Tank care on vacations

[lutz123]

I’ve hesitated in setting up a new tank because we go on several trips a year, usually at least one that’s at least 10 days. If you were starting from scratch, how would you build a tank that could ‘self sustain’ for a bit. We usually have a pet sitter so there could be minimal care, but I haven’t found anyone near me (western Loudoun) that is knowledgeable and can come over and maintain a saltwater tank.. I usually go the fish/inverts/macroalgae/soft coral route rather than hard corals and a pristine tank, so it shouldn’t be impossible, right? 

[YHSublime]

I just recently left my tanks on auto for 10 days, with lots of SPS. The only thing I did differently was setup an auto feeder, and swap out a 30 gallon container as an ATO bucket for both. Of course, things were better upon returning. 

 

I had a tank sitter top off for a week with DC tapwater about 2 years ago, pretty much demolished my tank. This time we still had a house sitter/dog sitter, but I didn't ask them to do anything for the tanks. 

[cpeguero]

I’ve left my tank for a week with zero input from me. Have also left for 2 weeks. Had someone come check on things a couple of times, but they didn’t need to really do anything. I’ve heavily automated things, though you can get by with less automation than I have (especially with softies. Check out my build thread for details. Happy to answer any questions.


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[DaJMasta]

I just had a vacation at the beginning of the month with about a week away and an inexperienced tank sitter (my dad), and almost no automation.  My solution was a very explicit checklist of what needed to be done, and then pre-portioning all food, additives, etc. in individual bottles so they could just dump them into the tank.  Then I had them over once before I left to run through the checklist and get any extra notes (or modifications for the checklist) that were needed, and the plan basically went off without a hitch.

 

Here's the checklist I arrived at, to give you an idea of the simplicity of each step and the comprehensiveness of trying to make sure only what needs to be done is done and that everything is running the same when they leave for the day.

reef tank care instructions.pdf

[howaboutme]

Agree w/ the above. You can either go automation and have someone "check in" or be very specific and trust your sitter. I am fully automated so I had our cat sitter do the check in while she's here. It was quite simple: Is it leaking? Is my ATO low or empty? etc... Simple.

[cpeguero]

Agree with the others here too. Even with my automated setup, I had specific things to be checked, with pictures and instructions. I think it was 3 pages long. I was able to have inexperienced people keep an eye on things as well.

I think one of the big things about automation is that things will fail. If you accept that, you can build in redundancy and plan for failures. Some of the things I had them check were indicators of automation failure. Also, having a fish emergency contact for the sitter is key. Either a trusted fish-friend/WAMAS member or a trusted LFS.


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[Origami]

Moving to General Discussion forum for the benefit of a wider audience.