Top Ten Reasons Why You Should Never Go On Vacation If You Own A Reef Tank...

[Trigger Man]

I remember going to Asia for 3 weeks, setting out buckets of RO water for top ups and Saltwater mixes for 2 water changes. The girlfriend got them mixed up and needless to say the tank salt readings were way to high and 14 fish plus c many coral was lost.
Now thinking about it, maybe that was her way of showing that she was not happy that it was a guys trip . . .

[Snappy]

I typically count on losing 1-2 sps colonies every time I go away just because Murphy's law is bound to kick in when you're not looking. That said I have the best tank sitter in town so things are always in good shape when I get home. Thanks again Brett!

[Reef Pilot]

My planned vacations (go away for 2 or 3 weeks) have so far always turned out OK. That's because I do my best to have my tank and equipment all in top shape just before. And I don't let anyone feed or dose anything in my absence.

However, where I have got in trouble is during the summer, where I am away a lot for shorter times and am sometimes only home for a day or two and then gone again. That's because we have a cabin and I also do a lot of flying excursions.

This past summer I had an issue where my KH doser line plugged right near where it drips into the water. By the time I figured that out in between multiple trips, my KH had dropped to 5 and subsequently jumped to 9 as I was trying to fix it. The result afterwards was STN and outright RTN on some of my SPS, and I lost a couple prize colonies.

As it happens, we are going to Maui in Nov for a couple weeks. My only concern is power outages and possible equipment failure (like a pump not restarting), as this is the stormy season here.

But I guess that is life with a marine tank. It is definitely a risk when you are away.