From my experience with vacations, one day murphy's law will happen (and you will lose everything) unless you are well prepared. 3 years ago I lost my entire livestock in my reef tank due to my long absence from my tank. I was gone for a week in Hawaii and returned to a stinking decaying tank. Everything melted and rotted, ammonia was off the charts due to the fish deaths. My timer did not adjust right and my lights stayed on forever, causing my heat to rise above 93 degrees (this was before i got my controller). You don't want this to happen to you my friend.Here is my check off list for you to have:
-controller (very important, keeps your units in check monitoring temperature,lights,ph)
-back up battery
-auto top off unit- for 3 days or more vacations
-a reliable tank sitter for 3 days or more vacations. Not your average joe blow neighbor that will overfeed or even better overdose your system, this has to be a knowledgable reefer that knows what needs to do.
-extra r/o water- in case your tank sitter needs it, or when you come back i recommend doing a water change
-dosing pumps- very reliable, unless you have calc reactor/ kalk reactor
good luck, now if i go on mini-vacations, i'd rather not have a tank sitter because i'd rather rely on my fish eating my pods/crustaceans and algae for that couple of days.
