Vacation advice! Leaving my tanks to my clueless room mate...

[Coralgurl]

Just got back from a week vacation and left my tanks to my daughter to look after. I had everything ready for her, left instructions etc. I had enough top off water ready, she just had to fill the top off section of the tank. Had enough food made for the fish, and showed her how to feed. I also showed her how to refill the jugs if she needed more water and explained how it all worked. We were accessible if she had any questions or problems, but before I left, I spoke with Kevin at Red Coral and he gave me a card with his number so if she had any problems, she could call him and he was willing to help out. I taped the card to the tank.

Fortunately, no issues and all fish and corals were happy when we returned. Of course, I bought her some gifts, so a case of beer or something nice from Mexico for the roomate may be in order.

Given you are going away longer, you may want another reefer checking on things for you just to help out.

[SandSifter]

If it is possible, get someone from your local LFS to check up on it, it will probably cost you a few bucks but at least you will have some peace of mind.

Just read coralgurls response... Another reefer would work too

[lpsreefer]

The main problem is that there is a lot more then one tank. Well six tanks and one in the making just waiting on the cycling process.
I have auto top offs, auto feeders, and all that.
It just every time I go on vacation I lose a fish. Last time it was due to the fact they didn't fed the tank after the first day.
I got label food in zip lock bags this time. Marked with day and time.

It won't be so bad if I had Internet access to check up on my tanks.
And problems always happen when the lfs are closed.

[burgerchow]

Matt, with 6-7 tanks, I think you need a professional to come in. It wouldn't be fair to your roommate to be responsible for that many tanks. Do you have companies in Calgary that do tank maintenance? Probably cost you a couple hundred bucks for that long a duration, but well worth it in my opinion.

Send nate a pm. He has an aquarium maintenance business in calgary.

[globaldesigns]

find a canreefer member that lives near you to look after things, arrange to also help him/her out also. Many of us do this. Or as others stated, pay for a professional service.

I think you should think about the what if scenario... If something happens, like a return pump failure, will a roommate or someone with no reef experience going to know what to do, who to call, without panicking?

[Delphinus]

3 weeks and 6 tanks? Oh my. No offense IMO I think that is way too long for the tanks to be unattended and in the care of someone who doesn't themselves have some kind of ownership in the tanks. For day to day things like feeding and topup, maybe ... but I think you need someone experienced (and has had a quick overview of the systems beforehand) to check in every couple of days and to handle the bigger items like cleaning skimmers and checking/refilling reservoirs or dosings or whatever it is that the tanks require.

I know that anytime I go away and have family look after the tanks, in the case of when I ask my dad to stop in, he chronically overfeeds everything ("the fish looked hungry") and I get algae blooms or nutrient spikes for weeks thereafter (and/or livestock losses). Another time, a few years back, I lost a beautiful 10 year old purple plate coral because it somehow got buried in sand and the tanksitter that time (sister in law) didn't know it was in trouble. She just didn't know what to look for.

A weekend is one thing, but for myself anything more than that I ask my Canreef buddy to check in. At least then I don't have to worry about proceduralizing every little possibility.

With 6 tanks and 3 weeks .. I honestly think you need someone to come in for you beyond the day to day stuff. Someone on Canreef is bound to be near to you (or try a professional tank service..)

Good luck!! Oh and above all have an awesome vacation man, that sounds epic!

[lpsreefer]

Well I cut my vacation into three parts. Good thing it doesn't cost me much to fly back for a day.

[lpsreefer]

Thank you every one for your input.

[Mandosh]

You're going to fly back to Calgary for the day? From Mexico? Twice?