Long term school closing

[AHarp]

Hi! I'm not sure if I have a problem yet or not, but I wanted to get some advice in case I do. I have a 110g set up in my school, and got notice today that schools will be closed starting Monday through at least the next two weeks. I don't know if I will be able to get into the school to feed/clean/take care of the tank. I do have an ATO I can set up with a 30 gallon trashcan I use for water changes, so I'm not worried about running dry. I can do a water change tomorrow. I do not have an automatic feeder, so food at this point is my main concern. The tank is stocked with two clownfish, two yellowtail damselfish, two Talbot's damsels, an algae blenny, and a blue hippo tang (on the smaller side), two cleaner shrimp, some snails, hermit crabs, a couple leather corals, and some random corals that popped up on some live rock I bought.

 

I'll find out tomorrow (hopefully) for sure if I will be able to get into the building. In the event that I'm not, I'm wondering if I should:

-try to find an automatic feeder quickly, and hope everything goes well

-bring the fish home and house them temporarily in my 30 gallon tank (currently stocked with a cleaner shrimp, clownfish, some hermit crabs, and a couple starter corals)

 

If I have to leave them at school, I worry about the pump breaking, the feeder (if I can even find one quickly enough) breaking/getting wet/not working right, etc., etc. Ideally, I would like to bring them home. My concern with bringing them home is that the 30 gallon is really too small for that stocking. Additionally, the clownfish I have at home is likely to get bullied out, as it is much smaller than the other fish. I suppose I could fill the trashcan I use for water changes and increase the volume that way. I'm also not sure how long schools will be out (it won't be any less than 2 weeks, but I don't know if more will be added).

 

So, what do you think? I'm going back and forth between the options. I'm not sure there's a good choice, but I'm hoping to make the best choice for everything. Help! :-)

[AlanM]

That’s a hard situation. I don’t know if I would put them into your small home tank. It surely will cause lots of aggression even if you can keep the parameters under control.  

 

I’d definitely try to arrange for periodic access to the tank.  Or maybe get a building manager to feed once in a while and send you a text if things look off?  I’m in Montgomery County and I believe the administrative offices in the schools will stay open here at least, so maybe someone can make those arrangements with you.

[MaeganWink]

I will say if you have an ATO that takes care of your biggest issue. I have to replace water in my school tanks every other day usually, so even the weekends are a bit of a stretch sometimes. If schools close for me I'm going to need to get into the building or buy an ATO myself which I'm hoping I won't have to do...

 

I use autofeeders over the summer for my tanks and they all do fine. I honestly have more trouble with overfeeding with autofeeders than anything else.

 

The fear of the pump breaking there isn't much you can do about...besides getting a new, maybe more reliable pump if yours isn't great. 

[ImGoingCoastal]

Where are you located? I have a brand new autofeeder that you could use, if necessary.

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[Origami]

Autofeeders work great. Here are the issues I see.

 

* This change is coming at the last-minute, forcing you to adjust your routine. Any changes that you make, including adding an autofeeder should be considered a risk. A bad setting here or there and your water quality will take a nose dive. It's always good to have at least two or three days of things smoothly running hands-off to confirm the trajectory that you've put your tank on.  

* Typically, I'd say that 2 weeks is probably just about the limit of how long I'd go without feeding fish over a vacation break. It's possible to go week or more without feeding, but it typically takes a period of time beforehand when you can overfeed your stock (fatten them up). If your tank has natural food sources in it - live algae and pods, for example, that can help extend things as many of the fish will be able to forage.

 

If you can get in this weekend, I'd try to get that autofeeder today. Load it up and put it on a piece of paper and adjust how much it dispenses and set the timer. Let it run for a day over the paper just to make sure there are no surprises. Then set it over your tank if all seems well. Clean your skimmers, add to your topoff tank, etc. and cross your fingers. Check with your admin to see if the building will be open. I know that in Loudoun and Fairfax, sometimes admin staff still shows up during periods of building shutdown. If you're able to get in, then you'll be able to check a few times during the break.

 

Good luck during the break.

[AHarp]

Thanks all! I'm located in Olney, MD. The fact that it is all last minute is really what is stressing me out. I just spoke with my principal, and she wants me to take the fish home. Her concern is that we don't have any idea yet what type of cleaning they will be doing, and if it's anything aerosol, there's a good chance it will get into the tank and kill everything off. The county is also still apparently deciding if they are going to have admin come in at all, and are telling staff explicitly not to come in. My wife has posted in some Facebook groups looking for anyone with a tank we could borrow, and we have two offers currently--a 55 gallon that is empty and needs a cleaning, and a 75 gallon with live rock that recently crashed and lost all of it's fish. The current owner says it will need a heavy clean to ensure whatever killed off the fish is gone. They think a newly added fish brought something in. Both were set up as saltwater tanks. 

 

I'm generally of the belief that bigger is always better (in terms of fishkeeping, at least), so my gut says to go for the 75g. However, I'm nervous about the crash and adding my fish into a potentially dangerous situation. I'm also not positive what to do to deep clean. For a freshwater tank, I would rinse everything in clean, dechlorinated water and swap the filter. Would it be pretty much the same in a saltwater? And this would restart the cycle, correct?  I can add in all the live rock from the school tank to help jumpstart the cycle, but would that be enough to keep the fish safe?

 

My principal did say that they will not start cleaning on Monday, so I have the weekend to figure something out and get it going. Thank you all for your advice and answers!

[ImGoingCoastal]

Should be able to use chlorine bleach on it, and since time is short, I'd use prime when rinsing it out to neutralize the bleach.

Just run it bare bottom and use the rock from the school tank. If you have any wrasses that need sand you can just use a bowl with some of the old sand.

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[AHarp]

Well that would make it pretty simple! Thanks!

[AHarp]

Hopefully final update! My administration heard back today that I cannot come in Monday or Tuesday, but that I will be able to get in to at least feed and check up on everything starting Wednesday. So everything should be OK! I'll start looking now for an autofeeder for the next emergency! :-)

 

Thanks again for all the advice and answers.

Edited March 13, 2020 by AHarp

[zygote2k]

Give the fish away and turn off the tank.

[MaeganWink]

@zygote2k This would be 100% last resort for most of us in schools. It's very hard for us to get funds/donations to get these tanks together. So if we don't have to and we can keep everything alive and well, even at some hassle to us...we will.