Caring for the tank with 3 weeks vacation

[NickleCheese]

Hi everyone, I will have 3 weeks' vacation in June. This post is about asking everyone's input about my plan. None of my family has any idea about fish tanks. So I'm trying to find and pay someone to help me out.

• First, let's have a quick summary of my tank.
  - 250 Gallons display tank + 50 gallons sump with refugium ( cheato and tons of pods)
  - Tank is matured ( phosphate: 0.1 / Nitrate : 20)
  - Neptune APEX + DOS. Daily dosing Tropic Marin All For Reef
  - Running GFO and Carbon.
  - Livestock :
  11 Fishes ( 5 clowns, 1 blenny , 2 wrasses, 1 angle, 1 diamond golby, 3 tangs)
  Coral: Mixed reef ( acro, milli, soft corals : torch, meat, hammer. )
• My plan:
  - Using Eheim automatic feeder to feed once / day.
  - Paying someone to visit once / a week to look at the tank. If anything wrong ( dead fishes/coral bleaching, stress), he will send me a message. Then I will workout with him by paying him for changing the water. Saltwater is already premixed and stored in the container before I leave.
  - He will change the water in the 2nd week.
• My question:
  - Is it ok for coral without food for 3 weeks? Fishes poop will be the main food source.
  - Can fish survive with one feed/day. I'm worrying powerheads will blow off all the pellets then fishes can't pick up fast enough. They will be starving and then beginning to nip at the corals.
  
  
  Pls give me any input / any recommendation. Thank you!

 

[joseserrano]

if you consistently do something that isn’t going to be done during that period, it’s going to sway the tank towards bad or good. Won’t know until it’s done. Best bet would be to hire a fish guy for the time you are gone and maybe one time prior to review tank,...

 

[jrrob98]

what's your location

 

[adayrit]

I agree with Jose. You should have a list of task by the hour or day etc. and it should be followed. My main concern would be consistency.Also, liability should also be discussed.

 

[Smite]

I've never done 3 weeks, that's a pretty good duration. #1 would be Jose' suggestion. Probably most fail safe.

If that's not in the plans for whichever reason then I would start implementing what you plan to do while on vacation ahead of time.

- If you feed solely pellets and flake* Start auto feeding now. I feel like the Eheim auto feeder has more than one feed time allowable but maybe I'm remembering wrong. Test with the exact food you plan to use. Hands off for a week while testing nutrients and keeping an eye on fish; nutrient changes can affect your uptake over time causing an unwanted swing. I'd suggest once you find the correct opening for your food type and amount either glue or tape that little slide on the canister in place. In 3 weeks, it'll probably need to be refilled and an inexperienced person could slide that on accident and not know.
Potentially even stop feeding your coral while testing to see how they fair. I wouldn't be worried about them starving out, but maybe uptake will change? Not sure.

-If you currently feed frozen, (this is what I do) try to find a family member or friend who is reliable to come feed daily. Pay them if needed. You can get little ketchup dixie containers cheap at the grocery store. Place frozen in there with some RODI water and measure them out for the daily amount you would normally dose. Place them in the fridge. That way they dont have to touch anything or guess amounts. Also they don't need to get their hands went - win win -no soap, lotion ect getting in your tank and easy so they'll do it correctly. They just come by dump it in and hit feed if need be. Look at the fish and coral, report anything weird.

- I would skip the water change altogether if you don't have an experienced individual coming by. That could go so wrong with so many variables in my mind. Something as small as a spill in a real bad spot(near electrical), over or under fill and we are headed for a crash or damage to your home. If you feel it's needed then I'd do the same as feeding. Mix and store you water as planned. Let it sit for two weeks and test parameters to make sure the parameters are staying stable over that time period. Some salts don't store well, alk will drop off. If mixed the whole time salinity can change, if not you have to worry about them mixing it long enough for temps to match and ph to rise.

Just my 2 cents. I'm sure others will chime in who have more experience with traveling and maintaining a reef.

 

[JohnBRZ]

agree with others suggestion. you could also use a feeding ring to keep the pellets in place if you decide to use the auto feeder or set the pump on a timer to turn off during feeding. I would also setup a live cam so you could monitor remotely. best to find someone knowledgable to care for your tank and test out your plan before leaving. I did 4 weeks vacations once but that with a planted tank. everything was on auto and no water change. good luck

 

[jaxcarnage]

If you have all power heads connected to one outlet, program your apex to turn off your power head outlet during feed time

 

[Tommy Ngo]

Hi everyone, I will have 3 weeks' vacation in June. This post is about asking everyone's input about my plan. None of my family has any idea about fish tanks. So I'm trying to find and pay someone to help me out.

• First, let's have a quick summary of my tank.
  - 250 Gallons display tank + 50 gallons sump with refugium ( cheato and tons of pods)
  - Tank is matured ( phosphate: 0.1 / Nitrate : 20)
  - Neptune APEX + DOS. Daily dosing Tropic Marin All For Reef
  - Running GFO and Carbon.
  - Livestock :
  11 Fishes ( 5 clowns, 1 blenny , 2 wrasses, 1 angle, 1 diamond golby, 3 tangs)
  Coral: Mixed reef ( acro, milli, soft corals : torch, meat, hammer. )
• My plan:
  - Using Eheim automatic feeder to feed once / day.
  - Paying someone to visit once / a week to look at the tank. If anything wrong ( dead fishes/coral bleaching, stress), he will send me a message. Then I will workout with him by paying him for changing the water. Saltwater is already premixed and stored in the container before I leave.
  - He will change the water in the 2nd week.
• My question:
  - Is it ok for coral without food for 3 weeks? Fishes poop will be the main food source.
  - Can fish survive with one feed/day. I'm worrying powerheads will blow off all the pellets then fishes can't pick up fast enough. They will be starving and then beginning to nip at the corals.
  
  
  Pls give me any input / any recommendation. Thank you!

On my tank I have the automatic feed with a feeding ring so it won’t fall into the over flow. I set the feeder to 2x a day. Feeding them flakes, nori, dried mysis, and pellets. I don’t manually feed the fishes anymore. All I do now is just refill the feeder once in awhile.

It seem like you have an apex to monitor it from far away all you need is someone once in a while stop by to check out the tank, top off the ATO reservoir and refilling the auto feeder.

 

[s2k]

Recommend an eheim feeding station so the pellets from auto feeder doesn’t go into overflow. Also I wouldn’t trust someone to do a water change. 3 weeks without a water change is fine.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/ehei...-MRj61nlikOYFKGKFDNOVDzeVvYn4B_IaArKBEALw_wcB

 

[chk30]

I agree whit Jose the vacation time is to enjoy time
Not be worried thinking on the tank.
hire a guy

 

[adayrit]

I agree with jose 100% and also this counts as participation.

 

[mattyzang]

i've also never done 3 weeks, but i did 2 weeks and basically just divided up whatever i wanted fed and stored it in the freezer. i didn't trust anyone to know how much to feed

i definitely wouldn't have someone do a water change that doesn't know what they're doing, that feels like mega danger zone

i felt like my ATO would suffice for the most part, but i did put two buckets of RODI near it and showed the person how to fill it if need be. another option would be to just swap whatever your ato container is for a large brute or something, then you won't run out of RODI. plus nobody will be home so who cares if it's ugly

 

[NickleCheese]

Thank you very much, everyone! I will order the feeding ring!