Going out of town...need advice

tirtza

tirtza

Member
I'll be going on two trips. The first trip is in a few weeks, and I'm wondering what I should do for my SW aquarium while I'm gone. I'll be leaving on a Thursday morning and returning 3 days later that Sunday evening. The second trip is in December and I'll be gone for week. For the first 3 day trip, the only person I know that can check on it, has absolutely zero knowledge about aquariums. At the most, she could probably check the water level (top it off if necessary) and check the temperature. During the second week long trip there will not be anyone to check in on the aquarium.
It's a 30 gallon Oceanic BioCube (3.75 months old). Right now it's just a FOWLR.
Filtration
Protein skimmer in the 1st chamber
Filter floss between the 1st and 2nd chamber
Carbon filter pad on top of the overflow tray in the 2nd chamber
1 bag of Chemi-Pure Elite
1 bag of Purigen
Bioballs
Livestock
Inverts: snails, a couple of hermit crabs, a cleaner shrimp, and a peppermint shrimp.
Fish: 2 False Perc. Clowns fish, a Fire Fish Goby, and a Lawn Mower Blenny.
I have timers for the lights, and do a 20% water change every Friday.
Water parameters
Specific Gravity = 1.025
pH = 8.1
Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
Nitrates = 0
Every evening I feed garlic soaked frozen mysis( 1/4 of a cube ) and garlic soaked frozen Formula 1 ( 1/4 of a cube )
1. Will my fish be okay with out food for 3 days or should I have my friend put a few flakes in the aquarium? (I think feeding the frozen stuff might be a little complicated for her)
2. I currently use timers for the lights, should I still keep the timers on or just leave the lights off?
3. When I go away for an entire week in December, I plan on hiring a company to check on it once or twice. Should I have a company check on it this time too?
4. The company that can check on it charges $60 an hour (w/a min. of 1 hour)....is this a normal price for this type of service?
Any other tips or advice on what I should or shouldn't do would be greatly appreciated!! - Thanks!
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
How much evap do you have a day? I nevre go anywhere except work...LOL.....BUT I would not worry about the 3 day too much...just top off a little xtra
and depending on how much evap....would depend on the week suggestion......is established tanks (from what I hear) fish should not starve in a week....
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Well, this is my thread for when I went on vacation for 2 weeks. It may help you:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/386136/im-going-on-vacation
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
There's not to much evaporation...there's salt creep in the little crack between the top of the aquarium and the hood that I clean off once a day. I usually don't have to top off the water level more then once every few days.
I don't know if it's considered an 'established tank' since it'll be only 4 months old the first time I go out of town (the 3 day trip) and a little over 5 months old the 2nd time I go out of town (the week long trip).
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
ahhh go out of town and have a good time! It'll be fine...
u said someone u know can and is capable of feeding and adding water?
TRY not to think to much about it when ur gone, time off is always gooooood!
really though, do some maintence like a small w/c 2 days before u go and maybe change some of the older media if u want too....
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
one thing I did before leave for a few day vacation was set up a makeshift auto topoff with a 5 gal water jug. I filled the jug with water, used a piece of ridgid tubing and a piece of regular air line and a valve. start a syphon, and adjust the valve to just drip the water in the tank. The jug has to be placed higher then the tank for this to work.
I watched it for the number of days I would be gone to get the right amount of drip to keep the tank full but not over flow. If you are not topping off more then 5 gal in a week, this might help.
T
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeresaQ http:///t/388969/going-out-of-town-need-advice#post_3433921
one thing I did before leave for a few day vacation was set up a makeshift auto topoff with a 5 gal water jug. I filled the jug with water, used a piece of ridgid tubing and a piece of regular air line and a valve. start a syphon, and adjust the valve to just drip the water in the tank. The jug has to be placed higher then the tank for this to work.
I watched it for the number of days I would be gone to get the right amount of drip to keep the tank full but not over flow. If you are not topping off more then 5 gal in a week, this might help.
T
That is an awesome idea that I will use in the future. Thanks!
 
S

siptang

Guest
that was almost a MacGyver moment there Teresa, next thing you will be telling us to whip out paper clips and duct tapes so that we can make hydrogen bomb with our tanks.

