc]

How do u guys like those cameras? I was thinking about getting http://www.ebay.com/itm/161045761150?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649...

Higor

 

[Jarob]

Yup a camera is next on my list of things to buy! I must say having this Apex is nice, checking in on the params, etc..

 

[P-Nut]

Automatic feeder
Dosing pumps
Empty the skimmer
Put a bigger ATO bucket next to the tank

That's what I do, and then leave. I dont ask anyone to look at anything. I am on vacation to relax, not to be nervous all the time.
Even if I did ask someone, they woukd make things worse. I have 6 power strips all full underneath my tank. Cables are going everywhere.

 

[higorc]

Hello all!!!

Just got back from a 10 day vacation and am happy to say the tank survived!!! WOOHOO!!!

Thanks for all the "heads up". I would probably have forgotten somthing if it wasn't for you guys...



One think that almost got me was wanting to leave 30G of ATO w/ Kalkwasser as a bigger reservoir... 30G reservoir + 40G breeder sump (
at same floor level) = Siphoning!!!!

It's awesome how much the corals grow when u don't see it for 10 days!


Just a couple of pics to celebrate- Don't mind the little Cyano on the sand I have been fighting since the upgrade a month and half ago... :hmm4:

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Higor

 

[P-Nut]

For siphoning issues just make a hole in the hose. That will allow you to have your ATA higher than your sump.

 

[higorc]

For siphoning issues just make a hole in the hose. That will allow you to have your ATA higher than your sump.

Make a hole where abouts? Maybe by the pump? I just don't want water to spray where I don't want to.

Higor

 

[Owen386]

What's up man. Glad everything turned out fine. I know how nervous I was on vacation. Luckily when I was on vacation I was only like an hr and half away so I actually came home one day in the middle of the week to check on everything.

For the syphon issue u could put a hole in the line underneath the water line level of the reservoir. Though that would also mean as soon as it uses that much top off its going to stop working.

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