What's the longest time you ever leave your tank?

[Bidadari]

I left my tank for a max. of 7 days a couple of times before; the last one didn't end so well.
I also want to learn what others have done to prevent the unexpected while they're away.

 

[JayM]

Leaving for 7 days on Saturday morning. The way to keep it healthy is to bribe Gustavo with beer to go and look in on it.

Seriously, I have a pet watcher watching the 2 dogs in the house, and she's going to feed the fish and check top-off, etc

 

[smcnally]

I would rather starve the tank for 7 days than take the chance of someone over feeding it.

 

[JustDavidP]

I've left mine for 5 days (reef) but I can't let the seahorses go for more than a day alone... I also use the Gustavo-man.

D

 

[bluesurf1]

went to hawaii for 14 days had a dog sitter feed and add water for top off. The tank was alright but I thought about it everyday. It's a bit scary. good luck. i would sasy the best bet is to let someone that knows about reef tanks check on it mid week if possible.

 

[KAS]

I line up dixie cups on the hood filled with the right amount of flake food so the risk of over feeding is minimal. I also tell her if you can't make it a day, don't worry.

I do NOTHING to the tank for a full week before leaving.

I have backup expert reefers that my tank sitter can call if need be.

My system is relatively simple so the risk of something going wrong is minimized.

Power is my biggest concern and I have those air bubblers. Beyond that who knows what would happen if power was out for an extended time.

 

[delta]

If I can get my father to take care of a tank anyone can do it.
I have also had Heather grand mother take care of the tank A week No problem even before we had an auto top off unit.

We rashion everything into small disposable container(suedo tupperware)

Put directions infront of each item with stickied directions of where to put everything with arrows and such, much like a tutorial.

Pour item with blue writing here "Slowly"

Check water level here "big arrow"

 

[Aquadiva]

Well, we go away all the time. Usually week long vacations. I do what Karen does. I have small cups in the freezer. All the neighbor kid has to do is add water, let it melt and dump in it. No biggie.

He has our phone number in case of major emergency.. fire, flood, etc. If he sees a "floater", I have requested that he net it if he can, and give it an appropriate funeral.

I check all the equipment as best I can, and hope nothing decides to crap out on me while I am gone. So far, so good.

 

[Bidadari]

My biggest concern is the water parameter, esp. Alk. I usually check my alk level 2-3 times per week. Call me paranoid, but my tank Alk level can never be at a constant level. Usually having the Ca Reactor running & Kalk Wasser top off, for a few days I can hardly keep up with the Alk demand, but then for the next few days, the Alk level goes higher than I want it.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

I'm taking care of someones tank starting this weekend. I go over a couple of times to top off. That's about it.

 

[DavidGallant]

let mine go from thanksgiving until december 18, with 2 fish in it. things went great, not problems at all. 10 gal and didnt do a waterchange the entire time. the tank was just topped off and fed. thats what happens when you go to college..

 

[stevenp]

I left my old nano unattended for 7 days with no problems. Auto top-off is key!!

With the new tank I try to get someone to swing by at least every few days to feed and do a visual. I mentally block the tank out of my mind while I'm gone since worrying about it will only stress me out.

 

[JohnK]

"I do NOTHING to the tank for a full week before leaving.

I have backup expert reefers that my tank sitter can call if need be."

Those were the two first things that came to mind for me. IME, NOT messing with anything for at least several days before going away is very important. It's way too easy to do some little thing wrong at the last minute.

I try to thouroghly breif my tank watcher before leaving, leave clear written instructions, and have them do the tank checking routine a couple of times before I go away.

And post here asking for a couple of back up people to be on call if the tank watcher runs into trouble. (though gustavo and beer would be ideal ).

It's also nice if things like top off and ca/alk supplmentation are automated, but not everyone has that set up....

 

[Clam Man]

keep an expert reefer on hand don't leave a complicate reef in somones hands.
I would shut down my reactor and have the tank sitter dose with 2 part.
turn my auto top off off and have them add top off water each day.
bottom line make sure you don't have a nuckle head watching it and hope for the best.

 

[jdeb101]

You guys may yell at me but I couldnt resist getting a hector goby today and Im leaving for FL on Monday. Im sure Ill be worrying a lot that hes not getting beat on or beating others. My sisters going to come by on Tue and Thur to feed and top off for me.

 

[TomD]

jdeb101--I can stop by maybe once or twice if you want me too. Pm me. That goes for anybody else in my area if you go away. I have a crazy schedule but weekend checks are not a problem for anybody....

Honestly, I have not left my tank for more than 24hrs since August. I am not at the stage yet where I would be combfortable leaving it to someone else. I guess that is another step in the progression of the hobby. I plan on going to Hawai next year so I have a year to figure it out

I do not trust auto-topoffs on the 6th floor with appx. 120 gallons of salty water!

 

[starrfish]

I do all of the things that Karen does, and I have a small surveillance camera mounted over my sump that sends me a picture every hour. I can't log in and see a live video, but a still picture sent to my email works great. I can keep an eye on the water level that way. I think you can add more cameras to the system to keep tabs on a bunch of things I just haven't done it yet. I think it was about $100 - I bought it at x10.com.

 

[revkev6]

in the winter I regularly leave my tank alone during long weekends. I can go three days with no topoff and no feedings with ease. for a week I have my brother or a former reefkeeping friend stop over my house once or twice to feed and top off.

 

[snick1734]

we went away back in november for 10 days, our bad did not ask fellow close by members to check in few times, needless say came home to big mess lps softy tank at 74 degrees for god knows how long the green hair algee like no tomorow lost 70 % zoos all cleanup crew dead stinky
params way off my tank lost all sps have no idea how was not good not picking on our pet sitter our bad. lesson learned have fellow reefer or expert on call

steve

 

[jdeb101]

THanks for your offer TomD but I think my sister should be able to handle it, although she does hate fish! lol My systems pretty simple, all she needs to do is feed 1/4 cube and top off. X fingers crossed! X