How long do you leave your tank unattended?

[Steve G]

Hi WAMAS,

What do you all do when you're out of town? I'm going away with my family for 5 days and decided to call my LFS, where a guy said he'd come. We haven't discussed the terms yet so I'm curious what the going rate is for this kind of service when it's offered commercially (not just a friend/club member volunteer). He started talking about water changes and stuff but I just want someone to check on stuff, make sure no alarms are going off, open and close the valve on my skimmer cup drain (takes 10 seconds to drain), make sure ATO hasn't failed, etc. Basically it's for my peace of mind, not actual work. My automation solution has been just web-connected timers (3 Amazon power strips) and dosers, no Apex or anything. I might have him feed some frozen food, since my autofeeder (Plank from Avast Marine) is set up to feed dry and freeze-dried only and my tank likes a little more variety.

 

I'm curious what other folks do. BTW my system is a 240gallon with mostly SPS, been up for 8 months.

 

 

[YHSublime]

Between the dogs, the tank, the garden, and piece of mind, I always have to get a house sitter. 

 

You may not need them to do much other than check the tank (and you should probably set those expectations) but I wouldn't expect it to be cheap(er/ish) because you only need a few things done. 

[Tricina]

I would suggest a secondary person you trust to check on the tanks. Be sure you know these people and ensure they won’t just walk off with some of your livestock or do things you don’t approve of. I have heard too many horror stories of sitters trashing and stealing things. If you have a security camera, I would use it. I am normally very trusting personally, but some of the stories I have heard, makes me less trusting of anyone I cannot absolutely trust and know around my stuff. Then you have to worry about over feeding and the water change routine as well. Many people like to “know what they are doing” but don’t know your system. Every system is different as to what it can manage or not.

My tanks are set up to self sustain for the most part, the fish have macro algae and pods and such to help them nibble throughout the day and night if they want. Trying to compare that to yours won’t be easy. Some livestock need a lot of attending if the system isn’t self sustaining enough.


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[nanolong]

I took the risk and left mine to self auto for a week when I was at the beach. Luckily, nothing bad happened. If I had to do it all over again I would probably have a camera to watch the tank and call a neighbor if anything went awry. 

[FishingandReefing]

Personally for only 5 days I wouldn’t stress it if you have ATO, auto feeder, and a web cam to monitor it is a plus. If I can see the water is moving through my cam and the temperature monitor by Inkbird, I am good.

But if you have the funds and a piece of mind, sure hire someone to take care of it.


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[ccurnick]

I have left my tank for over two week at the longest, but I have a fully automated system controlled by an apex. But I will say the most valuable tool that I have for when I leave are wyze cameras. I use two, one that points at my tank, and one that points to my sump. https://www.amazon.com/1080p-Indoor-Monitoring-Camera-MicroSD/dp/B08ZXQG4FX/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=wyze+camera&qid=1628089276&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&smid=A1TGUA2LQN6J4H&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFJRDU0NDE5OU1BWkYmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA2MDU3MDMyRlZJVVdaU0g3RUQ0JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAyNTc5MjRUQzI2QUtXN0VCN1Ymd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

[tpallas]

We went on honeymoon for 5 weeks with our 11.4g on autopilot. I had to buy an Apex setup and had our parents come over once every 10 days  to refill the ATO with pre-made water in other buckets. The autofeeder fed everything. Only thing I wouldve done differently is set up a web cam to get a quick visual to make sure everything was ok. Other than that it was totally automated. 240 gallons is a lot different but the solution scales to some extent.

[menglish]

If is it only 5 days, i would not worry about it.

The fish can go 5 days without being fed, if you must.

The big thing is your ATO. I have left mine unattended for a week with no issues.

The sitter came to look in on the cats and the plants but did nothing for the tank.  I have a Wyze cam that i used along with my Apex to make sure the water was running.

 Get a reef buddy.

I need one too, just incase

[TonyInVa]

I also recommend a Reef buddy. They can learn your system and you their's.  Switch off and cover when one goes out of town. Here is a piece of equipment that has saved me a ton of headaches. 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-octopus-4-waste-collector-with-auto-shut-off.html