Having other people maintain your reef equipment when you are away

[seldin]

I travel a lot and have my family take care of my reef tank when I am away.

My original assumption ( obviously pretty bad), was just to let them feed the fish and corals and my automation of my equipment will take care of itself...

For instance, I have auto top off, timing for lights, battery backup for pump, etc.

However, the list of tasks that the family has taken over is huge and not what I had in mind.

Here are some of their tasks...Not necessarily what I asked for...

- Spot feeding corals.
- Bristle worm removal.
- Placing fallen corals off of sand.
- Checking chemical parms.
- Adding salt
- Etc.

My point, is that when I am there, this hobby and it's equipment is my joy. I never envisioned the amount of work taken on by the family to maintain the tank.

Trust me, I look for ways for them not to touch the tank, except for feeding.

My point, is that complexity of the equipment that has to be maintained is much more than I ever envisioned.

It does frustrate me, that they are doing way more than I have envisioned. However, the tank needs it.

What is your experience with tank maintenance. My own misconception, was just to make sure they do not over feed. I never imagined the amount of work it take for my reef ( because to me it's fun)...

Your thoughts.

[fishome25]

kind of off topic. but why do you remove your bristle worms? they are good for your tank. When I first started my tank I ordered some from greg hiller and had them shipped to me. That must have been 12 years ago.

[seldin]

Removal of bristle worms was not a request. However, my own rule is to remove the larger ones. They can get big....

[username in use]

Why do they need to add salt? How long are you gone for? They also shouldnt need to spot feed any corals while you are gone unless you keep non-photosynthetic corals and are gone for months.

[Beaun]

When I go away I leave with the assumption that nothing will survive. That way if I lose something, it's not that big of a deal. I run my system very simply so that my brother just needs to feed once a day and top off the system when it gets low. Everything else takes care of itself or is not a worry. He also has a tank and knows what to look for, so if anything terrible were to happen, it wouldn't go unnoticed, so that helps. Its supposed to be a fun hobby, I dont want to be worrying about it all the time.

[teen]

im not quite sure i understand where you're going with your first post. are you saying you feel as if the tank is almost a burden on your family? or are you happy they take part in it?

im away at school living in an apartment. i have a small 16 gallon tank that is coming along real nice considering i don't have a lfs so my only means of stocking it and picking up supplies is when i come home on break.

my roommates have came to understand how the tank works. they know where the RO water is and that the sump needs to be filled. i only have a mag float to clean the acrylic, but if it starts to get a film on it, one of my friends or roommates usually realize it needs to be cleaned and does it. my girlfriend loves feeding the fish. at first it was more of her watching me how to do it and how much to feed, but now she knows how much food to get from the freezer, defrost it, and then feed the fish. its not that its her responsibility, but its kinda something she just does, and enjoys doing it, so i see no harm in letting her do it. it is my tank and my responsibility, but i feel like everyone does enjoy helping with it in someway, and i think its kinda cool that one of my hobbies has become something my friends enjoy now too.

its came to the point where if something happens while im in class or out or something, it isn't catastrophic because everyone realizes what needs to be done with it.

[greggnyce]

When leaving family with the tank it is best to keep it simple. When I go away IO have my brother stop by every other day to check the ato container and throw a little food in. It only takes one miscalculation by a nonreefer with chemicals to kill the tank.

[Monkeyfish]

+1. When I go away for more than a couple of days I have the wife feed the tank a small amount of Spectrum pellets and top off the system with RO/DI water I made beforehand. The corals will survive if the calcium gets a little low and the fish will do fine without their meatier foods for a week.

[cdamiano]

When I leave my tank for vacation for a week, I just leave an automatic feeder on and the rest is automated. I guess it all depends on how long you are gone for as far as what maintenance needs to be done. You should definitely be able to easily set things up where you can leave the tank for a week without leaving any maintenance chores for someone to do.

[WallysWorld]

I'm lucky my brother inlaw is a science teacher and used to have a tank so he doesn't mind watching while I am gone. If we go away I have another fellow reefer around the corner.
Also plan on adding the Network module to my reefkeeper so I can check parameters online!
But I have to agree you are better off not adding any chems while your gone, everything will survive.

Or just call 1800-REEF-SITTERS ;-)

[Spracklcat]

And if anyone is pulling bristleworms out and destroying them, I'll gladly take them I like those guys.

[seldin]

I do a lot of traveling. I have been spending 7-14 days at a time away.

However, things do get to be a pain. This year, the ATO broke, so there was manual top off for a couple of weeks. Then, there was a problem with the RO/DI. During a power outage one of my filters does not restart without a little help.

My sump return filter can get clogged and then there no flow from display to tank. The worst was when when I had purchased a phosphan reactor and had it too high. When I came back after a week, much damage.

So my point, is that when I am there every day, I can see things are running as they should or not. When things are left to others, things can be running bad for 1-2 weeks at a time, and a lot of damage occurs.

Even just having a coral fall for a 2 week period can do damage.

So I am just complaining that I keep trying to make my tank as maintenance free as possible, but it runs much better if I am there frequently to catch problems or just be able to see what should be done.

So this is my hobby and I don't expect the maintenance to be done by others. However, when not there for 1 to 2 weeks, when I get there, sometimes problems. Such as filters not running, pump run dry, etc.

[Monkeyfish]

Any other reefers nearby who'd be willing to tank-sit? Takes the burden off the family and less stress for you.

[seldin]

Reefers,

Thank you for the input. I guess in the last few months I had some bad luck. My RO/DI needed repairs, my ATO went bad, etc. Have a bout with Phosphates. Even my MH/T5 needs repairs with a ballast. Of course, you do not know what the problems are, until you figure it out, because there is no magic person, saying "look fix this, etc."

"When I leave my tank for vacation for a week, I just leave an automatic feeder on and the rest is automated. I guess it all depends on how long you are gone for as far as what maintenance needs to be done."

I guess that is my problem. When gone for a week, tank is mostly in the shape you left it. However, traveling week in and week out, maintenance suffers. However, it seems that I don't catch all of the problems, until symptoms start appearing. So over the last few weeks done lot's of work.

- Cleaned out bottom of sump ( major pain because access is limited). Thanks to Chris, power head in sump pointing at bottom to help with detris.
- Tore down filter and skimmer.
- Vacuumed sand, etc.

Looks like still more to do. For me, I guess the point, is gone for a single week and not too much goes wrong. Traveling for an extended period and things just deteriorate. Problem is when I come home, family is anxious for my time, and my reef needs my time, so you know how it is.

Thanks again for input.