Going on Vacation is so stressful

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I wouldn't worry about it, it's just the CA reactor, pretty hard to crash your tank with that. If it was me I'd just tell her to disconnect the CA reactor completely, problem solved.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't a overdose of co2 weather to tank or sump area have adverse affects. I've never had a ca reator

[whatcaneyedo]

My tank depletes about 1 DKH of Alkalinity daily so the Ca reactor needs to keep running. If nothing was done from the time when I received the first error message the tank could conceivably drop to 3 DKH by now. At that level things likely would start dying. Another way the Ca reactor could crash a system is what happened a few years ago when the tank sitter bumped the dial on the CO2 regulator and emptied 20lbs of carbon dioxide into my tank/basement. CO2 will displace oxygen and acidify the water, both are deadly conditions.

While I may be the only one with a complete understanding of my system that shouldn't have been a problem in this instance. The error messages from the Apex have kept me informed with exactly what was going on up until the tank sitter started to pull apart things. All I needed them to do was turn up the CO2 slightly, and when they turned it up too high: turn it down slightly. However I should have quantified how much 'slightly' is, that was my fault. For the record: no flow is not enough, a torrent of bubbles is too much, almost anything in between would have been fine but 1 bubble every one or two seconds would have been optimal.

[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.

[Marlin65]

Why not shut the reactor off and have your sitter dose some Ca and alk manualy? I have mine just dump some in in a pre measured amount. It might not be perfect but at least it will keep your levels up.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Marlin65

Why not shut the reactor off and have your sitter dose some Ca and alk manualy?.

That just sounds scary Me, I tweak my reactor a couple days before I go and nobody touches nuthin' until I get back!
I pre-measure food for my daughter to add and that's it. I leave a phone number for a pro in the event something more than feeding is required

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

That just sounds scary Me, I tweak my reactor a couple days before I go and nobody touches nuthin' until I get back!
I pre-measure food for my daughter to add and that's it. I leave a phone number for a pro in the event something more than feeding is required

I follow this as well. Everything is premeasured and tweaked or cleaned a day or two before I leave. The only thing they have to top up is the RO reservoir if it's a long vacation. And I also keep a pro on standby

[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.

[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.

[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.