dont let your sister watch your tank!

[fosterspike]

i had to leave for ten days and had my sister watch the tank. she killed literally everything in it. i didnt have any fish but i lost all my cleaning crew.

the gfi needed to be reset and she told me this about 7 days after it happened. the power was off for 7 days!! she didnt even have to do that much just top it off and make sure its working, but she killed EVERYTHING!!! even those little tube worms everywhere!

[bamainva]

Sorry to hear about that. Once things have settled down and you are looking to start restocking let me know.

[fosterspike]

well one of my MH ballasts has shorted out. i guess thats why it reset. now i have to replace that too. so much money.

[capsfan]

Sorry to hear that. Tank crashes suck.

[fosterspike]

so now im gonna get some new lights, clean out tank, try to get sister to pay damages, get a better setup for electrical stuff, and try restocking.

[capsfan]

Do you have a tank thread? I don't think I have ever seen your tank.

[fosterspike]

well no becuase everytime i think about it my tank is in horrible condition.

[Jan]

I'm so sorry to hear this. I have a couple of frags of some softies for you. Let me know when you're ready.

[fosterspike]

thanks everybody, im gonna try to get eveything right this time first though

[Boret]

Sorry about your crash.

I wouldn't "make" your sister pay for anything. It is our responsibility, as it is our hobby.

 

I have left my tank under the care of friends on a couple of occasions and I always come back to some loses. Most of them ultimately can be blamed on me. In one occasion after I cleaned everything before my trip I forgot to turn on the ATO switch (i know, I couldn't believe it me myself either!!!). I had a fairly small sump at the time so my wife realized the level was low when the return pump start picking up some air making "a weird noise".

She called me (I was in Corea at the time) and we were able to figure it out. The volume that evaporated wasn't great, not a huge change in salinity so minimal loses. But I was not dosing Kalk or anything. If that same thing happened today it will really suck. I loss about 3 gal per day and I have more delicate stuff.

 

That tought me to not change anything before a trip and make sure everything is ON. I also learn that I have to label things so other people know what it is that I want them to turn ON or OFF.

 

On a different occasion the membrane of my RODI decided to completely shut down. My fault for not replacing it on time. My fault also for not having one handy.

This time, my 40 gal RODI reservoir was able to keep up for about 14 days until it got depleted. I still had 6 more days before I was back. My buddy called me when the level on the sump was too low (after what happened before with the ATO switch I told him to watch for the different levels as part of the tank sitting chores). When I realized that the RODI reservoir was empty I knew I was screwed. I couldn't expect to have him find one locally (didn't know then that BRK stocks them) and replace it. Even if I find one, dismantling the RODI unit to replace the membrane is not a simple task. During the call, the best I could come up with was to have him use water of my filter upstairs (for drinking water) then go to a fish store close by and purchase some RODI water to refill the reservoir.

I had loses, it sucked but there was nothing I could do.

 

Now, as I have a newer, better tank, and have invested some dough on nicer corals I will for sure tap on a WAMAS member to be my tank sitter.

 

From now on I will try to setup a tank sitter that is knowledgeable and can take care of things.

Try to orginize your new setup with that event as a learning lesson. I have my system connected in 3 different circuits. For one I want to balance the load, but I also want to have things working even if a GFCI is tripped.

 

Best of luck!!

[lanman]

I gave up travel for my tanks. Longest I've been out of town is 48 hours - and I know my tanks can take care of themselves for that long.

 

2 years 8 months - no major disasters... fingers crossed.

 

bob

[wfoxfox]

I agree - but there are some things to do....... 1. call the person watching your tank 'daily' and ask questions. 2. get a hobbyist to do it. 3. get a service company/pet sitter to do it. Just my 2 cents. I am going to Europe for a week in October - I will have the best watching my tank since I am watching his this week :-) Doug is da man - also pays to live 2 miles from a WAMAS officer and good guy - lol

[zoozilla]

Sorry man. Crashes, no matter how severe, blow big chunks Let me know when your ready, I have a few frags you can have.

[davelin315]

I agree - but there are some things to do....... 1. call the person watching your tank 'daily' and ask questions. 2. get a hobbyist to do it. 3. get a service company/pet sitter to do it. Just my 2 cents. I am going to Europe for a week in October - I will have the best watching my tank since I am watching his this week :-) Doug is da man - also pays to live 2 miles from a WAMAS officer and good guy - lol

You need Doug's wife to watch your tank, instead. If you live two miles from him, I'm sure you know the story!