Op - Don't worry too much it should be fine. For the trip for the december, I recommend an auto feeder and Teresa's drip method.
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeresaQ http:///t/388969/going-out-of-town-need-advice#post_3433921
one thing I did before leave for a few day vacation was set up a makeshift auto topoff with a 5 gal water jug. I filled the jug with water, used a piece of ridgid tubing and a piece of regular air line and a valve. start a syphon, and adjust the valve to just drip the water in the tank. The jug has to be placed higher then the tank for this to work.
I watched it for the number of days I would be gone to get the right amount of drip to keep the tank full but not over flow. If you are not topping off more then 5 gal in a week, this might help.
T
Wow.... Teresa..... that is a really smart idea. I'll definitely have to use it in the future!
 
teresaq

teresaq

Active Member
lmao MacGyver was one of my favorite shows. lol Love Richard Dean Andeson haha
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siptang http:///t/388969/going-out-of-town-need-advice#post_3433999
that was almost a MacGyver moment there Teresa, next thing you will be telling us to whip out paper clips and duct tapes so that we can make hydrogen bomb with our tanks.

Op - Don't worry too much it should be fine. For the trip for the december, I recommend an auto feeder and Teresa's drip method.
 
gemmy

gemmy

Active Member
What is this magyver that you speak of???

I remember watching that show when I was in second grade.
 
S

siptang

Guest
Krista - Our age bracket falls into MacGruber lol.
When I was young in Korea, I used to live right next to American military base so I grew up watching him. That and USA network always played re runs when I was in elementary school lol.
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
Yeah....I got back last night after being gone Thursday - Sunday and everything looked great!

I had a friend check on my tank on Friday and Saturday. I had her do 3 things: check the temperature, pour in a glass of RO water, and make sure all of the fish were alive. One thing that I feared was that a fish would die (which luckily hasn't happened so far) and then I imagined the decomposing fish totally destroying my water quality.
I don't know if I can handle your McGyver idea Theresa, it sounds waaaaaay to complicated for me. I'm the opposite of 'handy'. With my luck I'd probably end up flooding my apartment!
I'm still having a problem with diatoms in the sand bed.....at least I think it's a problem. It's not all brown there are just brown patches here and there. It's not a deep sand bed (only a couple of inches deep). I have 10 nassarius snails (that I hoped would help stir up the sand bed...but they don't really seem effective). I also have a Koralia 425 powerhead to increase the water current. I have the lights on for 7 hrs a day. They aren't really strong lights (they are the ones that came standard with the BioCube). I only feed once a day (in the evening) a 1/2 cube of garlic soaked frozen Formula One. I rinse the Formula One multiple times before I soak it with a garlic clove. The 2 clown fish, 1 Fire Fish, and 1 Lawn Mower Blenny scarf up all the food they can. The Skunk Cleaner Shrimp goes crazy for the food as well. It's a 29 gallon aquarium (more accurately 24 gallons if you take into consideration water displacement), and I do a 5 gallon water change every Friday (using RO water).
The water parameters are consistent:
pH = 8.2
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrites = 0 ppm
Nitrates = 0 ppm
Specific Gravity = 1.025
Temperature = 78 - 80 degrees
What am I doing wrong? The aquarium is now 4 months old, is it normal to still have diatoms or should my sand bed be perfectly white?
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Hey Tirtza,
I'm happy to know that you tank looked great after you cam home!
But....how many inches is a "couple" inches?
 
tirtza

tirtza

Member
The depth of the sand bed varies. In the front of the tank it's roughly 1 - 1.5 inches deep and towards the back it's 1.5 - 2 inches deep. The diatoms only appear to be in the front. Maybe it's a water current issue, what do you think?
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
It could be a flow issue IMO. Compare the water current in the front and back, and see if there is less water flow in the front compared to the back, etc.
 
travelerjp98

travelerjp98

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tirtza http:///t/388969/going-out-of-town-need-advice#post_3437619
How would you suggest I compare or test the water current?
Well.. that really varies from person to person. I don't remember the last time I've ever checked my water current. If I were to do so, my guess would be to hang waterproof thread down from the top of the tank, hanging all the way to the bottom of the tank, and see from there.
 
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