Taking Vacations

[b_james]

What do you guys do when you go on vacations (say a 2 week vacation)? I would assume you have someone come to the house every so often to check up on things. But how often. Also would it be worth it to invest in a controller with web access? Look into a local Aquarium maintenance service?

My tanks is a 150 Gal cube with a sump, 5 gal Tunze water top off (lasts about 5 days). PH controller, dual heaters.

[lastlight]

I was visited by an extraterrestrial:

[Borderjumper]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I was visited by an extraterrestrial:

But did he feed your fish while you were away?
-1 rep

[BigAl07]

I have a "Controller" with web access (GHL ProfiLux) but I also like to have a "Human" come by at least every other day to get an eyeball on the environment (leaks, lights blown etc).

I prepare my food in ice cubes and put them into baggies in the freezer so that whoever is looking in on the tank only has to open a baggy, grab an ice cube and drop it into the tank. Gotta keep it simple.

I also talk with my LFS and make sure they know I'm out of town so that if someone they don't know calls in a panic they are familiar with my system and how I do things.

[MarkoD]

I went to Hawaii for a month in September.

Set up a 70 gallon tank for ATO and a drain bucket for the skimmer.

And 2 auto feeders for fish.

Everything survived

[globaldesigns]

I have a great Canreef Member that helps me, and vice versa I help him. Great way to do things, as I wouldn't want to leave my tank in the hands of someone who doesn't have a clue what to do.

[riceboy]

Originally Posted by lastlight

I was visited by an extraterrestrial:

lol thats awesome

[e46er]

My dad did it for me the first holiday I took- screwed it up so bad fed sooooooo much food probably 15 times more than required
My buddy who has a 220 discus tank has checked up on it last couple vacations , he doesn't have a salt tank yet but knows how to do tests and water changes and proper amounts of food
Worked out good
I just premixed some water and set up so he had to plug in pump 1 to pump out water plug in pump 2 to put water back in and then plug in return pump

[BigAl07]

My last vacation I had a trusted family member who lived close by and he checked on the tank. We'd been out of town almost 2 weeks when he called and said, "How does the food get UP into the tank?" Instead of putting the food pucks (frozen food in ice cube trays) into the tank he was putting them into the 15g ATO reservoir. Unfortunately because of the design of my system little (if any) food got into the tank.

When I got home the tank looked better than ever and had zero casualties. Fortunately it was a lightly stocked, mature, and very healthy tank with tons of pods and MACRO algae so the tank sort of fed itself.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I haven't gone on any longer than 1 week since I started reefing again.

Have a local reefer who lives down the street from me who walks his dog up our street every day and pops in to feed & check on things.