Vacation Advice

[Pflanman]

Hi All,

I'm going on vacation for a few weeks and am looking for any advice anyone has on keeping the tank running while on vacation. I have an auto feeder and ATO with a 12 gallon reservoir that I'm pretty confident won't run dry while I'm gone. I'm also planning on doing a water change before leaving. Does anyone have anything else they'd suggest?

 

[ifarmer]

dont try to fix or change anything the day before you go.

 

[this is me]

Anyway to connect to the controller remotely and control the power switches and check on the parameters(temps, ph, salinity, etc)?
Put a camera with remote access on it.
And pray.

 

[tkyee98]

Wyze Cam Pan v2 1080p Pan/Tilt/Zoom Wi-Fi Indoor Smart Home Camera with Color Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Compatible with Alexa & The Google Assistant, White https://a.co/d/gTUNSkN

Get this place it in front of your tank.

At the very least get an ink bird for temperature control fail safety.

Try to get someone to come every 1-2 days to check up for any crazy things like leaks and what not. Do a good water change to start and prep some fresh water so you can do another water change the day you come back.

 

[Pflanman]

I don't have anything to remotely check parameters. I do have a temp controller which I think is a must have. I like the camera idea. Might set one of those up. But if I see something wrong that might be even more stressful! I appreciate the advice though. Thanks everyone!

 

[ChrisV]

If for several weeks, any chance you can ask a maintenance company to come check in on it once a week? Maybe one of the @sponsors can help.

 

[Pflanman]

I reached out to one but they don't do vacation sitting. It's also a waterbox 20 so idk if it would be worth it for them considering it's such a small tank.

 

[coralfishreef]

For the WB20 with single overflow, may want to consider removing the filter sock or filter floss.

 

[ChrisV]

For the WB20 with single overflow, may want to consider removing the filter sock or filter floss.

Strongly agree with this. Maybe toss a bag of chemipure blue in the compartment.

 

[CaPow]

Find a local reefer to check in while you’re away.

 

[Pflanman]

That's a good point I didn't think of that. I'll remove the filter floss. Will probably be fine I have a skimmer in there too. What does chemicure blue help with? Still kind of a noob with the salt water stuff

 

[tkyee98]

Chemipure blue is carbon and a resin, helps control water quality, remove toxins silicates etc

 

[Pflanman]

Oh nice. I should probably be running that all the time to help with high nutrients. Been trying to lower them for awhile now but the corals seem happy.

 

[coralfishreef]

That's a good point I didn't think of that. I'll remove the filter floss. Will probably be fine I have a skimmer in there too. What does chemicure blue help with? Still kind of a noob with the salt water stuff

The main reason to remove the sock or floss is to prevent the 1st overflow chamber from getting clogged and having your ATO dump gallons of water into the tank and on to the floor. If you use Chemipure, the same applies. Be careful not to block the flow from tank to overflow or slow it down to where the display height keeps rising.

 

[ChrisV]

The main reason to remove the sock or floss is to prevent the 1st overflow chamber from getting clogged and having your ATO dump gallons of water into the tank and on to the floor. If you use Chemipure, the same applies. Be careful not to block the flow from tank to overflow or slow it down to where the display height keeps rising.

Yes, I'd put the chemipure in the compartment of the AIO, not In an area that could ever restrict flow.

 

[frank180reef]

dont try to fix or change anything the day before you go.

No water change

 

[wdebenedettojr]

Have a local maintenance company on standby if the person checking on your house finds an issue. Very important. @LoveTheReef will do this for you

 

[chadfish]

Wyze Cam Pan v2 1080p Pan/Tilt/Zoom Wi-Fi Indoor Smart Home Camera with Color Night Vision, 2-Way Audio, Compatible with Alexa & The Google Assistant, White https://a.co/d/gTUNSkN

Get this place it in front of your tank.

At the very least get an ink bird for temperature control fail safety.

Try to get someone to come every 1-2 days to check up for any crazy things like leaks and what not. Do a good water change to start and prep some fresh water so you can do another water change the day you come back.

+1 to the camera. If you have a sump make sure the camera can see the sump. If you have a sump area light, make sure it’s on, or on a switch that can be remotely actuated.

Also make sure the camera can see the ATO reservoir water level. This is my #1 concern when leaving the house, that I’ll run out of makeup water.

I have two cameras, one on the tank, one on the sump. Planning on getting a third for the ATO reservoir.

 

[Greg Hiller]

Make sure you have one of the auto-on air pumps on the tank in case of power outage.. They are very inexpensive insurance. The first thing to die are the fish, and it only takes a few hours. I go into details on this in the following article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-05/gh/index.php

 

[SteveDola]

Honestly, IMO, its a cross fingers and pray situation. A lot of good advice here (dont change anything right before you go, clear the overflow floss) but apart from having a controller on wifi with camera there is no way to know exactly what is going on from a 1000 miles away. The camera is a nice visual check that can provide some information to you remotely however even with that information...can you act on it? not unless you can call someone with reef knowledge to help trouble shoot. Many have advice to have a friend check in periodically but realistically they wont know whats wrong if things are dying without some information previously provided. It then becomes a facetime situation where youre asking a ton of the person who prolly just wanted to look at the tank for 2 mins. Having 5 gallons of freshly made water is handy if you needed to have your friend help out or upon arrival home needed to do WC.

My biggest piece of advice if you travel and have a tank...get an Apex or some controller that you can monitor the heartbeat of your aquarium remotely. Its expensive but the peace of mind is worth it. Id never have a tank with any amount of investment that I didnt have a wifi controller installed. At some point, murphy's law pops up and your tank is toast. (If Im being blunt) Murphy is like cancer...if you can catch it early you should be ok.

Ive vacationed many times in the past year and already twice the Apex saved my system from a stuck float and an overflowing skimmer. I was able to call my family to come and fix the situation until I returned.