Going on Vacation is so stressful

[whatcaneyedo]

The CO2 dumping problem that I had was back in 2006 before I began controlling the pH within the reactor. How my tank sitter managed to bump and turn the dial on the regulator baffles me as well. For the longest time I blamed the manufacturer of the regulator but I was wrong. With my current setup the lowest it has dropped is 6.2 The controller closes the solenoid at 6.5 and warns me at 6.4 but if a lot of gas is going through it will still go as low as 6.2

Three years ago I had the alkalinity in the tank go to 5 DKH and the pulsing xenia that I had had for several years died. That only took 3-4 days to occur so I'd prefer not to push it and test your theory or mine. At the opposite end of the spectrum I've also had coral die at an alkalinity of 20 DKH.

Does it honestly sound simpler to you to have your tank sitter manually dosing every day while you're gone? All mine had to do was turn up the C02 slightly... once. Then it would have been problem solved. Maybe I'm the odd one here but that sounds pretty quick and easy to me. The real problem arose when I didn't quantify how much 'slightly' is (1/8 of a turn of the needle valve would have been good) and when he began ripping my system apart.

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I don't your think your tank will drop down to 3 dkh in what I assume to be less than a week. It's certainly not a linear relationship and your corals don't just suck a certain amount of calcium and alkalinity not matter what is available. Your levels will be low when you return but not deadly as you assume. Your pH controller should also prevent your other scenario, even if I opened my needle valve all the way the pH in the reactor would still not drop that low before shutting off the CO2 off and then it would simply stay off or longer, how you can dump 20lbs into it is beyond me.

Anyways just something to consider for next time, I've had a fully stocked SPS tank before that ran on a CA reactor that required more attention than I was comfortable giving a tank sitter. I would shut the CO2 off before I left and adjust levels when I returned. Even after two weeks nothing was critical.

1dkh a day over a week will add up and is going to be pretty linear till the corals are stressed...IMO.

I wouldnt leave my tank with out alk,ca supplementation for a week with out being worried crap less. I would pretty much assume that it was going to be bad....real bad.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by whatcaneyedo

Does it honestly sound simpler to you to have your tank sitter manually dosing every day while you're gone? All mine had to do was turn up the C02 slightly... once. Then it would have been problem solved. Maybe I'm the odd one here but that sounds pretty quick and easy to me. The real problem arose when I didn't quantify how much 'slightly' is (1/8 of a turn of the needle valve would have been good) and when he began ripping my system apart.

I guess for me, I just don't trust people to follow directions, so I'd be careful to ask someone to tweak my regulator/valve. But I adjust mine so infrequently I don't worry about it (I don't measure pH or anything in mine, it just runs).
I don't usually go away for more than 2 weeks at a time, and I know that I leave my tank alone sometimes for that long other than feeding, so I trust it to run itself. Of course Murphy always messes with that, my skimmer shut off last vacation. First time ever. Go figure.
But if someone started tearing stuff apart, I'd be pretty ****ed off.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by reefermadness

1dkh a day over a week will add up and is going to be pretty linear till the corals are stressed...IMO.

I wouldnt leave my tank with out alk,ca supplementation for a week with out being worried crap less. I would pretty much assume that it was going to be bad....real bad.

Well I guess every system is different but that has certainly never been my experience. My reactor now seems to run flawlessly but my previous one would always get clogged and often not add anything to the tank for a few days before I noticed, I couldn't imagine having a system so sensitive that it would crash if everything wasn't perfect. No wonder you can't relax, I guess some people shouldn't go on vacation

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by sphelps

Well I guess every system is different but that has certainly never been my experience. My reactor now seems to run flawlessly but my previous one would always get clogged and often not add anything to the tank for a few days before I noticed, I couldn't imagine having a system so sensitive that it would crash if everything wasn't perfect. No wonder you can't relax, I guess some people shouldn't go on vacation

If you a have nice beautiful SPS tank.....I guess you don't have a choice.

Perfect is nice by the way......and yes I take vacations. In fact
no one looks at my tank for a week.

[whatcaneyedo]

Oh well I guess this trip has still been better than my last one. My old tank sitter locked himself out of my house by breaking off the key in the front doors deadbolt. So everything was left to fend for itself for a couple days before I got home. Murphy's law indeed. After this I'll have a few new precautions to take at Christmas time.

[Madreefer]

Hope everything turns out good Russell. I no longer ask anybody to look after my tank after the last guy took it upon himself to clean my glass and scratched the hell out of it and when he cleaned my skimmer he left the hot water cranked full blast on my fish sink for two days. To comment on those who have posted about having a pro come over, well Russell is the only real pro around in these parts and the other couple of guys in town that have any knowledge are most likely to busy in their own lives.

[whatcaneyedo]

One of my all time favourites was the second time when I left my old room mate in charge (this CO2 dumping guy). He neglected to put the entire package of silversides away after feeding one day. When I got home the house reeked of rotting fish, he was sitting in the living room and didn't even notice.

I hate to inconvenience people, especially if they don't owe me any favours and I know how busy George, Doug, Lonnie and yourself can get.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I'm supposed to go away in March for 8 days. Now I'm thinking of having my mom take my tickets and I'll just stay behind.

Hope all goes well Russell. The "frags" btw are doing great. Thanks again.

Anthony