[reefmontalvo]

I once left for ten days out of the counrty. I asked my uncle to stop by and just add freshwater to the tank. But instead he could never make it past the fridge, instead he would just get a beer look at the tank and walk away. He figured there was water in the tank why add more just casue it dropped a couple of inches.

[treesprite]

Sorry to hear about this. I must be really lucky to not have had any major disasters like the ones I keep reading here.

 

It's a good idea to have different equipment on different electrical outlets, so if one thing fails the others don't. Pumps and powerheads should be spread around so you're less likely to have a suffocated tank.

 

If your GFCIs are the kind you just plug into the wall like mine, make sure they are ones that will automatically turn back on after a power failure (some have to be reset manually).

 

It's good to keep a bottle of de-chlorinator around in case there's an emergency that requires a sitter to use regular tap water in the tank. It's very simple to put tap water in a bucket and stir in some de-chlorinator when no RO is available. Alternatively, if you use bottled water for drinking, just tell a sitter to use that for emergency topoff (might have to let it warm up first).

 

Have some extra powerheads in the tank unplugged so if pumps go out a sitter can just plug the powerheads in.

 

Set up a back-up tank long enough before you go on vacation that it will be cycled by the time you leave, so that if there's a water quality emergency the livestock can go in there.

 

Have a battery backup w/inverter where the sitter can easily locate it. At least have some battery operated air diffusers handy.

 

Line up all the possibly needed emergency items in plain sight for the sitter. Make a "Tank Emergency Rescue Guide" to leave for a sitter and go over it with the person.

 

Put some of the livestock in a separate tank before leaving so if there's a disaster you'll "only" lose a percentage rather than all of it.

 

If you're going away for an extended period, set up a temporary tank at someone else's house for the more delicate livestock, then a "basic" sitter just has to care for the stuff that isn't as likely to die in a disaster.

 

Label all your switches.

 

If you have pumps and such that don't have switches on them, you can get some switches that you just plug into the power strip with the devices plugged into the switches. The flippers on them are large enough to write on with permanent marker so a sitter could easily locate them. I have all my pumps on them so there is no having to search through cords or pulling out cords. They cut down on shorting out cords by pulling on the cords. My son called one day to tell me the skimmer cup was flooding over and all I had to do was have him flip the switch to temporarily shut it off, as opposed to trying to explain how to adjust the skimmer or worrying about him pulling out the wrong cord. Once I was messing around my plumbing and the return detatched by accident - I shielded the water with one hand and just reached under the stand and flipped the switch with the other, but without the switch I would have had to use both hands to unplug the cord resulting in several gallons of more water lost to the ceiling.

[fosterspike]

i was in europe for ten days and i didnt have phone service to call and i didnt really think anythink like this would happen. i guess i need to look at all the possibilities. i was joking when i said i was going to get my sister to pay for it, cause she really didnt know what to do with it.

 

my GFI is the actual outlet and its in the most inconvenient place, right behind the tank. but it always turns off and ive never had trouble besides reaching it.

 

i guess the main problem was that i hadn't look forward enough to predict what could happen and i think i will make sure that i have something ready for them like a guide or something so if theres something wrong them can fix it immediately.

 

well at least there wasnt anything super expensive in there. the most expensive were shrimps and corals (mainly cheap softies).

 

thanks for all the input.

[wfoxfox]

come to Purcellville - I can get you started back up :-) ( neon green hammer, dragons breath, pink birds nest, some SWAP stuff, red monti, green slimer, gsp, leather with neon green polyps) The SWAP stuff is Idaho Grage, green acro and dragons breath. I have more that I have no idea what it is called :-) for the grand total of 0.0

Edited July 28, 2009 by wfoxfox

[Hilary]

Line up all the possibly needed emergency items in plain sight for the sitter. Make a "Tank Emergency Rescue Guide" to leave for a sitter and go over it with the person.

 

Of course I'm way too inexperienced (read lazy) to do this, but I love the idea of a rescue guide. Wonder if any members would like to pull a template together?

[treesprite]

Of course I'm way too inexperienced (read lazy) to do this, but I love the idea of a rescue guide. Wonder if any members would like to pull a template together?

The problem is that everyone's setup is different, otherwise I would do it myself. Really the only thing to do it list what needs to be done as routine, where everything is, what could go wrong, where the things are if something does go wrong and how to use those things, and where to find the quickest way out of town if there's a disaster in spite of such a handy dandy fool-proof manual.